Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez filed a suit Friday alleging that the majority of recall petitions collected against him are technically invalid and, therefore, his name should be removed from the ballot.
The suit also states that the recall movement, financed and led by Miami businessman Norman Braman, "cut too many corners and may have violated the law" by its use of paid circulators.
Alvarez's filing claims that 104,280 petitions are invalid because the notaries' name was not printed, typed or stamped below their signatures; that 98,016 petitions are invalid because a portion of the circulator's sworn statement was completed by a notary or third party; and that 44,639 petitions cannot be counted because the notary stamp is missing, illegible, or defective.
Braman's attorney Bob Martinez said the suit "looks like hypertechnical nonsense."
The millionair auto dealer himself, who has before used his personal fortune to fight political battles, was also plainspoken.
"The mayor ought to be ashamed of himself," Braman said. "What he's alleging is absolutely absurd."
Braman set the wheels for a recall in motion in after the Mayor and County Commission voted in September to raise property taxes while awarding salary increases to most county employees. He hired Nevada consulting firm Silver Bullet to organize and staff the petition drive, and hand-delivered over 112,000 signed recall petitions to the Clerk of Courts in early November.
Of those, Clerk Harvey Ruvin declared 95,499 to be valid, triggering a recall vote that needed only 51,992 signatures. The vote is set for March 15.
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But though Ruvin stands by the count, saying his "carefully trained professional staff meticulously and systematically reviewed each form on its face as submitted," Alvarez alleges a large majority of the paperwork is improper and is asking that his name be removed from the ballot.
The suit has been assigned to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Betty Butchko. A date has yet to be set.
