Lobbying starts to fill Eileen Higgins’ D5 Miami-Dade commission seat

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Lobbying starts to fill Eileen Higgins’ D5 Miami-Dade commission seat
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With the Miami mayoral elections just weeks away, thoughts are turning to who would replace Miami-Dade Eileen Higgins, who resigned her District 5 seat to run in the city. The resignation takes effect after the Nov. 4 election, whether she wins or not.

And everybody is betting that the commission is going to appoint someone.

Why wouldn’t they? They just had a brutal budget season and a special election will cost, well, something. And they’ve been on an appointing spree, with both Danielle Cohen Higgins and, more recently, Natalie Milian Orbis filling in for vacancies. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Roberto Gonzalez to the District 11 seat, but that was only because former Commissioner Joe Martinez was suspended after his arrest on public corruption charges.

So the likelihood of an appointment is high, especially since it wouldn’t have to be for the full three years left on the term. The district can be included in next year’s commission races, so it’s just a year. Even though that year gives the appointee a huge advantage when he or she runs.

And there are already wannabes chomping at the chance.

Read related: Anthony Rodriguez, Florida lawmakers discuss elimination of property taxes

State Rep. Vicky Lopez, who was just appointed to the governor’s new property tax reform committee, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who left the District 5 seat in 2018 to run for Congress, but lost — and former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, who lost last year’s race for county sheriff, have been floated as possible fill-ins. Former Miami Beach Commissioner and onetime State Rep. David Richardson, who filed to run for the D5 seat in 2028, has also talked to several commissioners as early as April, when he filed to run for the seat in an election.

Even though the county board of commissioners is nonpartisan, party politics often play into decisions. Especially when appointing someone. The commission is currently 7-6 for the blue team. When they appointed Milian earlier this year, all the Democrats but Higgins — who wanted an election — joined all the Republicans but Rene Garcia, who also wanted an election. Maybe that’s because Milian was replacing a Republican. Or maybe that’s because Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins does whatever Chairman Anthony Rodriguez wants.

So, it stands to reason that they would choose a Democrat to replace a Democrat, no?

“Having represented Miami Beach and Little Havana both on the Miami Beach Commission and as a state representative, I would be honored to be considered for an appointment,” Richardson told Political Cortadito Friday. “I made phone calls months ago to express my interest, and then I filed to further express my interest.

“I have a deep understanding of the issues constituents face day in and day out, and believe voters would be best served by someone with my education and experience,” Richardson said, although neither of those things helped him in the Miami-Dade Tax Collector’s race last year, which he lost to Dariel Fernandez.

Read related: David Richardson seeks to replace Eileen Higgins on county commission

Sanchez, who did not return calls and texts from Ladra, is openly and publicly lobbying for the position.

“With Commissioner Eileen Higgins resigning to run for City of Miami Mayor, District 5 deserves strong representation,” Sanchez posted on Instagram last week, using the same photo he used to campaign for sheriff. “My time on the City of Miami Commission representing the residents of District 5 (1998-2009), as well as my career as a law enforcement professional and a former U.S. Army soldier, make me uniquely qualified to serve our district with integrity and experience.

“If the Commission appoints someone to fill this seat, I humbly ask to be considered. If instead there’s a special election, I look forward to making my case directly to the voters of District 5,” Sanchez posted.

Almost immediately, Downtown Neighbors Alliance President James Torres, who also ran for Miami commission in District 2 and just co-hosted a Miami mayoral debate with CBS Miami, shot back: “Cute speech, Joe. But democracy isn’t a giveaway program. Elected office should be earned at the ballot box. Demand an election and try winning it, instead of pleading for a political handout.”

Ouch.

Except there is not likely going to be a special election, which will reportedly cost close to or more than $1 million. The commission has the perfect political cover to go the naming route because nobody wants to find another mil in a budget tighter than a campaign donor’s, er, smile after an ethics complaint. The most likely course is what Rodriguez did for the District 6 vacancy earlier this year: open it up to wannabes. Although Milian Orbis was said to have been chosen before the actual meeting of the appointment.

Read related: Is a fix in for the District 6 appointment at Miami-Dade County Commission?

