UPDATED: This story has been updated to add an additional name to the people on the list to replace Commissioner Joe Martinez.
It’s just a matter of when.
Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters on Wednesday, at a press conference about toll rebates, that he will eventually suspend Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez, who was charged last week with unlawful compensatio. Prosecutors allege he took $15,000 in exchange for sponsoring and writing legislation for a couple of District 11 business owners.
“When you have a situation like that, there is going to be a new commissioner,” DeSantis told reporters, adding that he would likely announce a decision in the “not too distant future” and that he has received multiple suggestions and/or recommendations.
Really? Multiple? Because when Ladra asks his cadre of Republican legislators, leaders of the Miami-Dade delegation, they say they have no idea. And insiders say it is taking this long because they can’t find someone to appoint in his place.
Read related: State attorney: Joe Martinez broke our trust for $15,000, help with bank loan
District 11 is a ghost town of future politicos. There are no municipalities so there is no obvious bench. It is an UMSA desert.
So much so, in fact, that the governor reportedly thought about appointing someone from outside the district. There might even have been some back and forth with county attorneys on whether he could. State law is silent, but the county charter requires the commissioner live in the district, which includes most of West Kendall and the neighborhoods of Country Walk, Hammocks, Kendale Lakes, Bent Tree and Lake of the Meadows.
It’s only fair the replacement — even if temporary — be a resident of District 11. These people in this district already have little representation. Don’t take away what little they do still have.
Sources say Team DeSantis is looking closely at Rob Gonzalez, who landed second in the primary Republican race for State House 119, which is inside the district. There were three other Republicans in the Aug. 23 contest won by Juan Carlos Porras with 48% of the vote, but Gonzalez was able to raise the most — $1`10,000, compared to $12,000 by the next highest. Sure, it includes $20K of his own money, but that just shows he’ll put skin in it.
The Guatemalan-American attorney also served on the executive committee of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade from 2016 to 2020. His campaign website seems to have been written by DeSantis script writers.
Read related: What now? When and how will Joe Martinez future vacancy be filled
Oh, and his consultant was GOP GTB (go-to boy) David “Discustin'” Custin, who was also the consultant for Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez when she ran for state house.
But, if he’s to go by votes, Gonzalez only got 1,959 on Aug. 23. Cristhian Mancera Mejia, (photo, right) a Colombian-American attorney and activist who ran against Martinez in 2020 and came in third (No. 2 was a Dem), got 5,205 votes — or almost three times as many as Gonzalez. And with far fewer funds at $6,850.
Several people have mentioned him as a possible people’s candidate.
The other people they are reportedly looking at is Annette Hernandez, a legislative aide to Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and treasurer of the Miami-Dade Republican Party — apparently, Nuñez is pushing for her — and Steven Ferreiro, chief of staff to Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who was also the campaign consultant for former Commissioner Juan Zapata, who represented the district, and former Sen. Anitere Flores, whose district overlapped D11.
If Martinez really cared about his constituency as much as he says he does — and if he wants to resurrect any possible future electability as sheriff or anything — he would resign right now and allow the commission to call a special election so that the people of his district have some representation that is not dictated by this governor or that governor, but rather by voters.
Read related: Joe Martinez claims public corruption charge is really a political hatchet job
It’s been long enough already. Martinez already missed last week’s meeting. He is not expected to show at Thursday’s budget hearing. He probably wants to go. This is the time of year he shines, because he pores over every line item and asks all the right questions. But his attorneys have probably told him to stay home.
How many meetings do District 11 residents have to go without representation?
Ron DeSantis to suspend Miami-Dade’s Joe Martinez–when he finds a stand-in added by Ladra on
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