By GRANT STERN, Special Guest Columnist
Miami Commissioner Ken Russell is running for Congress for the third time in just five years since he got elected to his present office just six and a half years ago.
Former colleague says he used her in a hit piece without her knowledge
There is a lot of money going around in the Miami-Dade District 2 racethe clusterbunch race with six candidates. And it’s not all where you’d expect it to be.
Sure, North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime is raking it in with real estate investors and developers. He’s got almost $800,000 between his campaign account and his political action committee. But social worker extraordinaire Marleine Bastien, founder and director of the nonprofit Family Action Network Movement, has the healthiest campaign account, without loaning herself a dime and without the bundling that is more evident in the other candidates’ records.
All six candidates in the Miami-Dade District 2 race are experienced public servants or civic leaders and any one of them would make a good county commissioner. But two candidates stood out for the right reasons Thursday in The Miami Foundation’s forum: Wallace Aristide and Joe Celestin.
These two — a former principal of Miami Northwestern who is now principal of ITech magnet and a former mayor of North Miami — showed a real grasp of municipal government, budgets and issues. They answered questions with details and authority, passion and conviction.
A week after banning two sex ed books, the board approves them
Last week, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and Commissioners Ricky Arriola and David Richardson came to their senses (read: were shamed into it) and switched sides, voting to actually have a special election within the November ballot to fill the vacancy left by the sudden death of late Commissioner Mark Samuelian, instead of appointing a lackey.
This week, we already have three well-known hopefuls who want to take Samuelian’s place.