Will she or won’t she?
Miami-Dade School Board Member Lubby Navarro — who was voted vice chair at meeting — may run for re-election, despite the fact that a new state law says she can no longer work as a lobbyist.
Is she going to quit her job as a legislative lobbyist for the South Broward Hospital District?
Navarro filed paperwork last week naming a treasurer for the November election First appointed in 2015 by then Gov. Rick Scott, Navarro was subsequently elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.
This is her first time serving as vice chair, after being narrowly selected in a 5-4 vote. All the Democrats on the increasingly conservative board voted against her. Member Maria Teresa “Maritere” Rojas, the sister-in-law of Congressman Carlos Gimenez, was elected chair unanimously.
Reached Tuesday, Navarro would not say if she was quitting her job or her campaign before December 31, when the new law takes effect. She said she will issue a statement on that day.
“The law is the law and I will follow the law,” she told Ladra.
House Bill 7001, also known as the Constitutional Prohibition Against Lobbying by a Public Officer law, implements a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018 that prohibits lobbying by certain public officers both during public service and for six years after leaving of public office, where right now the rule is two years.
“The prohibitions address lobbying on issues of policy, appropriations, or procurement before the federal government, the legislature, any state government body or agency, or any political subdivision,” the law states. School board members are named as officers affected by the prohibitions.
So Navarro’s answer is sort of sus. Does she plan to quit her job? Or is she going to quit the campaign? Is she going to challenge the law?
Read related: School Board’s Lubby Navarro gets spanked on Twitter for anti mask post
She wouldn’t say. But she is the first of the 2024 candidates to throw her hat in the ring. The other districts that will be on the ballot are 1, 3, 5 and 9, seats currently held by Steve Gallon III, Dorothy Bendross Mindingall, Lucia Baez-Geller and Luisa Santos.
None of them are lobbyists.
Navarro belongs to the other faction, the conservative one that has been practically hand-picked by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who last named attorney and lobbyist Danny Espino to fill the vacancy created by Christi Fraga‘s flight. The governor’s office also ensured that Robert Alonso and Monica Colucci won seats this year.
So, could he make an exception for Navarro? After all, she follows his agenda. Last year, she was mocked for coming out against face masks in the middle of the pandemic.
School Board’s Lubby Navarro is set to run again despite lobby job prohibition added by Ladra on
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