Despite a relentless barrage from two of her colleagues over the weekend, Miami City Commission Chairwoman Christine King didn’t back down from her stance that District 2 voters should choose their next representative in a special election.
In a gutsy display, King withstood incessant lobbying from Commissioners Joe Carollo and Alex Diaz de la Portilla to appoint someone to the seat left vacant by Ken Russell, who resigned as city commissioner shortly before the new year.
(City of Miami via YouTube)
Commissioner Joe Carollo expressing his support for appointing someone to the open District 2 seat.
“My position hasn’t changed from when I appeared as a candidate,” King said during a Jan. 7 special city commission meeting that spilled over into the next day. “I believe the community should elect the person who represents them. It is not my decision to make. Therefore, it is my recommendation to go with a special election.”
The two-day special meeting even evoked comparisons to the record number of unsuccessful votes for U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who won on the 15th try. Miami commissioners voted 10 times on appointing a District 2 representative, and each time the result ended in a 2-2 tie.
Shortly before a 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, deadline to select an appointee, Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla ultimately failed to convince King and Commissioner Manolo Reyes to appoint someone even if it wasn’t their preferred choice. Carollo and De la Portilla were backing Martin Zilber, a former Miami-Dade judge and longtime Coconut Grove resident.
In a rare submission, they eventually joined King and Reyes in voting 4-0 to set a Feb. 27 special election for a new District 2 commissioner.
Russell, who was forced by state law to leave office before his second term was up in November because he ran for Congress last year, initiated the drama when he resigned Dec. 29. Under the city charter, the clock started ticking on a 10-day deadline to appoint his replacement or let the voters decide.
(Twitter)
Former District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell.
Enter Saturday’s special hearing, when speculation ran rampant at Miami City Hall that King could be flipped. Despite an hour-and-half late start, city commissioners heard from dozens of District 2 residents, 18 applicants for the vacant seat and people supporting them, most of whom spoke on behalf of Zilber.
Zilber was the leading contender even though he resigned from the bench under a cloud of controversy. Following an investigation, the Florida Judicial Qualifying Commission found probable cause in 2021 that Zilber violated several judicial tenets. He was accused of getting paid for a slew of unauthorized absences and for making his assistants run personal errands and work on his political campaign. The commission recommended Zilber be suspended for 60 days, pay a $30,000 fine and write apology letters to his staffers. Between 2005-2008, Zilber served on the Coconut Grove village council and was elected its chairman.
Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla insisted that calling an election would unnecessarily cost the city an estimated $330,000 while not giving candidates enough time to campaign for an election that would result in a woefully low turnout. The most democratic option, Carollo said, was the city commission making a temporary appointment until the November city election.
(Jeffrey Watson via Instagram)
Then District 5 Commissioner Jeffrey Watson (L) and City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) at a press conference in February 2021. Watson, who had previously worked for the mayor's father, was appointed commissioner in 2020.
Carollo offered King a carrot to convince her to change her mind. He said he would vote for any of the applicants that she wanted.
“You came in willing to work and not holding any grudges,” he said. “You came in with your heart open to work for your district and this city. This is why you have earned my upmost respect. I am willing [to second] whoever you would like to nominate.”
Diaz de la Portilla attempted to sway King by noting that she was among the applicants when her predecessor, Keon Hardemon, vacated the District 5 seat in 2020 for his successful run that year for Miami-Dade County Commissioner. At the time, the city commission voted to appoint Jeffrey Watson as a “placeholder” until a new commissioner was elected in 2021, who turned out to be King.
“You went through that process and you thought it was a valid process,” Diaz de la Portilla said. “Now you don’t think it is appropriate. When we come back from recess, can you explain to us why it was a good process then, but not now?”
King reminded Diaz de la Portilla that when she applied for the vacant seat, she stated publicly that she favored a special election.
(Johania Charles for The Miami Times)
Christine King speaking at Miami City Hall after being sworn in Nov. 10, 2021, as the new District 5 commissioner, a year after she has sought the appointment she was denied by commissioners.
“Pull up the video,” King said. “I didn’t want to be appointed. I wanted to be elected because I wanted to earn the right to be here from my constituency.”
When the four city commissioners reconvened on Sunday, Carollo and Diaz de la Portillarehashed their arguments from Saturday, but they were unable to break the stalemate.
Although King never said so publicly, her unmovable position is political payback for her colleagues’ appointment of Watson over her, forcing her to wait another year before getting her shot in front of voters when Watson mounted his own campaign as an incumbent. Watson was a former staffer of former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez, father of the current mayor.