MIAMI — A pair that tussled during public meetings is now sparring over a campaign sign incident just weeks before Election Day, as both run for mayor of Miami.
Anna Suarez-Burgos said two weeks ago that the first set of signs had disappeared. Then, she said, the video shows what happened on Tuesday.
A city vehicle approaches, removing campaign signs for her neighbor, Miami mayoral candidate and former city manager Emilio Gonzalez.
“This has become a banana republic,” Suarez-Burgos said.
Then, she said she spotted something else.
“(A staffer’s shirt) had the name of ‘District 3 Joe Carollo,’” she said. “So consequently, I was in an uproar because how is that possible? I called Emilio and let him know, ‘Here we go again.’ After he did that to Ball & Chain, now he continues to overstep his power.”
Gonzalez, who posted the video to social media, called it part of “the weaponization of government.”
“Why is it that the office of a sitting commissioner, who is also a candidate running against me, has his personnel out here taking my signs down?” Gonzalez asked. “There is a right way, a wrong way, there is probably a legal way, a not-so-legal way.”
Carollo told Local 10 News that he did not direct staffers to remove any signs.
“No, I don’t get involved in that,” he said. “We have a district person in charge of that who handles it the same way it’s been handled for years, the same way that this district office has taken down thousands of illegal signs throughout this district.
“The staffers were directed by Tony Wagner, who heads that. I do not know what signs they picked out, how many are commercial, how many are private, how many are for different candidates.”
Carollo said any sign “placed illegally on city property...will and has to be taken down.”
“We totally respect signs that are placed on private property, and that is where they should be placed — and that is where he needs to place his, like the other candidates,“ he said.
Carollo says city code prevents placing signs on public rights-of-way, including swales — and rules are rules.
“And by the way,” Gonzalez said, “who better to talk about breaking the law than Commissioner Carollo?”
“Yes, that is a staffer,” Carollo said. “And what are they doing wrong? Tell me what they are doing wrong there.”
Suarez-Burgos said, “If I can’t put it on my swale, notify me, don’t go and take the sign off,” saying officials should focus on putting this place — Miami — back together."
“If you go to Little Havana, it is packed with dirt and trash on every other corner,” she said. “Why don’t they concentrate on that? That would be a good thing. Or overgrown trees, or cleaning the street, or crime.”
Howard Wasserman, a law professor at Florida International University, calls the actions questionable.
“It is not entirely clear if he, as a city commissioner, has the authority to be the one to remove the signs as opposed to police or code compliance,” Wasserman said. “Ethically, there is something unsettling about someone who is both a government official and a candidate for office using the appearance of his government office to try to affect the election.”
Gonzalez characterizes it as “borderline election interference.”
“The fact that you have an official city vehicle coming down the street just to pull out campaign signs — you mean to tell me that’s all taxpayers can expect from our city employees? ‘Hey, I don’t like those signs, go take them down.’ No," he said. “And this is part of the reason why I am running. This has to stop.”
Carollo chuckled when asked about the video.
“My reaction is, I have not seen the video,” Carollo said. “But my reaction is that (Gonzalez) is an individual (who) is very frustrated.”
Local 10 News contacted a city spokesperson to inquire if district staff have enforcement authority to remove campaign signs, if any other candidates other than Gonzalez had their signs removed from public swales, but have not heard back.
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