Frank Artiles? Really?
The former and disgraced state senator, forced to resign after a public racist rant at a Tallahassee bar, is among the folks being considered Monday by the Miami-Dade commission to fill the vacancy in District 8 caused by the resignation of Daniella Levine Cava, who has become the mayor.
Artiles likely won’t be a serious contender. Besides the racist thing — not a good idea at a delicate time in the wake of protests over the police killing of black men — and the campaign finance thing with the Hooters girls managing the questionable expenses in his political action committees, there’s the stolen election thing. Artiles recently took credit for flipping Senate District 37 with a dark money-financed plantidate that cost Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez to lose his seat by 34 votes.
He should take credit for this appointment, too. Whoever gets it — and Ladra has been assured it won’t be him — owes it to Artiles. Because for some commissioners, the thought that he could be elected in a special election — and throw the next two years into turmoil — is what has pushed them to make the choice themselves.
Think about it. A special election in January or February is likely to turn into a low-turnout free-for-all and could become the revenge of the Republican Party. Having lost the most powerful seat in the county to the progressive DLC, they would want to get this commission seat to make it that much harder for the mayor to get anything done. They would have funded Artiles campaign and gotten people to elect him out of fear that the county commission is becoming socialist and would defund the police.
The Democrats would come back with funding of their own for former Sen. Dwight Bullard, who was beaten by Artiles in 2016. It would become another hyper partisan race at a time when the loser president is still claiming election fraud. And because there are five candidates already signed up to run for the seat in its regular 2022 cycle, it would definitely go into a runoff.
That means it could be March before District 8 voters get any representation, during a crucial pandemic period and far after the Dec. 31 deadline to spend all the federal CARES money for COVID-19 relief. Another pro-appointment argument.
But the whole process has been a mess, pretty much thanks to La Alcaldesa herself, who caused this — intentionally or not — and has been silent about it since. Las malas lenguas say that she always wanted Danielle Cohen Higgins, a Pinecrest attorney whose campaign is being handled by the same consultant, Christian Ulvert, who would likely help DLC with her agenda.
Cohen Higgins, no relation to the District 5 commissioner, still has seven votes, from what Ladra can count. But we really don’t know very much about her. She is coming in out of the blue. She’s never served in public office. She became an executive committee member at Ruth’s List, which promotes progressive female candidates, in 2018 and became a candidate for the commission seat in 2019. An attorney with experience in complex commercial civil litigation and legal services for small business, she has also served on the Board of Directors for the South Florida American Heart Association, as a Young Ambassador to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and on the Executive Committee of Take Stock in Children.
That’s all we got from the two Google pages that come up on Cohen Higgins. And every single story — except for the Ruth’s List announcement in 2018 — is about her candidacy to the county commission. It’s like she (1) didn’t exist before that or (2) scrubbed her internet profile.
We also don’t have a financial disclosure from her or any of the other candidates who want to be considered. But these same candidates would have to file disclosures — listing their assets and liabilities, interests and potential conflicts thereof — before they can run for office.
Why aren’t our elected commissioners interested in that? No credit check? No background check? No nada.
It’s not too late for commissioners to course correct and call for a special election, which would force financial disclosures to be filed and lead to some debate on the issues. Ladra doesn’t believe that all the money in the Republican Party can get Artiles elected on the ballot. This is the only way he can get back into office.
And the blah blah blah about having no money in a $9 billion budget for an election that would cost no more than $1.2 million is bogus. They have millions for the Orange Bowl Classic and parties around it. They have almost $1 million for a brand new Office of Policy and Budgetary Affairs to keep Jennifer Moon quiet. And even that leaves them with leftover slush funds totaling close to $7 million.
The real reason is that they want to make sure they get someone they can work with, or just work, for the next two years.
Miami-Dade Commissioners to make D8 appointment fearing special election added by Ladra on
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