The accolades are ridiculous.
Over and over again — at the city commission meeting Thursday, on Spanish radio, on the internet, in the street — people keep thanking Miami Mayor Francis Suarez for his veto of the self-serving lifetime pensions for electeds that commissioners had voted earlier this month to give themselves.
But isn’t he just doing his job? It’s nice to see Suarez do something for the taxpaying citizens of Miami instead of for himself — for a change.
Yes, he could have gotten a windfall. He did the math and told everyone how much he has sacrificed. The total expected benefit, if he lives to 92, is $6.3 million he said. “And I expect to live beyond 92,” he said, “so I would have been paid almost the entirety of my salary for twice the amount of years that I’ve served. I never ran with the expectation of getting a pension nor do I desire one.”
Read related: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is all over the place — except leading the city
And then he gave the real reason:
“I just want to thank my wife and God for the opportunity to prove conclusively to the residents of Miami that my commitment as a public official is to serve them and not myself,” the mayor said.
Yeah, he’s going to have to do more than one veto if he wants to prove that.
It’s not a huge sacrifice. Suarez reported a net worth of $4.45 million last year. That’s an increase of almost 30% from the $3.45 million he reported the year before. His real estate holdings, which includes a $2.2 million house in Coconut Grove, grew by $1 million in 2023. He has something like 17 different side jobs, many of them defined as “consulting” jobs, which we now just means palanca.
In fact, one of those got him in trouble, right? Suarez is reportedly under investigation for getting $10,000 a month from developer Rishi Kapoor, for “consulting” while the developer secured permits for his projects. Where was his “commitment as a public official” then?
In fact, with all his side projects — including his five-minute jaunt for the White House and his trips to Texas and elsewhere to expand his national profile — it’s nice to get the mayor’s attention on his elected duties rather than his portfolio.
Read related: What corruption probe? Mayor Francis Suarez enjoys Egypt wedding, Miami F1
Remember, this is the same mayor who used his “commitment as a public official” to attend some fancy Formula 1 events, go to a billionaire’s wedding in Egypt and to organize and promote last year’s Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit, a Miami Beach event sponsored by the government of Saudi Arabia, which is currently under investigation by the US. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs for using American assets to boost efforts to clean up the regime’s image. This is the same government that stands accused of arbitrary arrests, torture and political assassinations, like the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The event, which also benefitted the firm Suarez works for, was part of an investigation into the repressive regime’s PR push in the U.S.
Anyway, Suarez has only 375 days left in his last term as Miami mayor to make up for all the time lost. There are rumors he wants to run for Miami-Dade mayor in 2026, or even governor. But if Trump wins, Baby X thinks he’s going to get some kind of ambassadorship or something. Either way, it’s time to clean up his image. How better than by doing the right thing? For once.
Suarez also took all the wind out of Commissioner Miguel “Mike” Gabela‘s sails. Gabela had said he was going to move at Thursday’s meeting to have the item reconsidered so it could go to a referendum for the public to vote on it, instead.
But, you know, Gabela had said that before — on the radio station he likes to disparage now because they caught him flip flopping — so maybe the mayor couldn’t trust his word.
Read related: Miami commissioners slap residents in the face with lifetime pensions vote
Gabela told Ladra on Friday that he had spoken to the mayor and he was the one who got the veto. The commissioner said he changed his mind (again) after he “heard what the voters had to say.” Was the pension item on the August ballot? No. He likely means his constituency. And the people on the radio. And the newspaper editorials. And the community outrage.
He said it was “a distraction” from his real agenda, which is extending the Omni CRA into Allapattah (more on that later). He just wants this pension business to be over, Gabela said.
He probably doesn’t know yet that in Miami’s political arena, his on-again, off-again push for a self-serving pension will never really be over. Expect to see it again on campaign mailers in 2027.
