Mayor Alvarez Recalled, What's Next
MIAMI - (CBSMiami.com) – Now that voters in Miami-Dade County have chosen to recall Mayor Carlos Alvarez along with Commissioner Natacha Seijas many are wondering who is in charge of the county.
The answer – Mayor Alvarez for now.
The final results of the recall election must be approved by the county canvassing board which will meet this Friday at 10a.m. at the elections department headquarters in Doral. The canvassing board will consist of the Supervisor of Elections, a County Commissioner and a Circuit Judge. If the vote is certified, the Miami-Dade commission has 30 days to appoint a replacement for Alvarez. If they appoint someone, that replacement will be mayor until the next countywide election which is scheduled for January 2012, during the Republican presidential primary.
The winner of that election would have to run again in November 2012 when Alvarez's term is up. An appointed replacement will not serve out the remainder of Alvarez's term. They will only serve till January.
If the commission does not appoint a replacement then they have to set a day for an election, to be held within 60 days, probably sometime around end of May or early June.
The winner of that election would serve out the remainder of Alvarez's term, which ends in November 2012.
Between Now And Then
If the board certifies vote and Alvarez is out, who runs the county until a replacement is either appointed or elected?
The answer would be the County Manager, but here's the twist. Wednesday afternoon current County Manager George Burgess is expected to announce his resignation, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald. According to the paper, long time county assistant manager Alina Hudak will be named interim county manager.
The County Manager's position has the authority to sign or award contracts on behalf of the county. Hudak will run the day-to-day operations of the county but will not have the authority to veto any legislation that comes from the commission. During this interim any legislation passed by the commission will automatically go into effect because there is no one to veto it.
With a population of more than two million people, Miami-Dade is now the largest county in the country to ever recall a top politician.
According to the Miami-Dade Elections Department, with 100% of the vote tabulated, 180,152 voters (88%) said Alvarez should be removed from office.
Also out is Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas who has represented District 13 since the 1990s. In that recall election, 16,999 voters (88%) chose to remove Seijas.
A number of candidates have already said they plan to run for the Mayor's job if Alvarez was ousted, but in a recent Miami Herald-CBS4-Univision poll no clear front runner had emerged.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Alvarez and Seijas faced removal from office because both supported a county budget that raised the tax rate, and the taxes of many Miami-Dade residents, even as it granted raises to thousands of county employees, including some members of Alvarez's personal staff. Billionaire businessman Norman Braman, architect of the recall vote, said he was surprised by the margin voters approved the recall.
"I'm frankly overwhelmed," said Braman at a news conference as the last of the numbers rolled in. "We felt confident but to be very candid not this type of overwhelming response."
Braman said the recall of Mayor Alvarez is just the first step, and called upon the Commission to immediately schedule a vote to elect a replacement.
"It is important that the new mayor be elected by the voters," Braman said, "and not appointed by the county commission."
Braman said electing a new mayor won't fix many of the county's problems, and called upon commissioners to consider serious charter reform, and allow voters to put changes in the county charter directly on the ballot.
He said he planned to endorse no candidate for mayor. "I am not a kingmaker," he promised. However, he said he would present his reform plan to candidates and make it clear to voters who supports it, and who does not.
