A week after arrest, Joe Martinez attends commission meeting. ‘Got to do my job’
Facing a possible suspension by Florida’s governor, a smiling Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez took his seat in the chambers Thursday for the first time since his Aug. 30 arrest on felony charges.
“I’ve got to do my job,” Martinez said as he descended the escalator from his commission office to the chambers shortly before 5 p.m. “I’m here to do my job. Vine a hacer mi trabajo.”
The second-term Republican entered the commission chambers minutes before the county’s first budget hearing, an evening event that typically draws one of the largest crowds of any meeting of the year. He declined to address the criminal charges against him, citing legal advice. .
“I’m a soldier, and when my general tells me I can talk I will,” he said while making his way to the blue leather seat at the edge of the commission dais. Asked who was his general, Martinez replied: “The attorneys. You know that.”
Martinez, 64, is facing charges of accepting unlawful compensation after prosecutors accused him of introducing legislation in 2017 to help a business owner who paid the commissioner $15,000. Martinez denied the charges and said he is innocent.
READ MORE: What happens when a Miami-Dade commissioner goes to jail? A look at Martinez’s bad day
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday told reporters: “There will be a new commissioner.” He said his administration has received names of potential candidates to temporarily replace Martinez as the District 11 commissioner.
Martinez, a retired police lieutenant, entered what would be his final meeting as a commissioner if the governor suspends him before the board meets next for the final budget vote on Sept. 20.
Governors can suspend county officeholders arrested for felonies. Governors also have the power to suspend for alleged misconduct in office, as DeSantis has done for school board members in Broward County and Hillsborough County’s elected prosecutor.
A DeSantis appointee would serve for the duration of the suspension, which the governor could end at any time or could conclude with a Florida Senate vote to reinstate Martinez or remove him from office. Should the Senate vote to remove a suspended Martinez, that would create a permanent vacancy the County Commission would then fill with a special election or appointment.
Martinez returned to the chambers and hugged multiple county employees, lobbyists and elected officials, including Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. The two talked briefly out of earshot at the dais ahead of the night’s preliminary votes on her $10 billion spending plan. “I was telling him I was glad to see him,” Levine Cava said afterwards.
Dressed in a three-piece suit, Martinez posed arm-in-arm for a photo with Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz and District 8’s newly reelected commissioner, Danielle Cohen Higgins. In a brief exchange with Jorge Luis Lopez, the lobbyist appeared to offer encouraging words to Martinez.
Martinez replied: “Always. Always. Held high.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 6:23 PM.