While the police department and other organizations showed support for Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, it would seem that not even they could help the man now. This week, Norman Braman, the business man behind the recall efforts, came out and said he has collected enough signatures to put have a special election to recall the mayor.
County law allotted Braman two months to gather 52,000 signatures in order to proceed with the recall. In a little less than three weeks Braman and all his volunteers collected a whopping 90,000 signatures from frustrated residents. If this is not enough of a sign for Alvarez to give up then I don’t know what is.
The furious pace at which these signatures were collected shows the wide spread discontent of Miami-Dade residents amid a sky rocketing tax rate and double digit unemployment.
The Miami Herald reports that Alavarez responded to the news by stating “I have always been preparing for an election, and campaigns are a great way to cut through misinformation and get the truth.” Alvarez continued by once again stating that he is committed to serving the citizens of Miami-Dade County until his term officially ends.
With the fury shown by residents it looks like Alvarez’s term could be expiring much sooner than he had hoped for. Alvarez is right about one thing though, he is most certainly prepared. The Miami Herald reports that the mayor may launch a legal challenge to keep the recall question from even reaching voters. The county mayor has paid $26,000 to attorney Bruce Rogow to produce a courtroom fight.
Naturally, Alavarez also has the support of the police union. This is of no shock to anyone seeing as how a 12 percent property tax hike was “necessary” in order to keep the police well fed. Furthermore, Alvarez has created a political action committee which allows him to collect unlimited funds.
But it would seem that not even all the money in the county will be able to keep the mayor from losing his job. With a 90,000 voter turnout in less than three weeks, many are wondering why Alvarez just doesn’t give up and resign.
Unfortunately, it seems that if Alvarez is going to go out he is certainly going to make residents pay for it. A special election would cost around 4 million to be implemented, of which Braman has previously said he will happily cover most of the cost.
Sources:
Sponsor: Miami-Dade recall effort has signatures
Braman: Signatures collected to put recall to voters
Braman: Signatures in place for recall
Norman Braman launches drive to recall Mayor Alvarez
Mayor Carlos Alvarez strikes back against recall effort
