When Audrey Edmonson took over as chair of the county commission last month, she mentioned term limits that will force her to step down in November — and lamented there’s going to be a brain drain because of it.
“The board will never have as much combined experience as it does today,” she said. “There will be a great loss of institutional knowledge.”
Don’t make us laugh, Audrey dear.
First, the idea that there is a lot of brain power on the county commission is funny enough on its own. Have you met Javier Suarez? But the thought that newbies without any government experience are going to be running county government is utterly ridiculous when, in fact, we have a slew of veteran lawmakers already chomping at the bit.
Our next commission will most likely be a bunch of familiar faces playing yet another round of political musical chairs.
Read related: Commission term limits don’t really mean new faces
Five open seats — a miracle caused by the passage of term limits by voters in 2012 — have provided a unique opportunity for upwardly mobile local politicians to climb the government ladder.
Former State Sen. Rene Garcia was the first elected to throw his hat in the ring, running for the District 13 Hialeah/Miami Lakes seat that will be vacated by Esteban Bovo, who is termed out and running for county mayor. He did it last year, before he even left office, and has already raised $7,197, which is pennies because he hasn’t gotten started yet.
Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, himself termed out this year at the city, filed paperwork last month to run for the District 1 seat being vacated by Barbara Jordan, and has a big fundraiser at the NINE club at Hard Rock Joe Robbie stadium on Feb. 28. Jordan and Gilbert will also co-host the 6th Annual Black Heritage Festival at Miami Carol City High and it seems he has her seal of approval. Jordan, who has been a commissioner for 14 years already, could also run for mayor of Miami Gardens because, well, what else is she gonna do?
Las malas lenguas say another seat swap is planned between Edmonson and Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon and that they struck a deal to support each other. He hasn’t filed any paperwork and there are already two other candidates who have. But neither one has raised any real money and Hardemon, who has publicly said he plans to run, would start off as a frontrunner by a million miles.
Nobody has talked publicly about Edmonson running for Hardemon’s seat but we already know she feels she has the experience and “institutional knowledge” (read: special interest connections). And, like Jordan, Edmonson — who will have served 15 years at the county and served as El Portal mayor before that — might not know how to survive if released to the wild. Don’t ask Ladra if Edmonson lives in the district because that doesn’t always matter, as proven by Joe Carollo, who somehow convinced a judge that he lived in a tiny apartment he just rented in Little Havana rather than in the really nice Coconut Grove house he and his wife have owned for years.
Former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado lives in District 7, where Xavier Suarez is termed out and, most likely, running for county mayor. At least for now. Regalado, who lost a mayoral bid in 2016, has switched races three times already. First she was going to run for Congress in District 27, then she was going to run for state Senate in District 40, then she switched over to run for senate in District 37 where Jose Javier Rodriguez sits now. Then, since a Democrat won the congressional race and J-Rod is sitting put for now, she moved on to the county. But who knows with her? She may run for a city of Miami seat in 2019 instead? Or state rep.
Read related: State Rep. Kionne McGhee runs for District 9 county commission
State Rep. Kionne McGhee hasn’t filed any paperwork either but he confirmed to Ladra Sunday that he would run for the District 9 seat in South Dade vacated by Dennis Moss, who has been in that very same office since 1993, same as Commissioner Javier Souto, who was miraculously re-elected in November.
Does that mean Moss is going to run for state rep in District 117?
Ladra couldn’t reach him over the weekend. But I’d make that bet.

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She’s been known as the body bag commissioner because she once threatened a colleague with those words in a late night, early morning budget hearing.  But on Tuesday — er, I mean, on “Honorable Natacha Seijas Day” — the former Hialeah commissioner who was ousted in an ugly and historic recall in 2011, was re-christened The Mother of the Living Wage.

That’s because Seijas was the one who brought us the living wage ordinance in 1999. And on Tuesday, after years of appeals were exhausted with a Supreme Court decision to let the ordinance stand, Seijas was honored for having the foresight.

The kudos was sponsored by her best friend, Commissioner Barbara Jordan, but everybody joined in for the congratulations afterwards, even Commissioner Esteban Bovo, who was way too eager to take over her district and has not been, shall we say, exactly the prodigal son.

Read related story: Budget breakfast for Bovo and Seijas

Well, everybody but Mayor Carlos Gimenez. He was conspicuously absent and Seijas openly inferred no surprise. There is no love lost there.

But everybody else had a kind word.

“This legislation was really a watershed moment in this community,” said Commissioner Dennis Moss.

“Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to do something that is truly remarkable and changes the lives of individuals and makes their lives greater than what it was before,” Jordan said, while Seijas continued to greet people from her past.

“And she is still talking as she used to do on the dais,” Jordan said.

Among those people she was greeting, Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, who was the co-sponsor of the pioneer 1999 legislation.

“As we used to do here when we served together, I am going to yield the floor to my good friend,” the Flagship DLP said.

“He does that only because I walked out on him one time and he didn’t have a quorum. So we became good friends after that,” Seijas quipped back.

“I always thought I would be always known for the body bag [comment],” she said. “Now, I’m known for something that really, really, really makes anybody feel happy and content and fulfilled.”

Read related story: Natacha Seijas — From ousted official to kids’ author

Diaz de la Portilla, who served as a county commissioner from 1993 to 2000, said that while the law passed unanimously on May 11 some 17 years ago, it was a battle to get there. “There was a lot of opposition. Opposition from vendors who did business with the county … but with the support of the labor unions, with the wonderful support of the attorneys office, with the support really of an entire community of working of the people who only wanted to provide for their families decently we were able to build the momentum to get a unanimous vote.”

He also thanked the FIU Labor Center, the Human Services Coalition and the local League of Women Voters for working with the county to make the Miami-Dade living wage ordinance a reality. It requires companies that have contracts with the county to pay their workers higher than the minimum wage (right now it’s at $12.63 an hour if health benefits are offered and $14.56 an hour without them).

Seijas said that it was fulfilling to get the votes and pass the law, but that people like SEIU Florida President Monica Russo were the ones who “work and make it happen.”

Russo called Seijas a brave and courageous leader.

“She taught me in the trenches of Hialeah the meaning of community, the meaning of having those one on one conversations every single day with her constituents, listening, not just talking at but really listening,”Russo said. “For being a fighter for her neighbors, for her constituents… It had nothing to do with party affiliation. It was all about investing in and empowering the community.

“She has been a great and incredible mentor for me,” Russo said.

Commission Chairman Jean Monestime thanked her for her leadership but said there was still work to be done. “Working people still need a lot of help.”

It was the second time that Seijas has been back in commission chambers since she was ousted, the first being when Monestime was sworn in as chairman.

“I have no desire to go for nonsense,” she later told Ladra. “But something that makes a difference, yes.”

And Tuesday? “It was a very nice moment.”