Voters will get to decide if the newly created elected Miami-Dade sheriff’s seat, tax collector and supervisor of elections will be partisan positions or not after the county commission voted last week to put the referendum on the 2020 ballot.
The sheriff’s position was created last year by voters who also made the elections head and tax collector elected positions rather than appointees of the mayor. The property appraiser’s seat was already a nonpartisan elected office, as are the county mayor and commission seats, as are most municipal offices.
“The positions of Sheriff, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, and Supervisor of Elections are positions that our residents should have the right to select, endorse, and vote on the basis of merit, regardless of party affiliation,” said Commissioner Esteban Bovo, who sponsored the resolution.
But who is he kidding? Campaigns for these seats have increasingly become partisan, especially as Democrats — who have a majority of the voters in Miami-Dade but have not had a majority of elected representatives — try to seed the bench at the local level to create viable candidates for state office.
Read related: Dems push full court press for Eileen Higgins in special District 5 county race
It really started to be obvious in the 2014 race between Daniella Levine-Cava and former Commissioner Lynda Bell, the incumbent. Democrats poured tons of resources into the Levine-Cava campaign and had impact.
Last year, Democrats helped Commissioner Eileen Higgins win a special election over two Republicans who were better known.
In 2016, local Dems scrambled to find a challenger to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who himself toyed with changing his party in a publicity stunt orchestrated by Hillary Clinton supporters, which included his spokesman and one of his campaign managers.
And Dems are not losing hope: They want a blue mayor in 2020.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez’s party switch talk is consistent, distracting
Kendall Democrats President Bryan Hernandez, who worked on the Donna Shalala for Congress and Heath Rassner for State House campaigns last year — said as much in an op-ed he wrote this week for the Community Newspapers:
“Our county is in desperate need of visionary, smart leadership. The mayor who succeeds Carlos Gimenez must be a Democrat who will tackle the serious issues facing Miami-Dade,” noting there are a number of Democrats running. Those include Levine-Cava and former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas.
“I’m a 23-year-old professional who’s starting off his career in Miami. Affordable housing, public transit, and sea level rise are critical issues to me,” Hernandez said. “If a politician wants my vote in the 2020 mayoral election, they need to propose bold solutions to these problems.
He goes on to write about the issues the next mayor will have to face (because this mayor sure won’t, which includes climate change, traffic, affordable housing and “the growing level of inequality.” But it makes one wonder: Do you have to be a Democrat to care about those things.
Hernandez also talks about the rich getting richer with developers who live off the politicians they buy — but Ladra’s experience is that this practice is also bipartisan.
Read related: Political musical chairs: Recycled electeds vie for 2020 seats
“Miami-Dade County is ground zero for both issues. The next mayor must lead us through these great challenges and secure a good future for me and my generation of Miamians,” Hernandez writes. “I call on local Democratic clubs, progressive groups, and all those tired with this corrupt, abysmal leadership to start planning for the goal of electing a bold Democratic mayor in 2020. That work must begin now.”
On the one hand, these races should be nonpartisan. It’s the right thing to do so that Independent voters aren’t shut out of the process or so that one party doesn’t dominate a race. But, on the other hand, is it really going to matter? Unless there are rules and penalties for bringing up partisanship in non partisan elections, there will always be the campaigns that use the R or the D to their advantage.
Even if the letter is invisible.

