County commissioners want to ban candidate faces from bus ads. Exception: Their own
Miami-Dade commissioners on Monday endorsed legislation strengthening the ban on county bus ads featuring candidates running for office but with one notable exception: Miami-Dade commissioners running for office.
The county already bans campaign ads from Metrorail trains, buses and bus benches. Legislation filed by Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez would close a loophole on that restriction by also prohibiting ads that aren’t officially political but include a photo of an active candidate, such as one promoting the business of someone running for office.
At Monday’s meeting of the board’s Policy Committee, Anthony Rodriguez, the commission’s vice chair, raised a concern that the Bermudez resolution would cover county advertisements with photos of incumbents in them. That could include transit promotions for rodeos, holiday gatherings and other events put on by commissioners themselves in the five months between the June deadline for candidates filing for office and the November elections.
“It would preclude elected officials — us —if we’re having an actual county event after qualifying, from advertising on bus benches,” Rodriguez said. He requested the committee “ask the attorneys to amend the language to just exempting us, as elected officials, for county events.”
Taxpayers routinely fund publications, advertisements and signs featuring elected officials during campaign season.
That includes county placards noting a road project was sponsored by an incumbent commissioner or a photo of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in the annual hurricane guide mailed to all Miami-Dade residents. The county’s library system has framed photos of commissioners reading books in each branch within the incumbent’s district.
The new rules would add a twist in beefing up restrictions against candidates appearing in ads on buses while carving out county-funded promotions with office holders who are also on the ballot.
“I didn’t like that amendment very much,” said Marisol Zenteno, who unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent, Pedro Garcia, in the 2020 race for county property appraiser. “They’re already using their face and likeness for every event...That’s the luxury of being an incumbent.”
In an interview, Bermudez said he doesn’t want his legislation to provide an advantage for incumbents like himself who could circumvent the rules by attaching their face to a county promotional campaign ahead of an election.
“I would consider it incorrect if I put my big mug [on a bus] and said: ‘Your district commissioner welcomes you to the rodeo,’ ” said Bermudez, a first-term commissioner up for reelection in 2026. Bermudez said his intent was to expand the current political ad restriction to cover the “name, image and likeness of anyone, including a county official” who is also a candidate.
He said the restrictions are designed to avoid a repeat of ads on county bus stops last year that came from the business owned by his 2022 opponent for the open District 12 seat, Sophia Lacayo, who owns a tax-preparation business. Bermudez said he’d be open to changing the language before the final commission vote to cover incumbent commissioners in county ads, too.
Rodriguez, whose first term on the commission expires in 2026, said he has concerns about restricting non-political ads generally and didn’t want the Bermudez rules to interfere with county promotions.
“I’m fortunate enough that I raise enough money that I don’t have to double dip or use the government to get my name out there,” said Rodriguez, a former Republican member of the Florida House who raised more than $1 million for his District 10 race last year.
As an example, Rodriguez said he was concerned the Bermudez rules would make it hard for him to promote a planned fall veterans event that may coincide with his reelection effort. “It has nothing do with campaigning. I’m happy to not have my photo on it.”