Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who was appointed by the governor and has never been elected, has a challenger in this November’s election. School teacher Bryan Paz-Hernandez, former president of the West Kendall Dems — now an NPA — filed paperwork Wednesday intending to run.
“I’m tired of the traffic and high cost of housing,” Paz-Hernandez told Political Cortadito. “I’ve lived in Kendall almost all my life — except for when I went to college — and I see the problems go unaddressed.”
Tell me about it. Kendall has always been the county’s red-headed stepchild.
And Gonzalez never ran for this post. He ran in 2022 for State House in District 119 — with a platform that pretty much mirrored the GOP line — and lost in the primary to Juan Carlos Porras, raising $110,000 for the bid, according to his campaign reports. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to the county commission two months later to replace former Commissioner Joe Martinez, who was suspended after he was arrested on public corruption charges of conspiracy and unlawful compensation.
Read related: Failed House candidate Rob Gonzalez is tapped for Miami-Dade District 11 seat
The Guatemalan-born personal injury attorney and father of two is a super conservative who said he ran for the state office because God told him to. He loves God, Donald Trump and DeSantis — but maybe not necessarily in that order. Even though he has more social media posts about Jesus and the Lord than his other two masters.
Some political observers say the appointment of Gonzalez, a political newcomer, was a favor to his campaign consultant, David “Disgusting” Custin, who is also the campaign man for Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez and several of the guv’s handpicked candidates that year.
So we can expect this county race to be dirty.
But Paz-Hernandez is not totally new to the campaign trail. The former president of the West Kendall Democratic Club worked as a field organizer for Donna Shalala‘s congressional campaign in 2018 and was the campaign manager for Heath Rassner for FL State House in District 119. He’s worked as an intern for the Democratic National Committee and the Public Engagement Office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a strategist for both Florida Rising and Progress for Florida.
He changed his voter’s registration to no party affiliation a few months ago. “I’m disillusioned with both parties. I plan on running a non-partisan race based on local issues.
“I’m ready. I’ve worked in campaigns before. I know what it takes to win an election,” said the history teacher at a charter high school. “I’ve been involved in the issues for a long time. We’re going to raise the money. I’m going to talk to voters. We’re going to outwork my opponent.
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“I’ve put a lot of thought into this. It’s not something I decided from one day to another. I’m willing to sacrifice my time and comfort for the greater good,” Paz-Hernandez told Ladra.
“I’m painfully aware of what’s going on in Miami-Dade and in Kendall. I don’t see our elected officials doing nearly enough. I’m sick and tired of the traffic. I’m sick and tired of the high cost of housing. A lot of friends my age are leaving Miami or stuck living with their parents because they can’t afford rent,” the 28-year-old said.
He saw a lot of people facing hard times when he worked as a social worker at United Way.
“A lot of the cases I dealt with were people who were getting evicted because their landlord raised the rent $500 from one contract to another. There’s no law preventing this. And these are working class people whose wages are not going to go up.”
Paz-Hernandez also says that he is running on an anti-corruption platform.
“It is a shame that Joe Martinez was in power so long given the stain of corruption,” he said, regarding the charges. “It is outrageous that it is almost common in Miami for politicians to be so flagrantly corrupt. ‘You give me money. I do you a favor.’ And the people are left out of the conversation.
“I want to turn the page.”
Martinez is still awaiting trial in what many say is an intentional delay to keep him out of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s race. The trial has been rescheduled at least three times and is now set for April, according to county court records. The former police officer is accused of having written and sponsored legislation to benefit a constituent in exchange for $15,000 and help securing a bank loan.
Read related: State attorney: Joe Martinez broke our trust for $15,000, help with 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 — who did not return a call to his cellphone — 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.
Martinez supporters say the case is weak because there was no quid pro quo. The commissioner was just helping constituents like he’s supposed to, they say. Any payments were for consulting on a different matter.
In November, the state attorney’s office took the depositions of assistant county attorney Oren Rosenthal and Rosa Kasse, president of the Hispanic Coalition and vice chair of the Miami-Dade Elder Affairs Advisory Board.
On Thursday, the prosecutors’ motion to continue was granted and the trial was reset for April 8.
Kendall teacher challenges Miami-Dade D11 Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez added by Ladra on
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