Police Union Pushing for Recall of Regalado

Fraternal Order of Police president seeks ouster of Miami mayor

Just months after Miami-Dade's mayor was ousted through a recall, Miami's mayor could be facing the same fate.

Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado is being targeted and the people who want him out are the city's police force and firefighters.

In a harshly-worded letter posted to the Miami Fraternal Order of Police Website Monday, FOP President Armando Aguilar said they've had enough of Regalado.

"For the past three years we have seen our wonderful city take a downward spiral into financial chaos. We have endured one scandal after another in which wasteful spending and special favors have drained the city’s finances," the letter reads. "Mayor Regalado’s only solution has been to cut employee benefits. We are not to blame for the Mayor’s mismanagement of the City of Miami."

NBC Miami has learned the local firefighter union is also considering a recall vote.

Over the past couple of years there have been salary cuts to police and fire departments and in the mayor's proposed 2012 budget, Regalado suggests keeping open nearly 400 vacant city positions, including more than 60 in the police department. That's on top of a proposed 22-day mandatory furlough for all city employees.

Regalado has suggested furloughs and unfilled positions would save the city close to $30 million. But he says it's only a proposal and that it could all change as city leaders work to find other ways to make cuts.

Despite the criticism from the unions, Regalado has remained fiscally-minded, not raising property taxes and not doling out raises to executives.

"I believe I am been punished for not raising taxes to the people of Miami for the second year in a row," Regalado said in a statement Tuesday. "We are in very difficult economic times, and like every family we have to cut expenses. We want to do the right thing for the residents of Miami without having massive layoffs in our work force."

The FOP says it tried to negotiate to give the city long-term financial stability without losing benefits but claim those negotiations failed. So the group is planning an August 9th vote on whether to spearhead the recall.

According to thecrespogramreport.com, which first broke the news, the Miami FOP Executive Committee called an emergency meeting Monday night and voted to ask their members to support the recall.

For Aguilar, the choice of whether to remove Regalado is clear.

"He is, at best, incompetent and, at worst, a compulsive liar," Aguilar's letter read. "It is quite clear that the mayor is not qualified to lead this city into financial stability."

Miami activist Vanessa Brito, who spearheaded the recall effort against former Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, said recall elections should be used sparingly, when a politician repeatedly makes poor decisions.

"If it's just a group of people who have been affected by a recent decision of his, does that mean that's it's worth a recall effort?" she said. "I don't know, I don't think that's the case because he hasn't been in office that long."

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