Suspended elected is charged with healthcare fraud
The Hialeah Council is poised to appoint someone to replace Councilwoman Angelica Pacheco, who was arrested last week on healthcare fraud charges and on Tuesday became the latest Miami-Dade elected to be suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis. And wannabes are already jockeying for pole position.
Mayor Esteban Bovo didn’t even wait a day. He held a press conference Friday, after Pacheco’s arrest on Thursday, to say that he favored an appointment whenever the guv would get around to suspending her because a special election could cost close to $500,000.
“The council has had the ability to appoint a person that usually holds the position until the next election because a special election in the city costs half a million dollars,” Bovo said in front of the cameras. “I don’t think it is even feasible at this time to be able to conduct an election to try to have it in November.”
Uh, think again.
The county’s elections department has stated that there is still time to get Pacheco’s seat on the November ballot and that it would only cost about $44,000. Bovo knows this because that’s how much it cost when they had a special election to replace his stepson, former Councilman Oscar de la Rosa. If there’s a runoff that doesn’t coincide with the Nov. 5 election, then that would cost around $440,000, a figure that was confirmed to Political Cortadito by the Miami-Dade Elections Department.
Bt that’s a big if. Who knows if there will be a runoff?
Besides, isn’t it worth it? A special election at the same time as the general, Hialeah voters — who will turn out in droves due to the presidential race — can also elect a replacement for Bryan Calvo, who resigned to run for Miami-Dade Tax Collector, effective November. So it’s two for the price of one!
But that likely won’t happen. Bovo wants the council that he controls already — Pacheco and Calvo are the only non Seguro Que Yes votes — to appoint someone to the seat.
Bovo didn’t return several phone calls and text messages but said in an interview on Actualidad Radio that it’s tradition. He was first appointed to the council in 1998. Former State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez was appointed to the council. Former councilman Paul Hernandez was first appointed to the council. Former councilwoman Vivian Casals-Muñoz was appointed.
“We have a history with this. Because I’m mayor doesn’t mean we have to change it,” Bovo said, adding that the city could not afford the cost. “We are counting pennies.”
The city this week published a notice to any and all interested residents who have lived in Hialeah since at least June 25 of 2023, a year before Pacheco’s suspension, to submit a resume and letter of interest providing their motivation for said interest. “Please limit your submission to one page,” the notice says, because the city clerk knows her people. A photo id, voter’s registration and residence affidavit will also need to be provided. And the deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, July 12.
Four days later, the council intends to appoint someone at a special meeting Tuesday, July 16.
Read related: More on Hialeah candidate Angelica Pacheco’s arrests — and her web of lies
The rumor is Bovo wants to slide in his chief of staff, Carlos San Jose. Others think it’s going to be Mike Gomez, a campaign manager from his 2020 mayoral bid. Both are people he can control 100 percent.
Ladra would have thought it would be Casals-Muñoz, who voters rejected in favor of Pacheco. But maybe Bovo is saving her for Calvo’s seat. That appointment would be made after November.
Calvo has suggested an election, but he has no support because, as stated, the council is entirely in Mayor Bovo’s pocket. Maybe that’s why the mayor should just go along with letting the voters decide. What has he got to lose? He already has the majority. He already has a Seguro Que Yes council.
It would also help to counter the seemingly baseless allegations made by Pacheco in a dramatic video in which she basically blames Bovo and says that he is retaliating against her for exposing the truths about the city and his administration.
Pacheco was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on five counts of healthcare fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. She’s facing real prison time.
The registered nurse, who owned a drug rehabilitation center, is accused of submitting fraudulent insurance claims between 2017 and 2020, sometimes for patients who did not exist. Meanwhile, she kept her real rehab clients “docile” and happy with her services by, basically, drugging them with medications “in quantities and combinations” not recommended for legitimate medical use.
She is also accused of getting bogus federal PPP loans during the pandemic, which was first reported in Political Cortadito.
Bovo blew off the allegations that he had anything to do with the charges against Pacheco for things that happened before she was a commissioner.
“She’s watching too much Netflix,” the mayor said. “This stains the name of Hialeah.”
He also said that it was “inconsiderate” of Calvo to resign effective in November. “If he really cared about the community, he would have resigned immediately,” said Bovo, who endorsed Dariel Fernandez in the tax collector’s race. “But he wants to use this position to campaign.”
Except, how do we know that Bovo would not have just appointed someone then, too?
Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo, council to appoint fill-in for Angelica Pacheco added by Ladra on
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