12-24-2010, 09:52 PM
What is John Rivera gonna do? First Carlos now Natacia who is gonna get us raises?
Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin certified signatures from voters seeking to oust Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, days after doing the same with an effort targeting county Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
By MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas is going to face her second recall vote in less than five years.
Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin certified Thursday that the necessary number of signatures from voters has been legally collected to require an election on whether Seijas should be tossed out of office within the next three months.
Under the county charter, 4 percent of registered voters must sign a petition for a recall to be triggered. In Seijas' district, which includes Hialeah and Miami Lakes, that amounts to 3,591.
Ruvin determined that 4,373 valid signatures were collected.
In a written statement, Seijas cited concerns that Ruvin's office ``was able to complete this rigorous process in just a couple of days -- right before Christmas,'' adding: ``My review of his hasty work will begin in earnest after the holidays.''
Readying for a potential legal fight, Seijas has retained attorney Kendall Coffey, a veteran of election-law battles.
Coffey said that ``because certification should be about accuracy rather than velocity,'' the process deserves close scrutiny.
The certification of Seijas' petitions comes two days after Ruvin declared that a separate petition drive seeking the recall of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez had gathered the requisite signatures to prompt a recall vote.
It's been nearly 40 years since such a recall was successful; four Miami-Dade County commissioners were ousted in 1972.
The actual date for a recall election for either Alvarez or Seijas remains unclear, but a vote is supposed to be scheduled at some point between 45 and 90 days after a petition is certified. The county commission is charged with setting the date.
It's widely viewed that Seijas does not want to appear on the same ballot as Alvarez. But holding two separate elections would be much more costly and could anger an electorate already keenly attuned to public spending issues.
Commission Chairman Dennis Moss said this week he wants to call a special meeting next week to consider a date, but no meeting has been scheduled. Seven of the 13 commissioners must agree to a special meeting for one to occur.
The next regularly scheduled commission meeting is not until Jan. 20.
A political action committee called Miami Voice, which is led by Vanessa Brito, is leading the campaign to remove Seijas. Brito said she was happy the Seijas petitions were certified within days of the ones seeking the mayor's recall, saying ``there will be a push to have the elections on the same day.''
The Seijas recall was triggered by the county commission's decision in September -- which Seijas backed -- to raise the property-tax rate, Brito said. But she added the move is fueled by years of decisions that run counter to the public will, including squandering the half-penny tax for expanded mass transit and using public funds to build a Florida Marlins ballpark.
``No matter what residents say, it seems like commissioners always do what benefits them,'' she said.
Miami Voice announced a campaign in October to recall five commissioners who supported the tax rate hike. A total of eight commissioners voted for the increase in September, but three are not vulnerable to a recall because they were reelected in the past year.
Earlier this month Miami Voice turned in the signatures seeking Seijas' removal. The deadline to submit signatures to the clerk's office for the rest of the commissioners is Friday, and none have been submitted.
Brito said Thursday her group will file petitions seeking a recall of Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, but acknowledged they failed to gather the required number for Chairman Moss, Commissioner Barbara Jordan and Commissioner Audrey Edmonson.
``The amount of people that came out for Seijas was just overwhelming,'' said Brito, referring to signers and volunteers backing the recall. ``For Barreiro we found the same thing, but not as high as Seijas.''
There was much less recall fervor in the three other commission districts, she said.
Norman Braman, the billionaire businessman behind the Alvarez recall, provided financial support to the Miami Voice effort. He reported giving a $5,000 donation to the group earlier this month.
In 2006 Seijas faced a recall campaign from angry voters that was defeated by a large margin in a vote scheduled six days before Christmas.
The former Hialeah councilwoman has been a powerful but controversial presence on the county commission since 1993.
In a statement Thursday, she presented herself as a champion of the elderly and working poor, adding ``my integrity as an elected official has never been questioned.''
But she is also a commissioner who has warred with city leaders in Miami Lakes, won critics for backing developers' efforts to build closer to the Everglades, and never shied from lashing out at critics with acerbic remarks.
Amid a late-night budget debate in 2002, for instance, Seijas turned to then-Commission Chairwoman Gwen Margolis and said: ``You're going to leave here in a body bag if you keep this up.''