Bruno Barreiro, who served two years of his four year term before resigning to run for Congress, said he is interested. “I’m up for a second tour,” he told Political Cortadito this week. “I think the county needs little bit of stability and help. I think I bring a lot of institutional knowledge.

“And my wife and I are empty nesters now, so we have a lot more time,” Barreiro said, adding that he’d also put his name in the hat for a special election, if that were to happen (which, we’ve already established, is a long shot).

But that institutional knowledge comes from 20 years as a commissioner — and six before that in the Florida House — which a lot of people think is too many already. That’s why we now have term limits. And he’s already run for a bunch of things since: House District 112 in 2020 and for Miami Commission in 2021 against Joe Carollo, which he dropped out of.

Most insiders are betting on Lopez, who is reportedly not reaching out directly, but using surrogates. While some say she should stay nice and safe in Tallahassee, others say her leadership opportunities will fall with the rise of a new House speaker. Meanwhile, the county commission loves to put state legislators on the board. She would join commissioners Rodriguez and Kionne McGhee, both former state reps, and former Sen. Rene Garcia. But she’s got baggage, too.

The mother of the Live Local Act that will increase density and traffic, a gift to developers really, Lopez — who was re-elected last year, beating Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Gross-Kellogg 55% to 45% — was also indicted on 10 counts, including bribery and “honest services fraud,” when she was a Lee County commissioner in 1995. She served 15 months in federal prison for honest services fraud until President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence. In 2011, after a change in the scope of the honest services fraud criteria, a court vacated her conviction.

What was she accused of? Failing to disclose how her votes could have benefited the clients of a lobbyist who was also her secret lover at the time, who she went on to marry and later divorce. It’s telenovela gold. More recently, she’s been accused of benefiting from the school bus camera legislation she championed last year after family members got lucrative jobs in the industry. It looks like a pattern.

This is the best the Miami-Dade has to offer?

Whoever is chosen will have to seek election by the voters in August of next year, according to a new state law that says appointees must be on the next available ballot. And next August, there’s already elections for commission seats in districts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Adding District 5 is no biggie.

If you want more independent, watchdog reporting of county government and local elections, help Ladra with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here.

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9 Responses to "Lobbying starts to fill Eileen Higgins’ D5 Miami-Dade commission seat"

  6. I am in complete agreement with the answering comments by RAG. Ms. Vicky Lopez is totally inaccessible to constituents who try to access her. She does not even have an office in her district whereby a person who has a legitimate concern can walk to have a conversation and seek administrative help, let alone a face to face meeting which is what should happen on key issues that affect our lives. In my opinion, even were she to have an office, she is the kind of person that would just delegate to other offices and not serve with purpose, She is nothing more than the creation of Carlos Lopez Cantera who is very much involved in her career, using the powerful hierarchy that he has had for two decades in the art of fundraising. (notice that I am not calling it a science when I think of his historical methods). I will not make this any longer, though I could add some comments on RAG’s other observations. I do not know who he is, but he is spot on his feelings.

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  7. Last I checked, democracy was built at the ballot box. Guess I’ll check again.
    Respectfully,
    James Torres
    #ballotboxnotbackroom #miami

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  8. As a resident of district V, I will say who I am not voting for:
    Vicki Lopez: This lady is shady. She was arrested and convicted in 1997 along with her then husband for honest services mail fraud. She was sentenced to serve time in federal prison. Her sentence was commuted by then President Bill Clinton. None the less, she is still a crook and has no business in public service. As state rep she heavily lobbied for cameras on school busses to benefit her son that went to work for that same company that issues those fines. How convenient?
    Bruno Barreiro: The most absent commissioner to be on the county dais wants to hold political office once more? Lets go down memory lane and how he wanted to use $110 million in bonds to help a Felon. Does anyone remember the late Demetrio Perez, Jr.? Once a school board member he had a 21-count federal indictment and served time in the pokey. Bruno Barreiro heavily lobbied that the county issue $110 million in municipal bonds and the use of those proceeds to provide a tax exempt, low interest financing to Demetrio Perez’ private charter schools. Does Lincoln Marti ring a bell? In other words, he was helping a crook because he is a crook.
    David Richardson: Now we all know we need an independent body to keep the status quo in government. Why on earth would this guy legislate to terminate the Office of the Inspector General back in 2022 if he wasn’t up to something shady?

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