That voice last week on nearly every Spanish-language radio news talk show: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

The mayor used his media blitz — seven interviews from Tuesday to Thursday alone, including one on TV — to defend laying off scores of county workers after commissioners rejected imposing a controversial concession on two employee unions.

It was also an apparent bid to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor, Carlos Alvarez, who was roundly criticized for cutting off reporters toward the end of his stormy tenure.

In one interview, Gimenez acknowledged that one of his challenges is justifying the hiring of five deputy mayors at six-figure salaries. The deputies fill the duties previously performed by assistant county managers, whose jobs were abolished. He is saving the county money, Gimenez said, but the message isn’t getting through.

“It’s my fault,” he said. “I have to explain it much better.”

The mayor also tried to reach some English-language voters — in an automated telephone “town hall” Wednesday night, paid for by his political committee.