Miami-Dade sheriff candidates will each get 10 minutes at KFHA forum

UPDATE: After the publication of this post, Joe Martinez confirmed that he would also attend.

Fourteen of the 15 candidates for Miami-Dade Sheriff have confirmed attending a forum Monday night on Zoom hosted by the Kendall Federation of Homeowners Associations. They will each get an uninterrupted five minutes to talk before having another five minutes of questions from the board.

There will be no chance to rebut anything anyone says.

“That’s all we can do, otherwise we’d be there all night, with 15 candidates,” said KFHA President Michael Rosenberg. “We’re hoping this will help the community decide who they feel is the best candidate, by being able to hear from them in this unrestrained way.”

A recent poll of the Republican candidates (more on that later) shows that about two thirds of the voters are still undecided. This forum could help some of those voters decide.

The first to go at 6:30 p.m. will be Democrat James Reyes, the current Miami-Dade Director of Public Safety (since October). The virtual forum ends with Jeffrey Giordano at 9 p.m., which is kind of perfect. The order was picked randomly as they each confirmed, Rosenberg said.

Only former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez has not confirmed. He has a potential conflict: His trial on public corruption charges, which were, Martinez says, drummed up to keep him from becoming sheriff. But Ladra doubts Martinez will still be in court at 9:10 p.m., so he can call in.

Update: As of Monday morning, Rosenberg advised that Martinez would be attending as well.

The clown car did not thin out when it came time to pay the $15,300 qualifying fee as much as everyone expected it to. Only two candidate failed earlier this month to qualify for this race, the first election for sheriff since the 1950s — when the office was eliminated because of corruption — after voters mandated the office in 2018. That means wannabes have to fight for every vote and every contribution.

Here’s the new and final list of candidates (+ Martinez), and the highlights of their campaign fundraising, according to the latest reports through June 14, this time by order of appearance Monday night. Ladra has also taken the liberty to include a suggested question:

6:30 p.m. — James Reyes, who is really named Jems Reyes, is on the ticket with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and her slate, all clients of consultant Christian Ulvert. He replaces Freddy Ramirez, the former Police Director, who shot himself in a domestic incident last year, and that’s about the only thing that makes one unelectable in this town. His listed his net worth at $1.5 million and listed two homes in his assets, his $670,000 residence and a $900,000 house in Layton, FL. Reyes has raised $647,100 between his campaign account and his political action committee, Miami-Dade Safe and Secure. Some of that has come from officers with the Broward Sheriff’s office, where Reyes has spent almost his entire career, in corrections. A lot of it has come from other PACs. Ulvert also has a PAC called Residents for Safe Neighborhoods, which has raised $126,000 and spent $122,300. Question: Have you ever actually arrested anybody?
6:40 p.m. — Former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, who is on leave again from his job at the Florida Highway Patrol’s public information office, is considered one of the Republican frontrunners. He’d be the frontrunner if another candidate hadn’t received the Donald Trump endorsement in April and if Martinez hadn’t jumped in at the last minute (more on that later). Sanchez has raised $514,700 between his campaign account and his Law and Order PAC. He has spent more than $386.000. Question: Will your private company run the off-duty hours for sheriff deputies like you do with FHP?
6:50 p.m. — Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz is the one who got the Trump endorsement and a big bump in fundraising because of it. Cordero-Stutz, the highest ranking officer in the race, has taken some hits for living in Broward. She has raised $342,200 between her campaign and her PAC, Citizens for a Safer Community. She has spent $136,800 so far. Question: Have you toured any open houses in Miami-Dade yet?
7 p.m. — Ignacio “Iggy” Alvarez is now an attorney . But before he retired in 2017 as a major, Alvarez was in the Miami-Dade Police Department for 25 years, including a stint as head of the special victim’s bureau. He has a few reprimands, including for his work with the Panamanian Police, according to a story on the candidates’ professional histories by WLRN’s Daniel Rivero. But he also has the most commendations of all the candidates. He also has the Fraternal Order of Police District 6 endorsement, the largest union in the country representing just police (not corrections, too). He has spent more than half of the $64,000 he has raised so far in his campaign account. Question: Why don’t you run for State Attorney instead?
7:10 p.m. — Jose Aragu, an MDPD major currently assigned to the Midwest District. He joined Miami-Dade Police in 2006. He spent his first year as an officer with the tiny West Miami Police Department. He has raised $118,000 in 223 contributions, most of them small. He has also spent more than $83,000, including $42,000 on materials from Doral Digital Reprographics and $7,000 on Talavera Home Decor products. Question: What pieces of Mexican pottery did you buy for your campaign?
7:20 p.m. — John Barrow is currently head of MDPD’s Personnel Management Bureau. He was a teacher before joining the police force 17 years ago. He has raised $74,865 in 469 contributions, but only has $29,000 in hand as of June 14. Question: What job are you hoping to get in the new sheriff’s department when you lose this race?
7:40 p.m. — Ruamen de la Rua was the the first to sign up for the race, way back in 2022. De la Rua came back in 2013 to Miami Police, where he started in 1983, after spending 26 years at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, leaving as School Resource Commander. He has loaned himself $20,000 for a $35,800 total in fundraising, but has spent all but about $1,600. Question: What was the campaign expense of $75 for Red Women Entertainment?
7:50 p.m. — Alexander Fornet only spent a few months as an officer at Miami-Dade in 2008. He is now the owner of a credit-repair business in Doral. He lists his net worth at $430,000, and lists $207,000 worth of Go Daddy domains among his assets. But he’s raised only $17,000, of which almost $12K is loaned to himself. Question: Could you waive and give your time to someone else?
8 p.m. — Democrat Susan Khoury is a former federal law enforcement agent and onetime county commission candidate (she lost to Anthony Rodriguez in 2022) who sued the county for wrongful arrest after she was Baker Acted for taking video outside a school in 2017 and won a $520,000 judgement in 2022. According to her financial disclosure, she is currently unemployed and has a net worth of $435,546. She has almost entirely self funded her campaign; only $610 from the $53,107 comes from anybody else, including $50 from Marisol Zenteno, a candidate for property appraiser. She has only spent about $8,900 so far. Question: What will you run for next?
8:10 p.m. — Mario Knapp, who retired from MDPD after 27 years, including stints as captain of the warrants bureau, the training bureau and the Kendall District. He also spent several years on the front lines of the SWAT team. He has raised $172,800, minus $20K he loaned himself, which is still a decent amount for a first time candidate. It includes a lot of checks from county cops. He has spent almost $71,000, mostly on bank fees for what seem like online donations. At least $6,000 has been spent on advertising in El Vocero. Question: Why have you bounced around so much from unit to unit?
8:20 p.m. — Rickey Mitchell is a former cop who retired in 2006 after 25 years and now owns a funeral home and has loaned himself $275,000 for his campaign. And he has spent about $117,000 of it. Not sure if someone who would benefit from a higher body count should be in charge of public safety. Question: Could that be considered a conflict of interest?
8:40 p.m. — John Rivera is the former Police Benevolent Association President. He served almost four decades with the MDPD. His financial disclosure says his net worth is $3.4 million and he gets a $147,000 annual pension. He has raised $40,625 (minus $10K he loaned himself) and had spent all but $980 as of June 14. Question: How’s your health?
8:50 p.m. — Ernesto Rodriguez has been with MDPD for 35 years and is currently with the department’s Agricultural and Environmental Crimes unit. He lists his net worth at $4.1 million and includes his $1.1 million house in Homestead. He has spent nearly $56,000 of the $122,000 he. has raised. Question: Are police any closer to solving the series of multiple horse slayings that have occurred since January?
9 p.m. — Jeffrey Giordano, a 27-year veteran of the Miami Police Department who may or may not show up in full “Gino the Magnificent” garb. He wears it to mimic a Johnny Carson skit and poke fun at the other candidates in videos he has released. It would be the best reason to stay tuned til the end. He has loaned himself $13,000 of the $17,750 he raised, and only has about $2,300 left on June 14. Question: Where do you shop?

By this time, Martinez — who raised more than $60,000 over three days, according to his single campaign report — should be done with his legal obligations and could, arguably, give the voters 10 minutes of his time.

In fact, Rosenberg is being nice. Because there are at least nine candidates here — who will go unnamed (for now) — that should really just give their time to the others instead of wasting ours.

The KFHA’s “Sheriff Candidates” ZOOM forum can be viewed here.

Elections 2024, James Reyes, Joe Sanchez, Miami-Dade sheriff