After a long and conspicuous absence throughout the battle between city commissioners and Police Chief Art Acevedo, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez finally spoke Tuesday about his hand-picked top cop — and he supported the city manager’s decision to fire him.
“While it is clear that Chief Acevedo has the qualifications and the experience to be an effective chief of police, it is also obvious that his personality and leadership style are incompatible with the structure of our city’s government,” Suarez read from prepared talking points (more on that later) during a press conference Tuesday afternoon at City Hall.
“The status quo where a top city administrator is at war with the city’s elected leadership is simply untenable and unsustainable,” he said.
Ya think? Ladra said that last week, when Acevedo said he had hit the ‘reset button’ after accusing the Three Amigos — Commissioners Joe Carollo, Alex Diaz de la Portilla and Manolo Reyes — of misconduct and illegal acts. There is no reset button big enough for this.
Suarez is all but admitting that Acevedo was not fired for the eight bogus reasons that City Manager Art Noriega carefully put in his memo to make it look like a legitimate firing for “cause” and not a political lynching that will result in a big severance package. This press conference might even help the chief with his upcoming wrongful termination whistleblower lawsuit.
Read related: Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo is out, vows to keep fighting Miami corruption
Baby X, who convinced Acevedo to leave the Houston Police Department for Miami, either threw the chief under the bus or gave him all the ammunition he needs for day in court.
“This dynamic was unforeseeable, and while Chief Acevedo ended not being a good fit for our city, I wish him and his family the best in the future,” Suarez read from the script provided to him by city spokeswoman Soledad Cedro, which begs the question what does he do?
And unforeseeable? Only to someone who is so busy pumping himself up on tech boys and Bitcoin that he can’t see his hand in front of him.
Suarez called it a difficult decision that “marks the beginning of the end of an unfortunate episode for our city.” Don’t he wish? That’s the whole idea behind the firing and the press conference — the city and its electeds want to put this unpleasantness behind them.
Because they’re up to their eyebrows in it.
“Some of the controversy surrounding the chief has been related to an ongoing criminal investigation which involves connections between individuals in the Miami Police department and a subject who was arrested by the Monroe County Sheriff’s office,” the mayor said, referring to the arrest of Frank Pichel and Sergeant At Arms Luis Camacho, who was assigned to the mayor when photographs of him and his family on vacation in the Keys were leaked.
Much of the attacks from the Three Amigos commissioners was because Camacho was relieved of duty as his potential “breach of security” is investigated. But was that breach unique? Or had Camacho been feeding Pichel — who, by the way, works for Carollo — information before?
Ladra hopes the FBI has talked to him already.
Read related: Inquisition of Miami Police chief continues with steps to have him fired
“While I cannot further comment on this matter,” Suarez went on reading, “I am confident that the new interim chief will properly see this through.”
That new interim chief, Manny Morales, may not have been the mayor’s choice, however. Several sources told Ladra that would be Commander Brandon Lanier, who is black, because Acevedo has a lot of support among black officers and in the black community, probably because he’s cracking down on use of force. Baby X is running for re-election and to be the poster child of the bitcoin investment community, so he doesn’t need a bunch of protests about the racist police department right now.
Case in point: “Moving forward I am hopeful that we can refocus the city’s attention on the important work of improving quality of life and delivering excellent services for our residents,” Suarez said.
Translation: Nothing to see here, folks.
“We can continue to belabor this and continue to drag this out,” he said in response, but not really an answer, to a reporter’s question. “But really, for the benefit of the city, for the benefit of his family, for the benefit of this government working and doing what we have to do, keep homicides down, keep the city safe… that’s the trajectory I want to see the city going.”
He forgot to say for the benefit of his expanding national profile.
They really, really want people to forget the 8-page memo that Acevedo wrote accusing the Three Amigos of misconduct and abuse of office. So that’s why we all have to keep reminding everyone (see memo at end of story).
Read related: Chief Art Acevedo fights back, reports misconduct by Miami electeds
Hopefully, Acevedo will remind everyone at his hearing Thursday (which may be moved to Friday) in front of the commission, who makes the final decision to fire him. Noriega suspended the chief Monday and will recommend termination, but the commission drops the axe.
Ladra expects there to be a lot of people there with a lot to say about it. A small group of protesters with signs showed up Tuesday at the mayor’s press conference to denounce the chief’s ouster.
“The commission has a fiduciary obligation to listen to whatever his case is and make a decision based on the facts,” Suarez told a the press outside his office. “I can’t speculate as to what they are going to do.”
Oh, yes he can. The votes are there to oust the chief. The Three Amigos have been salivating about it, but also Chairman Ken Russell has said he doesn’t see another way out of the battle between the chief and the administration. It could be unanimous, though Commissioner Jeffrey Watson is running for office in District 5, which is largely black and largely supportive of Acevedo and his desire to reform the department and reduce excessive force complaints. So it may also be 4-1.
“This is not about fault,” Suarez said about Acevedo. “He was hired with a high level of expectation and unfortunately not every hire works to your satisfaction.”
He would not comment on the merits of the accusations. “I’m not an investigatory agency and I am not a prosecutor,” Suarez said. He could have added that he is not a leader. He’s also not the mayor, because it seems Soledad Cedro is doing his job. Suarez told reporters to ask Acevedo.
“I can tell you I was not consulted on the drafting of that memo,” Suarez said. “He didn’t ask for my advice. He didn’t tell me he was writing it.
“But when you throw down the gauntlet that way, you set up a scenario that can be untenable.”
There he goes again — trashing the justification Noriega painstakingly noted for firing Acevedo to reveal the real reason: The chief threw down the gauntlet.
Or, picture this, you set up a scenario where the guilty parties are held accountable for their actions. The Three Amigos should walk the gauntlet.
Read related: Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo gets memo from manager = cover for firing
The only reason that Acevedo’s leadership style and “personality” doesn’t “fit” in Miami is because he wasn’t willing to look the other way when he saw government misfeasance and malfeasance, because he dared to call the electeds out on their shit.
Ladra really does hope he sticks around, like he said he would in his goodbye note to his troops, to help expose and get rid the city of these political punks.
Including Suarez.
Miami Police Chief Art Acev… by Political Cortadito
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez weighs in, agrees on firing Chief Art Acevedo added by Ladra on
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