Mayor Suarez’s Miami pitch collides with City Hall politics
Six months ago, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez bet big when he recruited Art Acevedo, then Houston’s outspoken police chief, to join the unstable menagerie of Miami City Hall.
Skeptics immediately wondered how a personality as big as Acevedo’s could possibly succeed without clashing with Miami’s powerful commissioners. It turns out their suspicions were correct — it didn’t work.
On Tuesday, Suarez acknowledged that his vision for “the Michael Jordan of police chiefs” to lead Miami’s force was likely coming to an end — all while Acevedo’s allegations of deep-seated corruption in the city linger.
Acevedo’s failed, tumultuous tenure marks another blow delivered by City Hall to a mayor who has sought to make a name for himself as the future of the Republican Party. It is also a blemish on Suarez’s pitch to tech moguls about a smoothly run city where sunshine meets opportunity for eager investors, instead revealing the city’s volatility and the limits of his power.
“The problem is that the mayor was attracted to national headlines and didn’t really do his work, and didn’t do the work to know what made this individual tick,” U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez said of Suarez’s handling of the Acevedo situation. “It has blown up in the city’s face, and in the mayor’s face, and now it’s blown up in all of our faces.”
‘All politics are local’
Suarez on Tuesday sought to downplay any blame from Acevedo’s ouster in a city government that can bring even the strongest politicians to heel, saying “this is not about fault.”
“I and every elected official had the expectation and the hope that this would work out,” he told reporters.
But Acevedo’s problems in Miami are also a grounding experience for Suarez, who has shied away from debates about the chief’s integrity and has largely tried to avoid being the target of Miami’s mercurial city commissioners.
Suarez is unlikely to suffer in his well-funded reelection bid in Miami’s Nov. 2 election, where he faces no tough opponents and voters have already received their mail ballots. But the Acevedo episode has exposed the political risk that City Hall poses to Suarez as he chases higher ambitions.
“The city is looking for a leader for issues they have locally, here in the Magic City,” said Mike Hernández, a Democratic strategist and Telemundo political analyst. “Everything from criminal activity in their cities, better municipal services, tackling poverty, he can do all that with the limited power that he has. But he should’ve been talking about it sooner.”
Hernández added: “I understand the national figure that he currently is but all politics are local.”
Hernández said that Suarez needs a “reelection reset” to get back to the bread and butter of his job, and should address daily concerns of Miami residents and quell frustration that they’re being left behind in Miami’s tech boom.
As for speculation that the mayor could ditch Miami for higher office, including a run for president, Gimenez — who often feuded with Suarez back when the congressman was Miami-Dade County mayor — said, “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it, OK?
“It’s going to be very difficult for Mayor Suarez to be a Republican candidate for anything,” said Gimenez, a former Miami city manager. “Mayor Suarez has never had to run a difficult campaign. And now, in the first time that he’s had any difficulty in his administration, he runs away.”
‘Just a speed bump’
With little administrative power, Suarez has been free to be the city’s chief marketer while riding a yearlong hot streak. But now he’s trying to keep from slipping into City Hall’s latest mud fight. Some in Miami political circles say it exposes a weakness to Suarez’s big-picture political strategy.
“He’s killing it nationally. He’s given Miami a national profile,” said one local political watcher. “The economy is doing well. People are coming. But he needs to pay a lot more attention to issues that affect locals.”
Some in Suarez’s circle say the reach of Suarez’s public relations machine, which has propelled his profile to make him more recognizable nationally, will help avoid too much political bruising.
Though Acevedo’s allegations of corruption at City Hall could prove problematic for a mayor attempting to attract businesses to Miami — especially if Acevedo fights his likely firing — former Republican Congressman and past Suarez advisor Carlos Curbelo told the Miami Herald that the Acevedo episode won’t live long in people’s memories, especially given the city’s history of turbulent City Hall politics.
“Honestly, I think it’s just a speed bump. Nothing extraordinary for Miami politics. We’ve had chief issues here for many years,” Curbelo said. “I think in two to three months, no one will be talking about this.”
Others say Suarez’s clout inside city limits will undoubtedly take a hit, even if he can still weave a national narrative that Miami is a sound destination for investors, despite unstable City Hall politics. That means that local initiatives that matter the most to everyday Miamians, though, can suffer if Suarez blows his political capital.
“His voice matters, and his reputation still stands nationally,” said Sean Foreman, a Barry University political science professor. “But locally, it shows he’s not able to accomplish big goals.”
Foreman called the Acevedo controversy “an unforced error” on par with Suarez’s failed “strong mayor” campaign in 2018, when he tried unsuccessfully to convince voters to make him the city’s chief executive overseeing the city’s day-to-day operations.
Acevedo’s legacy
Suarez is also now left to deal with the fallout created by Acevedo’s eight-page memo dated Sept. 24, where he penned accusations of illegal behavior by some members of Miami’s commission. Acevedo alleged some members were using their public roles for personal gain, and claiming he had contacted federal authorities to investigate misconduct.
Commissioners have strenuously denied the allegations. Suarez declined to say Tuesday whether he believed the accusations are true. Spokespeople for the FBI and for the Justice Department both declined to comment for this story on whether their agencies are aware of the allegations or if any investigations have been opened.
“I think that the allegations made by the chief are very troubling and they should be investigated at all levels by the Department of Justice and the FBI,” said Gimenez, who added he didn’t know if the FBI was investigating or not. “I think the city has a blemish now with the rush to hire somebody and also the rush to fire somebody.”
Meanwhile, some residents would rather see the Acevedo period in a more positive light, suggesting that Suarez could even take some credit for bringing on a police chief who has exposed cracks in Miami’s scandal-loving government.
Upper Eastside resident Bob Powers, who follows City Hall politics, said maybe Suarez expected Acevedo to implode and burn some commissioners at the same time. Suarez has enjoyed relative peace with a majority of the commission lately, but just a few years ago he was routinely the subject of insults by Commissioner Joe Carollo and frequently criticized by Commissioner Manolo Reyes.
“That guy was hired for a specific reason,” Powers said, “and I think it was to come in and really shake things up.”
Acevedo surely shook things up in Miami, but clearly not the way Suarez had hoped when he touted Acevedo’s hiring back in March.
“The fact that he was upfront, that he was the one who brought [Acevedo] in,” said Gimenez. “As mayor, he has to face the music.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
