April 14 — just over two months away — there is going to be an election for Mayor of Coral Gables and for an open seat on the Coral Gables Commission. Vice Mayor William H. Kerdyk, Jr., who has been in office since 1995(!), is stepping down due to term limits.
So in a couple of weeks I’ll have to start paying attention to Coral Gables politics again. A lot has happened since the ’13 election.
[UPDATES: THERE ARE MORE CANDIDATES — See Fifth Candidate in CG Commission Race Group V and And Then There Were 6 and Contested Race in Group IV]
As usual, I’ll try to go to some candidates’ events (please post any info you have about where/when they are in the comments!), send the candidates an updated version of my questionnaire, and maybe even try to do a phone or in-person interview with each of them. Please use the comments below to suggest issues/questions I should be asking about.
Meanwhile, a key fact: Voter registration closing date is March 16, 2014.
The candidates
For Mayor (Group I, two year term): This is a rematch election between incumbent last election was fought over two main issues: Cason’s support for the then-City Manager Pat Salerno, and Cabrera’s claim that there had been an uptick in crime. Cason and his supporters ridiculed that claim, and he won re-election.
Funny thing, though–soon after the election it started to look like Cabrera was right all along. First City Manager Pat Salerno resigned after being caught hiding traffic accident data from the Commission (the underlying issue was planting of expensive and unnecessary palm trees – so Florida). Short of outright embezzlement (and we’ve had that in Coral Gables in the past), I can’t think of a better reason to get rid of a City Manager than hiding info from the Commission. 1
Then the Chief of Police I had got snookered about crime data like almost everyone else. Score another win for Ralph Cabrera!
But, wait a minute, a later data audit by the FBI (the FBI does data audits???) said the numbers were not cooked? Now I’m confused again… Expect to hear more about this during the campaign until we are all sick of it.
- Ralph Cabrera campaign webpage. Recent Herald and Political Cortadito coverage of Cabrera.
- Jim Cason campaign webpage. Recent Herald, and Political Cortadito coverage of Cason.
For Group IV (four year term): Frank Queseda is running unopposed. Once it was usual to speak of a Cason-Kerdyk-Quesada majority, but Queseda broke with Cason on the critical issue of ousting the City Manager after he was caught misinforming the Commission and, if memory serves, also broke with Cason on the decision to oust the Police Chief for faking traffic accident data.
For Group V (four year term): this is the seat Kerdyk is vacating. We are entitled to hope for an upgrade. There are four candidates:
- Ariel Fernandez (campaign website)
- PJ Mitchell (campaign facebook page; the campaign website was blank when I visited)
- Sandra Murado (campaign website)
- Norman Anthony Newell (Is there a campaign website?)
Both PJ Mitchell and Norman Anthony Newell ran in Group III two years ago, in the election won by Pat Keon (49% of the vote). In that race Mr. Mitchell got 7.38% of the votes, Mr. Newell got 6.00%. Amazingly, perennial candidate Jackson Rip Holmes (1.32%) does not appear to be running this year.
Conducted in off years, Coral Gables elections can be low turnout affairs. Although there are more than 31,000 registered voters in Coral Gables, fewer than 7,200 voted in 2013. So every vote counts more than you might think. With multiple candidates in the race you don’t even need a majority to win. There’s no runoff, much less the instant runoff voting system I favor for multi-candidate elections.
Note: Just in case it is relevant I thought I should direct candidates and their friends to the House Rules on Coral Gables political coverage. Worth reading before you try to enlist me in sliming your opponents.
- Incidentally, as I understand it, Commissioner Vince Lago deserves a good share of the kudos for standing up for basic principles of honesty and good government and making Salerno go, which might be enough right there to get my vote when he runs for re-election.[↩]
Please ask Mr. Cabrera about his idea to make West Lab a K-8 with preference for Gables students. How is that not a plan to re-segregate?
For decades, West Lab has been a wonderful school for children all over the county. As Coral Gables residents, we already have an advantage in admissions because we all know it is there and sign our children up in infancy. Making it a Coral Gables school, instead of a county-wide resource, would deprive our children of the opportunity to interact on a daily basis with children from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Thank you for doing this.
JIM CASON
Q: Why did you spend so much time and effort defending the former city manager, Pat Salerno, even when it became clear he was alienating so many people? Aren’t there plenty of other less controversial, highly-qualified city managers out there?
Q: You are certainly entitled to make an honest living. However, it would be helpful if you would disclose who your “consulting” clients are, and the nature of your engagement with them. Please do so now.
Q: Our city has a history of having mostly ceremonial mayors. But in your case, I can’t think of any policy initiatives you spearheaded. Can you set the record straight on this subject.
Q: You have been proud of your record “reforming” our city’s pensions. You cite this as a major accomplishment, and chided previous commissioners — including Ralph Cabrera — for taking so long to deal with the issue. Yet, the very same former commissioners who you blame for the city’s pension woes are your biggest supporters. How do you reconcile those warring facts?
RALPH CABRERA
Q: Last time you ran for mayor, you didn’t break 30 percent. You ran on a 2-prong platform: fire Pat Salerno and combat what you described as a crime wave. Since then, Salerno left, and the FBI’s “audit” of our city’s crime statistics found that crime rates, for the most part, have been stable.
What has changed in the last 2 years to make us reconsider you as a viable candidate?
Q: You own an employee benefits company that has clients and potential clients in the city, including some that have business interests regulated by the city commission. Can you please elaborate on your business dealings and how they might conflict with your duties as mayor?
Q: You have a reputation, deservedly or not, of being very combative and confrontational. This conflicts with our city’s highly non-confrontational political culture. How will you reconcile your own governing style with that of our city’s political culture and be an effective mayor?