He was absent from the redistricting process when the Miami City Commission disenfranchised black and Coconut Grove voters by dividing their districts and diluting their votes. He let Commissioner Joe Carollo carve up the Grove so he could put his own house into District 3 and he let Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla take his only real challenger out of District 1. Mayor Francis Suarez didn’t say ni pio.
But now he wants to be involved? Now he wants to work?
Suarez on Sunday — the last day he could — vetoed a measure taken earlier this month to put newly-elected Commissioner Miguel Gabela‘s home back into the district he has lived in for more than two decades. Gabela has been living in another property he owns in the district while the challenge to the new map, passed in June, goes through the court process.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla loses re-election bid to Miguel Gabela on 4th try
Gabela, who beat the Diaz de la Portilla — who was suspended after his September arrest on public corruption charges — made the motion at the Dec. 14 meeting and it passed 3-1 with only Carollo voting against it. Commissioner Manolo Reyes was MIA.
Reyes is going to be key at the January meeting where the veto will be considered. The commission cn only override with a four/fifths vote.
Why on Earth does Suarez, who hasn’t commented on the charges against ADLP, care about Gabela’s house being in the same district it’s always been in?
“I think he’s being pressured,” Gabela told Political Cortadito.
“I don’t know what to think. This is a guy who has been absent forever,” said Gabela, who has not joined the chorus asking for Suarez to resign. He says he’s not ready to do so. But he did confront the mayor at the Dec. 11 special meeting when Suarez tried to give a little stump speech about all the good he’s done with the budget and the “highest reserves ever” blah, blah, blah.
“Are we on a budget here or are we talking about crime? What are we talking about here? I was told to stick to the issues and I want to stick to the issues,” Gabela said. “But we’re going on and on and on.”
Is this payback?
Read related: Growing calls for Francis Suarez to resign lead to nasty mayoral message
“He’s worried about my house, but nevermind what is going on with the city attorney, the budget that we had a crisis. Nevermind what’s going on with him,” Gabela said.
The city attorney is under investigation — or should be — for a scheme where her husband basically stole an old man’s home, buying it for less than it was worth and then getting the zoning violations waived before flipping it for a high profit. Something he’s apparently done a lot. The city almost lost $56 million in state funds because it had not passed the budget unanimously. And Suarez himself is under FBI and multiple agency investigations for his side gigs, including a $10K a month consulting job with a developer who got his help pulling permits for a project in the Grove, as the Miami Herald reported.
“Carollo’s house doesn’t bother him,” Gabela said. “Carollo was accommodated. Coconut grove was broken in half to accommodate Carollo and give him his house.
“Since the districts became districts, my house has always been in District 1,” Gabela went on. “Everybody knows what happened. That my house was taken out to help Alex Diaz de la Portilla.”
Suarez wasn’t at the Dec. 14 meeting — not even to make a quick cameo like he did at the emergency budget meeting on Dec. 11. “He couldn’t be here because he was in the Middle East or wherever,” Gabela said, referring to the many trips to Saudi Arabia that Suarez has taken for his law firm.
Former State Rep. JC Planas, Gabel’s attorney in the lawsuit against the redistricting map (and a candidate for the Supervisor of Elections), didn’t seem too surprised by the Suarez veto.
“It would not be Christmas without Scrooge,” Planas said. “For his sake, I hope he gets visited by three ghosts tonight.”
Absentee Miami Mayor Francis Suarez issues Christmas Eve veto on D1 lines added by Ladra on
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Art Noreiga brought in the idiot Larry Spring to be the CFO again? Wild. Spring even got fired from North Miami. And everyone knows Spring helped the owner of the Miami Marlins steal $3 Billion from South Florida taxpayers WHILE SPING WAS CFO OF THE CITY OF MIAMI.
Is it a conflict of interest when a City employee invest their money using the same model as the City invest it’s money?
Francis Suarez is on the Epstein guest list who visited his island. If you recall, Francis had one of his hand selected staff members arrested and jailed for child molestation at City Hall. Francis has been rumored for many years of exploring his secret life.
The Truth is correct but the investigation is much larger than the City of Miami. The part about the cuffs are correct.
There are some major violations with the accounting, debt, and investment policy of the City. The rules are not being followed. The conditions of investments are being reported favorably with losses hidden.
Go to 7 Districts and that will solve the issue one and for all.
Morningside/Edgewater/Downtown as a new district, place back Grove into D2
BUT that will not happen UNTIL Carollo is gone!
FS is not a real man ,he is scared of Carollo.
Steve Marin was controlling Marc Sarnoff since 2006. Steve Marin and the greedy Fire Union put Sarnoff in office. In 2007 Sarnoff did what the Fire Union demanded and Sarnoff made a Motion to give the 650 fire union members the biggest pay and benefit package per fireman in the world. Yup. Miami has almost no fires YET the Miami fire union members are the HIGHEST PAID firemen in the world. They retire multi multi millionaires. Steve Marin… and Wilbur Jackson… and Sarnoff are all criminals.
Francis Suarez is a crook.
Great reporting and Merry Christmas.
Lol, this guy is just too much. He thinks a redistricting issue is going to distract residents from being investigated by the FBI, SEC, IRS, State Attorneys Office, FDLE, State Ethics Commission and Miami-Dade Ethics Commission. From what I hear, he should be more worries about getting handcuffed and escorted out of City Hall once and for all. The Mayor that wears no cloths will be further disrobed as the criminal he is. Pobrecito
Place Mr. Gabela House back in The District # 1 Where it Always Was and Prevent The CONSULTANT that Created this Mess from Ever get Work from the City of Miami ! CORRUPTION has NOT a Home in The MAGIC CITY any More?
Ladra,
They are turning against one another. Vicky Mendez is turning on Art Noriega and Vice Versa; Carollo has vowed to complete his unfinished business with the Suarez family when he felt that Xavier should have gone to jail for voter fraud- he hates Francis and had the Miami Police Department to create a dossier full of information on Francis that he gave to the FBI; Alex DeLaPortilla has turned on Carollo; Steve Marin has turned on Marc Sarnoff and has turned in information on Sarnoff, Art Noriega, Vickey Mendez, Francis Suarez, Joe Carollo, Alex DeLaPortilla, Larry Spring, Alejandra Argudin, Scott Simpson, and George Wysong. These are the people that empowered Sarnoff and took away Marin’s lobbying business; Larry Spring divulging information on the City finances and blaming incorrect financial statements, parking fees, development fees, and more on the Finance Dept. management team; Scott Simpson is turning on Alejandra and Art; etc.
More arrests are coming!!!!