He replaces Joe Martinez after public corruption arrest in August
Two months after Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez was arrested on public corruption charges and subsequently suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the latter has appointed a temporary replacement: Personal injury lawyer Robert Gonzalez, who lost the House Republican primary in District 119 last August to Juan Carlos Porras.
Gonzalez was one of the early names floated after Martinez was suspended on the heels of his arrest in August on charges of unlawful compensation. Some insiders say it’s a nod to his campaign consultant, David “Disgusting” Custin, for all his work on the guv’s handpicked candidates.
Read related: State attorney: Joe Martinez broke our trust for $15,000, help with bank loan
That the appointment comes so late could mean anything. It could mean that DeSantis felt pressure after he appointed Danny Espino to the Miami-Dade School Board on Monday while still ignoring the board of county commissioners. It could also mean that the charges against Martinez aren’t going away any time soon, as some observers thought.
It could mean both.
Martinez is accused of having written and sponsored legislation to benefit a constituent in exchange for $15,000 and help securing a bank loan.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said he got his first $5,000 check after he was elected in August of 2016, but days before he was sworn in that November, from Jorge Negrin, the owner of Xtra Supermarket on Southwest 8th Street. Negrin and the owner of the shopping center, Sergio Delgado, were getting hit with code violations for having five storage containers on the property where none was allowed. They had accrued $25,000 in fines but needed the containers for storage. They wanted Martinez to do something to help them. He got another $5,000 check in early December and a third one in March 2017, which was around the time his office started working on legislation that would allow storage containers at shopping centers.
The state attorney further said that Martinez also strong-armed Delgado into getting his employer, a private security company that was bouncing checks, a loan. It never happened. Neither did the legislation.
Read related: What now? When and how will Joe Martinez future vacancy be filled
Martinez supporters say the case is weak because there was no quid pro quo. The commissioner was helping constituents with no strings attached, they say. The payments were for consulting on a different matter.
Perhaps. But the optics are terrible.
Gonzalez is a super conservative, Guatemalan-born father of two who said he ran for office because God told him to. He loves Donald Trump and DeSantis and has an agenda that pretty much mirrors the governor’s, including a lot of talk about parental choice in education.
He came in second in the five man primary, with 20% of the vote. He had raised $110,000 and loaned himself $20K.
Failed House candidate Rob Gonzalez is tapped for Miami-Dade District 11 seat added by Ladra on
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