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Juan Zapata is still the only official candidate for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020 — and he is making the most of holding all the dance cards: His campaign got a big head start last week with an interview on Univision’s local Channel 23.
The former commissioner was interviewed by Erika Carrillo, the same reporter who was new to Univision when she scooped everyone on the story someone at the county fed her about Zapata — who was the mayor’s biggest critic and budget ball buster — taking Harvard classes paid by taxpayers.
Of course, it wasn’t that cut and dry. Zapata took the same course some other commissioners, including Jean Monestime, had taken. When he extended the course, the county was automatically charged. He always intended to pay for it himself, however, and reimbursed the county immediately.
Read related: Juan Zapata is first to throw hat into 2020 mayoral free-for-all
But the damage was done to one of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s biggest critics and main challenger on the dais. And Zapata ended up dropping out of his 2015 re-election campaign, disgusted with it all and frustrated with his attempts to reform our county government.
“That frustration still lives in me and that is why I have a desire to change it,” Zapata told Carillo. “I saw the monster from inside. And I saw people who governed caring only about themselves, about their own interests.”
He may find himself fighting some of those same “people” again, as the growing list of possible mayoral wannabes include three of his former colleagues: Commissioners Esteban Bovo, Daniella Levine-Cava — which the station mistakenly identified as Cuban-American — and Xavier Suarez. Rounding out the list of names that have been floated are former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and former Congressman Carlos Curbelo.
Read related: 2020 contender Xavier Suarez has dream slate for commission
And we’re almost two years out. No wonder Zapata is campaigning already.
He told Carrillo that he would be able to raise the money he needs to wage a positive campaign that is “looking to the future.” But, judging from the almost 3-minute interview, he is going to bring up the mistakes of the past.
Zapata always voted against the half cent tax deviation and said that his mission as mayor would be to reform county government, particularly the transit department.
“To me, it always seemed a lack of respect to ask the taxpayers for the money, collect the money and use it for another purpose, not the one you collect it for,” Zapata said. “That has to stop.”
Read related: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’
But, while he always criticized the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, he is against the Bryan Avila bill moving in the House to eliminate the agency. “To give those funds to Tallahassee would be an error. In Tallahassee, every chance they get to take our money and spend it elsewhere, they will take it.”
And he promised not to give his favorite lobbyists and campaign people juicy jobs and contracts.
“Nobody will be given favoritism,” Zapata said. “The government will have one job, to produce results for the citizens of this county.”
About the Harvard episode, which will likely come up in the campaign because that’s all opponents will have on Zap, the former commissioner is obviously owning the misstep and that’s refreshing in politics.
“I learned from that experience,” Zapata said, adding that the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission found nothing wrong and that, before he left the commission, he passed an ordinance clarifying the limits of those funds.
“I think the citizens know that I had every intention [to pay],” he said.
Watch the entire interview here.

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Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez is not only running for mayor in 2020 (probably), he’s got a whole slate of commission candidates he is supporting.
“Ordinarily, it would seem a bit early to engage in those discussions,” Suarez said.
But this is no ordinary election. Term limits approved by voters in 2012 mean that five of the seven county commission seats on the 2020 ballot will be wide open. That makes for a unique opportunity to change the make up of the board — and its priorities — which has people coming out of the woodwork.
That “together with the announcement of various eminent candidates for the five open seats, compels me to make my own plans clear – beginning with what issue and which candidates are likely to advance the county in the right direction,” X said.

Read related: Carlos Gimenez taps commissioner to block return of 1/2 penny funds
Suarez, who announced his endorsements last week, naturally would want allies for his administration and indicated that these candidates will support his efforts to separate the half penny funds from operational and maintenance expenses and implement the S.M.A.R.T. plan.
“Winston Churchill defined ‘squandermania’ as diverting taxpayers’ money for useless or improper purposes,” Suarez said, hinting at a word we might see on the campaign trail. “The misuse of the half-cent for 17 years, totaling $1.8 billion, must end in 2020. I am committed to supporting five new commissioners who will see to that.”
Those candidates are:

District 1: Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, a “dogged champion and architect of Miami Garden’s renaissance as the eminently livable city in the northernmost region of the county. Recently selected chairman of the Transportation Planning Organization, he has fought for prioritizing the northern corridor of the S.M.A.R.T. Plan and to recoup municipal powers over the site of Hard Rock Stadium.”
District 3: Miami Commissioner Keon Hardeman, who “has distinguished himself as chairman of both the Miami City Commission and the SE Overtown C.R.A. His relentless pursuit of tax increment bond monies resulted in $60 million of financing, including affordable housing and commercial/cultural development, that have already transformed NW 3rd Avenue into one of the most desirable places to live, work, and play in the urban core.
District 7: Former Miami-Dade School Board Member and one-time mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado, who “led the effort to complete and promote MAST Academy, as well as bringing the school system to its present ‘A’ rating. She is a vocal critic of ‘squandermania’ of the half-cent surcharge funds and a strong proponent of the S.M.A.R.T. Plan using rail, as presented to the voters in 2002.”
In District 9: State Rep. and Minority Leader Kionne McGhee., considered “the emotional leader of the battle to bring rail to the South Dade transitway. He, too, is a vocal critic of ‘squandermania’ of the half-cent surcharge funds, testifying before the CITT in the 2017 board meeting that led to the resolution calling for the unwinding of unification by 2019.”
In District 13: Former State Sen. Rene Garcia, “one of the most respected legislators ever to serve our county. He is committed to using the half-cent surcharge for its proper purposes. He has been a steadfast supporter of Medicaid expansion in Florida. Like the others in this slate, he believes that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.”

