Failed House candidate Rob Gonzalez is tapped for Miami-Dade District 11 seat

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Failed House candidate Rob Gonzalez is tapped for Miami-Dade District 11 seat
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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.

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14 Responses to "Failed House candidate Rob Gonzalez is tapped for Miami-Dade District 11 seat"

  4. I saw this joker inaugurating the new passport office here at the West Kendall library, and wanted to discuss the lousy traffic situation in the area, he would not even look at me. Not so much as a “did you have a question sir?”. I stood there patiently waiting for him to finish his conversation with a lady attending the event.

    I sent his office an email about the same subject weeks before and got no response, then today I looked him up and found out he’s a republican and a religious air head. There were cops and some fire department people there too, all smiles.

    Religious lawyer… I’m sure Jesus would be proud, he can go to hell along with trump and meatball face. Miami is a joke!

    Reply

  5. This is terrible. God told him to run? And this man was chosen? I am not surprised De Santis would do this. He is the worst governor we have ever had in Florida. For those of you who are tired of this nonsense and idiocy, google Americans United and join them, as I have. This organization fights for the separation of church and state. I happen to believe in God. I am also disgusted by the intolerant, backward, anti-gay religious fanatics that we see so often. They really give religion a bad name.

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  6. Bill ,

    As of 2019 we were ranked as 4th most corrupt city but the huge flaw in figuring out which city is the most corrupt is that it is based on actual prosecutions and here that is a joke as DA Rundle herself is part of the problem.

    ‘Bribery, embezzlement and fraud. Miami has it all but it’s not the most corrupt city in the country. The Magic City is No. 4.”

    Florida was rated this year as third worse state for HOA associations behind California and Texas and most of that came out of Miami , this was before the Hammocks arrests .

    Reply

  7. It is a shame, a failed ultra right wing idiot who could not even get more than 3k votes after raising all that money. That is what you call representation??? lol pathetic. Only in Dade.

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  10. What a great choice! Governor DeSantis continue the good work on behalf of Floridians. For anyone who do not appreciate it, they can move to New York or cross the border into Mexico.

    Reply

  11. Sure Julio millions of people of faith praying to end violence , cancer, genocide, crippling childhood diseases, wokeism, Trump Presidential campaigns etc etc, but God listened to Robert Gonzalez?
    Productive for who? All the the folks inhaling farts and with brown lips?

    Reply

  13. It seems God heard Robert and got him a productive gig after all. I guess Democrats need to start asking God more often.

    Reply

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