Gov. DeSantis confirms plan to replace Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez

Gov. Ron DeSantis will suspend Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez after the longtime county official’s arrest last month on felony charges of unlawful compensation, and he’s already received recommendations for replacements.

DeSantis said he still needs to review a list of candidates to determine who among them, if any, is suitable to serve in Martinez’s stead until his term ends in 2024 or his suspension is lifted. But the plan is to appoint someone who lives in District 11, which Martinez has represented on and off for more than two decades on the County Commission.

“A lot of people have proposed new candidates for that. I have not had a chance to be briefed on all the potential candidates … but obviously, when you have a situation like that, there is going to be a new Commissioner,” he said Wednesday.

“There’s a question about whether the person has to live in that district — I think probably; some people say not — but as a matter of good governance, it’s probably good that that’s the case.”

DeSantis’ comments came during a Wednesday press conference at the Florida Department of Transportation’s Miami headquarters, where he announced a yearlong, 50% toll rebate program for motorists statewide who use SunPass or E-ZPass and hit 40 tolls a month.

The proposed program pends approval by the Legislature, whose Regular Session starts March 7. It is estimated to benefit more than 750,000 Florida drivers with an average savings of $550 per person over the year.

Regarding Martinez’s to-be-appointed successor, the Governor said he will take into consideration all pertinent concerns but that the decision will come soon.

“We’re going to go through all those issues,” he said. “I am going to get briefed on it this week, and we’ll probably have a decision in the not-too-distant future.”

Martinez could also resign before the Governor suspends him, which would allow the remaining 12 Miami-Dade Commissioners to either appoint someone or call for a special election to replace him.

Miami-Dade Commission District 11 covers a swath of unincorporated neighborhoods on the county’s west side, including the neighborhoods of Country Walk, Hammocks, Kendale Lakes, Bent Tree and Lake of the Meadows.

Martinez faces one count of unlawful compensation and one count of conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation. He turned himself in for booking at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Doral on the morning of Aug. 30 and was released that afternoon.

The charges stem from a five-year probe by the county Inspector General’s Office and the Office of State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Martinez’s arrest warrant shows he is accused of accepting $15,000 in exchange for “using his official position” to sponsor legislation on the County Commission benefitting the owner of a shopping plaza and one of its tenants near his district.

Prosecutors allege Martinez accepted three $5,000 payments over several months between late 2016 and early 2017 to push a proposed ordinance that would end financial penalties supermarket owner Jorge Negrin and his landlord, Sergio Delgado, received for having storage containers at Delgado’s shopping plaza. By late 2016, the two men had received tens of thousands of dollars in fines from the county.

The warrant from Fernandez Rundle’s office cites bank records and numerous email, text and phone communications between Martinez, Negrin and Delgado, including exchanges about an alleged request Martinez made of Delgado to help him secure a bank loan.

Martinez has denied all wrongdoing and asserts the case is “politically motivated.” In a statement released days before he turned himself in, he said he was a private citizen working as a consultant during the time prosecutors say he acted unlawfully.

A former Miami-Dade police lieutenant and two-time Chair of the County Commission, Martinez won election to a second stint on the Miami-Dade Commission in August 2016 and took his seat on the dais less than three months later.

Martinez’s office placed the legislation in question on the County Commission agenda in August 2017 but quickly pulled it from consideration. On the day he shelved the item, he had a nearly seven-minute phone conversation with Delgado, the warrant said.

Prior to news of his then-pending arrest, Martinez was a top candidate for the elected office of Miami-Dade Sheriff, which returns in 2024 after more than half a century.