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With all the recent speculation about Alex Penelas and/or Carlos Curbelo tossing a wrench into what we thought was a battle between heir apparent Esteban Bovo and Sir Xavier Suarez, the people’s knight, for the open mayoral seat in 2020, the first to throw his hat in the ring was none of the above.
Former Commissioner Juan Zapata — who last gave up the fight for his own re-election in 2016, citing a hostile work environment — filed paperwork on Monday showing he has opened a mayoral campaign account and will run for the top county job.
Read related: Chased out: Juan Zapata leaves hostile work environment
“#ItsTime to get county government truly working for its residents and transform an antiquated government structure that fails to address the present and future needs of our community,” Zapata said in a statement Ladra believes is the key message of his campaign, hence the hashtag, which was repeated in the press release emailed Monday evening.
“As a commissioner, Zapata tirelessly fought to maximize taxpayer resources, increase police presence, protect the unincorporated areas, strengthen the county’s infrastructure, institute innovative policies and advocate for viable transit solutions.
“#ItsTime to bring a true spirit of public service back to county hall and lay out a vision for the future of Miami-Dade County.
“Zapata will focus on keeping our residents safe, protecting our environment, improving mobility, and addressing the inequality and affordability issues that exist in our community. His broad public service experience, along with his reputation as a servant leader, positions him as the best choice for Mayor to bring about responsible prosperity and innovative solutions to Miami-Dade County. #ItsTime.”
His media contact is Bibiana “Bibi” Potestad, the Florida House candidate in district 119 that he supported last year (she lost the Republican primary to Juan Fernandez-Barquin, who is the new state rep now) and who once interned for Zapata when he was the first Colombian elected state rep (2002-2010).
If elected next year, Zapata would be Miami-Dade’s first Colombian-American mayor.
Read related: Juan Zapata’s last meeting items: ‘Smart growth,’ zoning, ATVs
But the field is expected to be fat. Bovo is going to run, and the recent acquisition of Brian Goldmeier by Penelas shows he intends to run for something. Some people have been floating Curbelo’s name, but the former Congressman has a great national TV gig that he could parlay back into national office, if he keeps his pants on long enough for Marco Rubio to retire.
Who else? Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava might actually think she has the chops already, even though she has hardly been the force she promised to be on the commission. But Commissioner Rebeca Sosa has long thought she deserves to be the county’s first female mayor.
Then there’s the recent flurry of urgent activity in tweets and posts and email blasts from Commissioner Joe Martinez‘s office. There’s going to be a detour over here. There’s going to be road construction over there. Cold weather is coming, bundle up, and Happy Holocaust Remembrance Day. But that could just as likely be for a run at the sheriff’s seat created by voters last November.
Ladra also knows for a fact that former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera is talking to people about it. And a lot of Democrats still want to see former Congressman Joe Garcia there.
Ladra is likely forgetting someone. Whoever it is, other candidates are likely to make much out of a Master’s Degree program at Harvard that he first paid for with county funds before he paid it himself. Zap — an outspoken critic of Mayor Carlos Gimenez already had a target drawn on his back — had originally signed up for a shorter program that the county had previously paid for with other commissioners in the past.
Read related: Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’
He decided to get more out of it, but before he could reimburse the county for the difference, someone (read: a Gimenez lackey) had tipped of a reporter and the story had been cast as if Zap had intended to make taxpayers pay for his professional development all along. And it came right at re-election, which is what likely caused him to withdraw.
But that may be all they have. Because Zapata’s wide field of supporters say he has always represented the best interest of the people against the developers, the special interests and the politicians that serve them. Ladra knows him as a bold speaker who isn’t afraid to ask the difficult questions and calls the budget process the shell game that it is. He would likely be a reformer at the county.
Maybe #ItsTime for someone like that to run for mayor after all.

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