Miami's dismissal of Bill Galvano is show of force vs Commissioner ADLP

Miami commissioners want to fire former Sen. President Bill Galvano, who has been consulting on redistricting for $10,000 a month, because they can’t fire Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla.

The official line from Commissioner Jeffrey Watson, who made the move to terminate Galvano’s contract on a surprise pocket item at last week’s meeting, is that people in his Democrat-leaning district are afraid the former GOP senator — who has had controversy and lawsuits from his partisan redistricting efforts before — would somehow use his position to benefit Republican pols and candidates.

But the word around City Hall is that nobody trusts ADLP and suspect Galvano — who gets to bill the city for another month — will redistrict favorably for him and whoever does his bidding and punish others.

Oh, and that Commissioner Joe Carollo le esta pasando la cuenta. That it is just more fallout from the bromance break-up. It’s part punitive and part self preservation.

Every single commissioner there who has already met privately with Galvano, and had no problem when ADLP first suggested hiring him in September, knew all about the controversial baggage all along. They knew Galvano and Diaz de la Portilla are uña y carne. After all, Galvano was the one who swore Alex in at the city.

Commissioners didn’t care about the baggage then. And they don’t care about it now, no matter how much they feign they do.

They said it wasn’t a “personality” issue and that they had no doubt Galvano would do a “wonderful” job.

“But no matter what a great job he will do, it will be questioned by some and they will try to muddy the process because he is the one who did it,” Carollo said, calling Galvano a “lightning rod” for partisan controversy.

Commissioner Manolo Reyes was quick to agree, as always. “One thing that’s important is that this process doesn’t bring any controversy among our communities,” he said. “If one of the members of this body or the community doesn’t feel comfortable… I think a change should be made.”

Their choice is the other redistricting expert, local lobbyist Miguel de Grandy, who is also a former prosecutor and state rep (1989-1994). He was involved in the 1992 redistricting of the congressional map — known as the De Grandy plan — that increased the number of Miami-Dade Hispanic-majority seats. Ladra had wondered why he wasn’t brought up before.

But he is probably more of an expert on redistricting than Galvano is, who Diaz de la Portilla sold como pan caliente at the commission meeting in September. Some say de Grandy is better because he knows the districts, the neighborhoods, the issues — and the government and political processes that get mired in the remapping. He’s done it before. Twice.

De Grandy led the redistricting process for the city of Miami in 2002 and again in 2012. The last time, according to the report he wrote for the city, the difference between the largest district and smallest district was 36%, much higher than the federally mandated 10% threshold. De Grandy and attorneys Pablo Tamayo and Stephen Cody, now a newly-elected Palmetto Bay councilman, divided the city into 16 subareas and moved some of them around, mostly from District 2 to District 5.

On Thursday, Diaz de la Portilla got Watson to stop the process and defer until the Jan. 28 meeting so that Galvano can defend himself. Not because the city could be liable for the $120,000 value of the contract — an excuse he tried to use until City Attorney Tricky Vicky Mendez told the council there was an exit anytime clause.

“The fact of the matter is that Mr. Galvano has an impeccable record,” Diaz de la Portilla said, adding that the board voted unanimously to hire him and also that it was the “manager’s decision,” which everyone knows it was not.

“When I met with him he was very clear that he was going to be very, very impartial and be very fair. That he was going to use due process … to make sure the makeup of this commission would remain intact,” ADLP said. “There really isn’t any concern. He has addressed those issues.”

Yeah, Alex, it’s not really about that.

He also said the Galvano should be given the opportunity to defend himself.

“If you want to remove someone and you’re questioning someone’s integrity,” he said, commissioners should allow that person a chance to address the issues.

“Let him face his jury, right? Let him come before us and address us,” Diaz de la Portilla said, and at one point it seemed like begging. “It is the wrong thing to do without at least giving him an opportunity to address it.

“It seems that it’s just really, really unfair,” he said. “Before you sack someone, you should allow them to address the commission… and face his accusers.”

Funny. Ladra doesn’t remember him taking that position during the witch trial against former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez.

Galvano should never have been hired in the first place — and here was a lot of discussion on how that was done, through the manager’s office as a directive. Galvano has always had baggage and he’s always been too close to ADLP. We still don’t know how much it cost the city for Diaz de la Portilla to travel, with a paid police bodyguard, to Sarasota and stay at a resort to talk to Galvano during a political powwow golf tournament. Ladra has asked. Still waiting.

And what did they talk about? Galvano already had a contract with the city.

But we do know that Galvano has cost the city at least $10,000 so far. For what? City Manager Art Noriega did not return a phone call and texts about the contract and work product.

Watson said he didn’t know how much of a difference two weeks will make, especially after the opinions that were put on the record. “You understand what the will of the body is,” he said to Diaz de la Portilla.

In other words, he has the votes. Carollo echoed that, but, as the true author of the motion, he was unhappy about having to wait.

“Is he going to bill us to fly here,” asked Commissioner Ken Russell.

Carollo demanded an answer: “Are you committing we’re not going to get billed,” he asked ADLP.

“I don’t think he needs the airfare. He’s very successful,” Diaz de la Portilla said. “I’ll make sure he comes down on his own dime.”

But it looks like ADLP was trying to get his buddy another $10,000, which Mendez confirmed would be paid if Galvano was not let go Thursday.

“Commissioner Watson, that’s a decision you have to make for us,” Carollo said, seemingly hinting again that he did not want to put it off.

But Watson wanted to be congenial.

“We have a lot of business to do. We just talked about a lot of waste in respect to this issue. I’m inclined to shoulder being held accountable for doing what we have to do to, allowing him to be part of the process and allow us to take care of business and move forward,” Watson said.

“If that means he has to show up and we have to spend $10,000 to do that, I’ll go for that. Okay?”

Nice work if you can get it. Wonder how much of that goes to ADLP.

Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Bill Galvano, Joe Carollo, redistricting

Miami’s dismissal of Bill Galvano is show of force vs Commissioner ADLP added by Ladra on January 20, 2021
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