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Mayor Tomás Regalado faces possible ethics, campaign penalties

 

Miami’s mayor said authorities told him there were problems with some of the contributions he registered, but no evidence of a crime.

msanchez@ElNuevoHerald.com

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado is likely to face ethics violations and civil penalties for irregularities in his 2009 campaign finance reports.

Two weeks after giving his testimony to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, Regalado said authorities told him that while there were problems with how some campaign contributions were documented, there was no evidence of a crime.

“The good thing that came out of that conversation was that they told me that, in their final report, it’s going to say no money is missing,” he said.

Regalado and his daughter, Raquel Regalado, the campaign’s treasurer, said they testified separately during the meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office, declined to comment. Ethics commission director Joe Centorino said the case is pending but that he expects it to conclude soon.

FDLE investigators had probed the origins of about $40,000 that appeared in campaign accounts after the deadline for new contributions. Regalado also accepted at least $8,000 in illegal contributions from the Dominican Republic.

Last year, after learning he was under investigation, Regalado reached out to authorities and offered to cooperate. He also hired a well-known criminal defense attorney, Jose Quinon.

Regalado said the investigation found that campaign funds were used appropriately, although many were not properly registered.

Raquel Regalado, a Miami-Dade School Board member, said she and her father were waiting to reach a written agreement with authorities to close the case.

“We’re looking at an ethics violation and some civil penalties,” said Regalado, adding that she would never again take on the task of campaign treasurer.

In a separate ethics case, Regalado said he agreed to pay $1,000 in fines to the ethics commission for not properly disclosing the value of his house and personal belongings. The commission opened the case after receiving a complaint in November from blogger Al Crespo, a sharp critic of Regalado’s administration.

In his 2011 financial disclosures, Regalado declared a net worth of $9,300. The disclosure failed to note the value of his Shenandoah home, which according to the county property appraiser is worth $139,085.

Regalado said he did not include a dollar amount because his home’s foundation has suffered so much water damage from a leaky pipe that adjusters told him it would cost more to repair the structure than to tear it down and start over.

The ethics commission will discuss that case Tuesday. Regalado gave El Nuevo Herald a copy of the settlement, which shows he must pay two $500 fines and submit a revised financial disclosure to close the case.

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