Veto in Miami makes Mayor Francis Suarez a hero? He’s just doing his job added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
[…] community caused him to want to put an item to reconsider o the agenda. But Mayor Francis Suarez got there first with a veto and was hailed as a […]
@Manny: the downtown Flagler war zone as you accurately describe it is by design. Mana developers and city hall are in cahoots to push out all the mom & pop shops that have been there for generations (luggage, jewelry, pawn shops, ventanitas, etc). These are all undesirable in the “new and improved Flagler Arts District” Mana is trying to build: A “new” Wynwood with art galleries, nightclubs, restaurants, luxury shops, etc. You see it now with Julia & Henry and the Sunday market. Wrecking Flagler and then no work for months is the key to destroying existing businesses and then increasing the rent so they have to close up shop and luxury retailers can move in. Welcome to Miami!
The city of Miami is like a big Piñata, every public official and Commissioner always on ways to grab more and more, enriching themselves in the process. The vote on pensions is the latest example.
But let’s not forget it is the voters who keep electing these people to office, Carrollo being the prime example, they get what they vote for. As the saying goes, “the bigger the bureaucracy the bigger the corruption”
Been Downtown , S. W. 1st , Seen some closed intersections, now know the intent, but not far away , at Miracle Mile , something similar was undertaken , and it had its birth pangs, but , delivered , without extraordinary delays. No one asked me, but Downtown Miami probably has a before and after. Those of us who attended school at Gesu Catholic, have trodded there , long, medium and present , and will be preservation conservatives. Not so much on our Commission’s composition and it’s job qualifications.
Congrats to the most corrupt Mayor in the history of Miami! For what? Because he vetoed an item that would have given him a lifetime pension. Only the stupid residents of the City of Miami would fall for this shit. This is why they deserve these corrupt politicians.
He vetoed the item understanding that Gabela was going to bring the item back to overturn the decision. Suarez saved him the trouble because he knew it would have been undone at the next Commission meeting only to claim that he is a good public servant not willing to take the pension due to the fact that voters never intended for Commissioners to receive the benefit.
Thus, another reason why this piece of crap needs to be thrown jail!
Our congrats to our Mayor
As he always uses his veto when we the residents need him .. he did it to save BBD
With change of zoning when
Reyes and others benefit
With. Contributions from
Developers – we thank you
Francis … proud of you !!!!
Pensions? That’s a drop in the bucket when it comes to wasting money. Why is no one talking about or investigating the disaster that the never ending downtown Flagler Street project has become? They started in 2017 or maybe even 2016 with the idea that the infrastructure underneath had to be up graded and it would be done in phases from Biscayne Boulevard to the courthouse, 5 blocks! 8 years later the street still looks like a war zone. Dozens of businesses that thought they would tough it out for a few months have left downtown ruined by this colossal example of incompetence at all levels. Ground zero of the City of Miami, Miami Ave and Flagler Street, has been opened up, fenced off, and destroyed for months without a single worker showing up. Street detours in place where no work is being done for more than a year. Why cant they just move the detour signs out of the way and not jam up traffic for no reason? Store fronts shuttered for years. A complete embarrassment of a downtown of a major American city. No one cares because the commissioners are on their perch on the water on Pan American Way and don’t have to deal with this. No doubt everyone involved will blame somebody else and no one will take responsibility. Just venting. History tells us nothing will be completed in this generation’s lifetime. And forget the Herald picking up on this. They haven’t had a decent expose since Gary Hart and Donna Rice.
Thank you for your cynicism, Elaine. yes, he is doing his job. yes, the accolades are overblown. but for once things worked kind of the way they should. take the W and quietly go into the night.
Things that make you go hum-
Reyes in a lawsuit on former Police Chief and that will now cost tax payers 2 million! Why is no one speaking on that matter!
Reyes for Mayor… more Reyes for the Sr house
Without firm figures , and comparing the City of Miami’s Operating Budgets of 2019-20 to the 2023-24 , we’ll throw out there that Property Tax Revenue had increased in the vicinity of $100 million. Now, Mr Suarez and us, had the same instruction in counting numbers , and other subjects, it’s necessary to adapt to the novel, to save relevance . For those of us who sat in the benches of Bayfront Park , freshly. arrived to Miami , and scrambled
through te bookshelves of the library , the City’s Downtown tells a monumental urbanístic story .We are challenged to comprehend , while avoiding alienation.