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/23/1 ... z194GHwJA8 (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/23/1987127/clerk-certifies-signatures-for.html#ixzz194GHwJA8)
Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin certified signatures from voters seeking to oust Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, days after doing the same with an effort targeting county Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
By MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas is going to face her second recall vote in less than five years.
Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin certified Thursday that the necessary number of signatures from voters has been legally collected to require an election on whether Seijas should be tossed out of office within the next three months.
Under the county charter, 4 percent of registered voters must sign a petition for a recall to be triggered. In Seijas' district, which includes Hialeah and Miami Lakes, that amounts to 3,591.
Ruvin determined that 4,373 valid signatures were collected.
In a written statement, Seijas cited concerns that Ruvin's office ``was able to complete this rigorous process in just a couple of days -- right before Christmas,'' adding: ``My review of his hasty work will begin in earnest after the holidays.''
Readying for a potential legal fight, Seijas has retained attorney Kendall Coffey, a veteran of election-law battles.
Coffey said that ``because certification should be about accuracy rather than velocity,'' the process deserves close scrutiny.
The certification of Seijas' petitions comes two days after Ruvin declared that a separate petition drive seeking the recall of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez had gathered the requisite signatures to prompt a recall vote.
It's been nearly 40 years since such a recall was successful; four Miami-Dade County commissioners were ousted in 1972.
The actual date for a recall election for either Alvarez or Seijas remains unclear, but a vote is supposed to be scheduled at some point between 45 and 90 days after a petition is certified. The county commission is charged with setting the date.
It's widely viewed that Seijas does not want to appear on the same ballot as Alvarez. But holding two separate elections would be much more costly and could anger an electorate already keenly attuned to public spending issues.
Commission Chairman Dennis Moss said this week he wants to call a special meeting next week to consider a date, but no meeting has been scheduled. Seven of the 13 commissioners must agree to a special meeting for one to occur.
The next regularly scheduled commission meeting is not until Jan. 20.
A political action committee called Miami Voice, which is led by Vanessa Brito, is leading the campaign to remove Seijas. Brito said she was happy the Seijas petitions were certified within days of the ones seeking the mayor's recall, saying ``there will be a push to have the elections on the same day.''
The Seijas recall was triggered by the county commission's decision in September -- which Seijas backed -- to raise the property-tax rate, Brito said. But she added the move is fueled by years of decisions that run counter to the public will, including squandering the half-penny tax for expanded mass transit and using public funds to build a Florida Marlins ballpark.
``No matter what residents say, it seems like commissioners always do what benefits them,'' she said.
Miami Voice announced a campaign in October to recall five commissioners who supported the tax rate hike. A total of eight commissioners voted for the increase in September, but three are not vulnerable to a recall because they were reelected in the past year.
Earlier this month Miami Voice turned in the signatures seeking Seijas' removal. The deadline to submit signatures to the clerk's office for the rest of the commissioners is Friday, and none have been submitted.
Brito said Thursday her group will file petitions seeking a recall of Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, but acknowledged they failed to gather the required number for Chairman Moss, Commissioner Barbara Jordan and Commissioner Audrey Edmonson.
``The amount of people that came out for Seijas was just overwhelming,'' said Brito, referring to signers and volunteers backing the recall. ``For Barreiro we found the same thing, but not as high as Seijas.''
There was much less recall fervor in the three other commission districts, she said.
Norman Braman, the billionaire businessman behind the Alvarez recall, provided financial support to the Miami Voice effort. He reported giving a $5,000 donation to the group earlier this month.
In 2006 Seijas faced a recall campaign from angry voters that was defeated by a large margin in a vote scheduled six days before Christmas.
The former Hialeah councilwoman has been a powerful but controversial presence on the county commission since 1993.
In a statement Thursday, she presented herself as a champion of the elderly and working poor, adding ``my integrity as an elected official has never been questioned.''
But she is also a commissioner who has warred with city leaders in Miami Lakes, won critics for backing developers' efforts to build closer to the Everglades, and never shied from lashing out at critics with acerbic remarks.
Amid a late-night budget debate in 2002, for instance, Seijas turned to then-Commission Chairwoman Gwen Margolis and said: ``You're going to leave here in a body bag if you keep this up.''
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/23/1 ... z194GHwJA8 (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/23/1987127/clerk-certifies-signatures-for.html#ixzz194GHwJA8)