Carlos Gimenez should resign to run for Congress, not abuse office to campaign

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez finally announced his run for Congress on Thursday, with quite the dramatic flair. He did it via twitter with a new campaign handle, using the arrival of President Donald Trump — and immediately securing his endorsement — to try to shore up his thin GOP cred.

“Welcome to Miami @realDonaldTrump. Thank you for all you’ve done for our economy & to fight socialism,” Gimenez tweeted at 2:24 p.m. from his new campaign handle, @CarlosGimenezFL. “I look forward to standing w/ you against the radical left who are determined to turn the U.S. into Venezuela. I’m running! Join the fight,” it says, with a red box hyperlink to a donation page.

First… radical left? You mean the commissioners and politicians you pose with for photo ops and many of the people who voted for you, you opportunist? You mean your former campaign staff, most of whom are diehard Democrats? You mean your former spokesman Mike Hernandez, whose dream it was to work on the Hillary campaign? You said you voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and made it a big publicity stunt, you flip-flopping camera hog! You went on TV and said that Trump’s lewd comments about women in 2005 on a mic he did not know was on were “despicable ” and told him to get out of the race!

Second… 2:24 p.m.? Isn’t that during his work hours. Remember, Grimenez is a strong mayor. We don’t have a county manager. He is supposed to be handling the day to day operations of an enterprise with a $8.9 billion budget and more than 28,000 employees. Full time. That is why he gets paid more than $250,000 a year (plus car allowance plus phone allowance plus food allowance plus, plus, plus).

But often during work hours, Grimenez is golfing with lobbyists and crony insiders or campaigning for his next gig while he leaves the real work to Deputy Mayors Ed Marquez and Jennifer Moon (it used to be Alina Hudak).

And if he’s not squeamish about giving no-bid contracts and $200-an-hour jobs to his friends and family, he’s not going to think twice before using staff to campaign.

We already know that the mayor used his office staff — spokeswoman Myriam Marquez, Chief of Staff Alex Ferro and Assistant Communications Director Patty Abril — to respond to attacks from the Democrats about his candidacy, or, more specifically, a brilliant 90-second web video calling him “Corrupt Carlos” and “el corruptito,” reminding voters of his failed promises and inside deals.

These employees, all of whom make six figure salaries, spent much of Jan. 10 wringing their hands and wondering how they would respond to the video. Marquez wrote an 11 paragraph and well-researched response for the Miami Herald to use in its story about the congressional race and the mayor’s candidacy and the video produced and paid for by the Florida Democratic Party. The story was not about his role or any policy or decision at the county.

A complaint has been filed with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. Because these taxpayer-paid employees are not supposed to be working on the mayor’s campaign messaging.

Activist organizer Juan Cuba filed the complaint after he got the text messages that prove the four conspired to present the Herald just the right response. Marquez sought Gimenez approval for it.

Jose Arrojo, director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, was quoted in the Herald saying that taxpayer-paid employees of political candidates who are in office can “defend” critical comments but shouldn’t be paid to answer political attacks.

“If it’s a purely political attack, I don’t think it’s appropriate for someone to respond,” he was quoted as saying.

Arrojo would not comment to Ladra about this particular case, not even to say ifthey were investigating (which means they are), but said that in general “you can’t use public resources for political gain.”

It is, however, a kind of blurry line. Some things, he said, are easy to prove. Like someone creating a campaign flyer on a government laptop or inviting people to a campaign event via email from a 29th floor computer.

“Some things are more subtle,” he said, and Ladra fears he’s going to be soft on the mayor.

“Can an elected officer [who is running for office] use staff to explain what reasons he had for doing something? Yes, he can. Does it possibly provide a political benefit. Yeah, it can.

“But you can’t take the position that you can’t talk to anyone because you’re running for office. Whether there’s a political value or not, Ethics is not going to prevent that.”

How about preventing it during office hours? Because Carlos Gimenez tweeted again at 4:29 p.m.

“I care very deeply about our community and our country, and I want to take my experience I’ve gained as a firefighter, administrator and mayor to Washington at this critical time,” he posted, pointing people to his landing page for donations. No platform or about page. Just give me money.

The responses on twitter were mostly negative. “Does that mean taking your lobbyist family to Washington as well,” asked Miami City Man.

After hours, Grimenez tweeted again to the president: “Great meeting you on the tarmac today @realdonaldtrump with @CommBovo, @CommishDiaz and @JoeGruters. I hope you enjoy your time in Miami and I look forward to seeing you again. #FL26.”

Okay, this was tweeted at 6:56 p.m., and he might even have someone tweeting for him already. But was he at the tarmac earlier as the mayor of Miami-Dade or as a candidate for congress? Because Ladra thinks it was as the mayor. He was with Commissioners Esteban Bovo and Jose “Pepe” Diaz, the latter of which has endorsed a different candidate in the race (more on that later). I’ll even bet staff was there. Other candidates don’t get the opportunity to welcome Trump to Miami. He is using his office for his congressional bid. Period.

But this is the blurry line Arrojo talks about, which gives him cover to slap the mayor on the wrist with an instructional letter. Grimenez already has no boundaries. He is going to use his bully pulpit to campaign for Congress for sure. And, according to Arrojo, there’s really nothing we can do about that.

It’s up the taxpaying voters of congressional district 26 to remember who Grimenez is and who he isn’t when they go to the polls in the August primary that pits the corrupt mayor against Omar Blanco, a real firefighter and public servant not a bureaucrat, and Irina Villarino, a real Trump groupie who isn’t faking it — neither of whom have used public funds for their campaign.