Commission Woes Could Help New Mayor Stack Deck

With two Miami City Commissioners potentially facing ugly legal problems, Tomas Regalado, Miami's newly minted Mayor, finds himself in a exceptional position of power.

If Michelle Spence-Jones and Angel Gonzalez are forced to resign or are removed because of yet to be specified charges, Governor Charlie Crist will name successors.  That might explain why Crist has been hanging around Regalado in recent days.

If Regalado can line up two appointees favorable to his agenda, it would stack the commission to his benefit. With Commission Chairman Mark Sarnoff already in the Regalado camp, and two rookie commissioners joining the group, Regalado could certainly become a political ringmaster in an instant.

Things don't look good for Gonzalez or Spence-Jones, according to the Miami Herald. Gonzalez is under a criminal investigation and on the verge of resigning. And Spence-Jones, reelected this month, is also under investigation for issues related to county grants, according to the Herald. 

The potential departures and new appointments would help both Regalado and the struggling Governor, and you can bet both are playing it close the vest. Crist needs to pal up to Regalado to shore up votes in the Cuban community who surely are looking at Senate Candidate Marco Rubio with high interest. Crist faces a stiff challenge from Rubio who is gaining strength by the hour.

Both Regalado and Crist want to make nice with Miami African-American voters who can turn out in droves. Crist, if he survives his primary with Marco Rubio, needs talking points with black voters to have a chance at gaining a few votes in Overtown and points north. His potential race against Kendrick Meek promises to be ugly, especially if conservative Republicans sour on Crist and stay home.

You can also bet that potential commission appointees are already coming out of the woodwork. That explains why some of the usual suspects in Miami politics were highly visible during Regalado's swearing in Wednesday.

The legal woes facing the two commissioners was the talk at City Hall in the last few days. That Police Chief John Timoney retired or resigned was back burner stuff by mid afternoon Wednesday, and the buzz was all about what was about to come down with the Commission line up.

Tomas Regalado was not kidding when he said change was coming to City Hall. He certainly knew those words were powerful but as we look back they were also a well-grounded prophecy.

 Hank Tester has been covering news and politics in South Florida since 1992.

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