Lawyer claims ethical violations in special election
Nobody won the Miami Lakes Special Election earlier this month for the council seat vacated by former Vice Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who resigned in November, so there will be a runoff Tuesday between attorney Bryan Morera, who got 29%, and former Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Town Manager and failed 2016 candidate Esther Colon, who got 23%. Turnout was 10.52% of the town’s 20,004 eligible voters.
Former Councilman Nelson Rodriguez came in fourth of five candidates with 19%.
This race has also become a contest between two factions on the council and may indicate that Mayor Manny Cid does not have as much influence in the town as he thinks he has.
Morera is supported by three council members — Marilyn Ruano, Luis Collazo and Josh Dieguez — while Hector Abad, who failed to make the runoff by eight votes, by was backed by Cid, Vice Mayor Tony Fernandez and Councilman Ray Garcia.
The results were verified by a machine recount because they were so close — the first recount in town history.
The election has been like an ugly telenovela unraveling since early January, when Cid tried to appoint attorney Mariam Yanes, the chair of the town’s planning and zoning board, for the rest of Alvarez’s term, which is three years. Critics say the mayor wanted to keep his majority on the council through the rest of his term. But despite Yanes bringing in her family, her friends and her coworkers, she didn’t get the votes on the council necessary to ratify the nod.
“We wanted that seat to go out for a vote, because there are three years left, but we also wanted an independent thinker,” Ruano told Political Cortadito, adding that she told Yanes to file for the special election. “I didn’t feel comfortable appointing her, but I wasn’t against her running.”
Some of the mayor’s critics say Cid and his faction did everything they could to thwart the election.
Cid, who is running for Miami-Dade Mayor against La Alcaldesa Daniella Levine Cava, said the main complainant was an attorney who has issues with the city over taxing districts. “This is all made up. It’s completely frivolous,” Cid said.
He said he only voted against the election because it was not timely. He also felt that there would be more turnout in November.
And he insists that he did not endorse Abad, though he would have if the race were in November. But he had “too many friends running.”
If he had endorsed Abad, Cid said, “you would have seen a different outcome,” because of his influence.
“My [favorability] numbers in Miami Lakes are probably the highest of any mayor in Miami-Dade County,” he told Ladra, adding that another candidate had also claimed his endorsement. “And if he hadn’t, Hector would have won.”
But if Morera wins, he could lose his majority bloc on the council on his last year as mayor.
Both of the candidates in the runoff have been very active in town issues.
Colon, 70, ran for council in 2016 and lost to Collazo. She is a former town manager of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, fired by the commission in 2010 after a new slate won the election. Colon has also been an adjunct professor at Brown Mackie College and Jose Maria Vargas University.
She has lived in Miami Lakes for 30 years and served on the town’s cultural affairs, sheriff ordinance ad-hoc committees and the all-important Blasting Advisory Board. Colon has also served as the District 13 representative on the Miami-Dade County Commission for Women.
“My mission is to ensure that our government works for every member of our community. Throughout the years, I have worked tirelessly with my neighbors to advocate for our community’s needs, and have volunteered to make a positive impact on the lives of those around me,” Colon wrote in her candidate’s message on the city’s website.
Last year, Colon was awarded the Town of Miami Lakes Woman of Distinction Award for volunteering.
Colon raised $9,100 through April 4, according to her latest campaign finance report, which also shows she spent about $7,390. Her consultant is DL Consulting Services in Orlando.
Morera, 32, fought against the bridges at NW 154th and 170th streets and the six-story hospital that Mount Sinai wanted to build on the corner of 154th and 87th Avenue. He has been served on the Neighborhood Improvement Committee and the Blasting Advisory Board.
“While a lot of the changes that I have witnessed over the years have been positive, not all have,” Morera wrote in his candidate’s message. “Over the years, the cow pastures have all but disappeared, traffic has become difficult to contend with at best, and a nightmare at worst, several of our tree canopies have been removed, and numerous interests have endeavored to treat taxpayer dollars like a blank check and to over-develop our Town.”
He raised $20,110 in his campaign account, according to the last report filed accounting for transactions through April 4, and nothing really stands out as notable. The report said he had spent $13,475 of that. His campaign consultant is Anthony Bustamante.
Las malas lenguas say that either of these two candidates would make a good (read: independent) council member now that Abad has been eliminated and that none of this horse jockeying would have happened if Fernandez had not announced his intent to run for mayor.
About 10.5% of the town’s 20,000 voters came out, according to the Miami-Dade Elections Department.
Vice Mayor Fernandez is running for mayor of Miami Lakes in November (more on that later). But this special election may show that he, too, doesn’t have the influence with voters that he wants to have.
Polling places close at 7 p.m.
Runoff for Miami Lakes council seat reveals rift on the town council added by Ladra on
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