What if there was a virtual campaign forum for an important city election and none of the frontrunners were there? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Could one of the also-rans take the opportunity to become a star?
We may just be about to find out.
The Urban Core Community Coalition — an umbrella group for downtown and Brickell activists and organizations — will have the very first forum for the November city election on Thursday.
But don’t expect Mayor Francis Suarez, who thinks he’s going to coast into reelected office by teasing all the tech pros and working on his tan. Don’t hope to hear from Commissioner “Crazy Joe” Joe Carollo or Bruno Barreiro, the former county commissioner challenging him in District 3. Don’t tune in if you want to hear Christine King, the heir apparent and favorite in District 5, who really doesn’t have to be there.
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None of those very competitive candidates have confirmed. So who will be online? Well, we have Mayra Joli — who may or may not live in Coral Gables — and Maxwell Martinez (yeah, no idea) in the mayoral race, Rodney Quinn Smith in the District 3 race — where communications pro Andriana Oliva filed paperwork to run on Tuesday — and three candidates in the clusterbunch of District 5, which will be an open seat if appointed Commissioner Jeffrey Watson doesn’t run, like he “promised” Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who favors King. Those three are Zico Fremont, Michael Hepburn and the Rev. Shoshana Lincoln.
These are people whose names may not always make it into Political Cortadito’s coverage of the race — except now they get to shine. Of course, the qualifying period isn’t until September so some of these people may not even be on the ballot. Who knows?
Urban Core CEO Samuel Joseph said the organization never received any kind of response from the more viable candidates, nor from their campaigns. But he still has hope.
“As they have been instructed, their virtual access to the forum will be available throughout the event should their schedules and/or their interest to participate in the forum change,” Joseph told Ladra.
His organization formed recently in the wake of what he and others call a broken city government. He says there has to be change — and new blood.
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“Too often in elections past urban core residents and stakeholders have had to settle for choosing among the same characters, familiar names, and well-funded career politicians on the ballot due to a lack of qualified and/or interested candidates,” Joseph told Ladra late Wednesday. “Our goal is to educate our community by introducing them to all the options available in helping to address their needs, and providing them the information to make better decisions about the kind of governance they seek and the qualities they aspire to see in their future public servants.”
Good luck with that.
After one minute opening statements, candidates will answer questions from both the Urban Core board members and the audience.
“Active participation from neighbors, constituents, and other urban core stakeholders in the meeting is critical to its success,” Joseph said. “We need your help to keep our ‘public servants’ and those vying to serve honest by spreading the word and encouraging everyone to participate in this important community event.”
It’s a zoom thing, so anyone can go from anywhere, and starts at 6 p.m. The link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84208578510 and the passcode is 596939.
Did you get that Joe?
First virtual forum for November Miami election is short on top candidates added by Ladra on
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