Miami mayor should be in the hot seat for not revealing who paid for his pricey Heat seat | Editorial

Miami’s telegenic crypto-mayor, Francis Suarez, who has seemingly never met a spotlight he didn’t embrace, was in his glory Tuesday night, courtside during the first Miami Heat playoff game in a spot usually reserved for celebrities.

He’s known as Miami’s biggest marketer and, as mayor, he should be. He was dressed in the Heat’s signature white-hot T-shirt. We get it. Like him, we are thrilled that the team is in the Eastern Conference Finals.

But there’s that pesky matter of the ticket. Those seats run $20,000 and up on the resale market. And Suarez has refused to say who paid for it.

It’s a bad look in a town struggling with affordability while the crypto world he has relentlessly promoted is tanking. And where Suarez’s concerted push to bring tech companies to Miami has tended to leave regular folks out. And where he told CBS4 in January that people struggling with skyrocketing housing prices should consider finding a cheaper apartment or “find a job that pays better” while his administration works to create more high-paying jobs. (Thanks again for those suggestions.)

But beyond the way it looks, there’s the issue of whether the seat was a gift and, if so, who from. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how a $20,000 courtside seat could make a mayor feel awfully warm-hearted toward the giver. Suarez was sitting next to Sean Wolfington, a Key Biscayne resident and tech company owner. He wouldn’t respond to questions from the Miami Herald, either.

The county ethics code — which covers the city, too — says gifts exceeding $100 must be reported in quarterly financial disclosures. The mayor and his team have thus far remained close-mouthed on the topic. He has multiple jobs — perhaps he paid for the ticket himself.

But Suarez’s puzzling silence — surely he expected someone would ask — leaves us wondering.

As Anthony Alfieri, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law, said, “Good municipal governance requires openness and transparency and accountability. Our highest elected officials should aspire to the highest standards of ethical disclosure and reporting.”

That’s the exact opposite of what is happening here. Time to answer the question, Mayor Suarez.

This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 1:20 PM.