Professing innocence before a small but adoring crowd in the heart of Liberty City, suspended Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones said Thursday she will run in a special election to regain her seat.

``For me not to run is an admission of guilt,'' she declared from a stage in a strip mall parking lot behind her campaign headquarters, with her husband and two young sons at her side. ``It's about making sure we complete what we started.''

On Friday, 10 days after she overwhelmed two opponents with 83 percent of the vote in a race to represent the city's most impoverished district, Spence-Jones was charged with a single count of grand theft for allegedly redirecting $50,000 in Miami-Dade funds to a family business.

The governor immediately suspended her. From the steps of the courthouse surrounded by pastors last week, Spence-Jones said she did no wrong. Thursday, she said it again.

``Spence-Jones is running for District 5,'' she said, referring to herself in the third person. ``When you're not guilty, when you're not afraid, when you know you've done nothing wrong, you just consider it a stumble in the road.''

Based on her runaway victory earlier this month, the politician -- first elected in 2005 -- could well be considered the favorite in a special election even as she runs while fighting a felony charge.

The state's case against Spence-Jones is based in part on the testimony of former County Commission Chairwoman Barbara Carey-Shuler, a mentor to Spence-Jones.

When pressed by prosecutors, Carey-Shuler said the $50,000 in county money that went to a Spence-Jones family business was intended for other recipients. The state said someone forged a stamp, approving the redirecting of that money to the family business, Karym Ventures.

PERSONAL FINANCES

The arrest warrant said some of the money later went to Spence-Jones and her brother personally and was used to pay credit card bills for travel, clothes, satellite television and other expenses. Spence-Jones is no longer active in the company.

After the charge was filed, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle called the episode ``sad for the citizens of District 5 who suffer year in and year out.''

City attorneys now say Spence-Jones is legally able to run in a special election. Others have before while also fighting charges.

In 1998, Miami-Dade Commissioner James Burke was suspended by the governor after being charged with bribery. He ran in the special election and lost.

There's the possibility that if Spence-Jones were to win a special election, Gov. Charlie Crist could suspend her again. But history shows that's no guarantee.

In 1997, then Gov. Lawton Chiles suspended Miami Commissioner Humberto Hernandez amid mortgage fraud charges. Hernandez ran in the special election and easily won. Yet Chiles refused to suspend him again, essentially telling constituents they knew who they were voting for.

Also, a special election -- to come some time in January, giving potential opponents little time to build momentum -- could prove moot. If Spence-Jones wins her court battle, she is allowed to reclaim her seat.

LATEST DRAMA

Thursday's announcement by the popular but suspended commissioner is the latest drama in a narrative that began to play out last Friday when Spence-Jones turned herself in to law enforcement.

Monday, Commissioner Angel Gonzalez tendered his resignation after a plea deal with the state attorney in which he agreed to pay a $7,500 fine to a single misdemeanor charge of using his elected position to help secure his daughter a job.