Archive Search Result
Archive Search Result ELECTION HINGES ON RESIDENCY SUSAN ANASAGASTI, [email protected] PUBLICATION: Miami Herald, The (FL) SECTION: Metro & State DATE: October 9, 2006 EDITION: Final Page: 1B When Michael Gongora bought a Miami Beach condo a little more than a year ago, it was more than just occasion for a housewarming party. The City Commission candidate was also opening a can of worms. Welcome to the knotty issue of residency, one rife with arguments over whether candidates have lived long enough in a given community to run for office. Some call it dirty politics. Others call it enforcing the law. In either case, residency disputes are a harbinger of election season and sometimes lead to candidates being tossed off the ballot. That's what happened to Howard Gary, the one-time Miami city manager who withdrew from a Miami-Dade County Commission race this year. Gary's case was clear-cut: he was registered to vote in Broward County, not Miami-Dade. But more often, the facts are murkier, say those who investigate residency issues. Take the case of Gongora, who is running to replace Miami Beach City Commissioner Luis Garcia. The qualifying deadline for candidates for the Nov. 7 special election was Sept. 8 - meaning a candidate had to have been a resident of Miami Beach by Sept. 8, 2005. Gongora has owned a Miami condominium since 1998, according to county records. The deed transfer for his Miami Beach condo, at 5838 Collins Ave., is dated Sept. 23, 2005, two weeks after the city deadline. LIVING WITH FRIENDS Gongora acknowledges the discrepancy, but says it doesn't matter since he was ``living with a close friend'' on South Beach while he waited to close on the Miami Beach condo. Likewise for Laura Leyva, another Miami Beach candidate accused of violating the residency requirement. Leyva owns Physician Consultants, a Hialeah company that provides consulting to healthcare organizations, and readily admits that she has her homesteaded property in Miami Lakes. But like Gongora, she has an explanation: Leyva says she's lived in a condo in South Beach with her friend Herb Sosa, a high-profile Miami Beach activist, since March 2005. When asked about the allegations, Leyva scoffed. ``Laura Leyva is not an idiot,'' she said, ``she knows exactly what she needs to do.'' Both Gongora and Leyva signed sworn statements saying they live in the city. Deede Weithorn, another commission hopeful and longtime city activist, on Sept. 23 filed a complaint with the MiamiDade State Attorney's office alleging that Leyva and Gongora ``violated the law governing residency requirements for Miami Beach City Commission candidates.'' Given both candidates' responses, it may be a difficult case to prove. `LOOSE STANDARD' Ed Griffith, spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office, would not comment on Weithorn's complaint, but noted that ``residency under the law is a very loose standard, which makes it more difficult to reach a beyond a reasonable doubt standard for any criminal prosecution.''
The problem, in part, arises from the way Florida law defining ``residency'' is written, according to Robert Myers, director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. ``It sounds crazy, but if you have your homesteaded property in Doral and have a condo on Miami Beach, you could, for purposes of running for office, still qualify in terms of residency,'' Myers said. ``The law doesn't distinguish between a primary residence and a secondary residence as long as you can prove that you spend time there and that you sleep there occasionally.'' OTHER DISPUTES * In 2003, the State Attorney's Office cleared North Miami Mayor Josaphat Celestin of allegations that he did not meet city residency requirements. The allegations stemmed from a complaint that Celestin did not live permanently in the city because he stayed with the mother of his then-fiancé at a house on Northeast Miami Place. Investigators questioned Celestin about his failure to attach paperwork that would have proved he lived in North Miami. But they concluded that the city's residency form was ``poorly drafted'' and that Celestin did not intentionally misrepresent himself. * In Miami, three candidates for Miami's District 5 seat last year owned homes in Miramar, Palm Beach County and Miami's Upper East Side, none of which is in the district. The candidates - Willie Williams, incumbent Jeffrey Allen and Georges William - all signed sworn statements saying they live in the district. None were disqualified. Even if the complaint goes nowhere, Weithorn says she is raising an important issue. ``I think someone who has a long history on Miami Beach is more qualified than someone who came here a year ago,'' she said. As for Gongora, she says, ``he didn't even vote in the last Miami Beach election. I wish I could tell you every single time someone has brought that up to me.'' But Gongora feels vindicated. ``It's a smear campaign that went awry,'' he said.
The problem, in part, arises from the way Florida law defining ``residency'' is written, according to Robert Myers, director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. ``It sounds crazy, but if you have your homesteaded property in Doral and have a condo on Miami Beach, you could, for purposes of running for office, still qualify in terms of residency,'' Myers said. ``The law doesn't distinguish between a primary residence and a secondary residence as long as you can prove that you spend time there and that you sleep there occasionally.'' OTHER DISPUTES * In 2003, the State Attorney's Office cleared North Miami Mayor Josaphat Celestin of allegations that he did not meet city residency requirements. The allegations stemmed from a complaint that Celestin did not live permanently in the city because he stayed with the mother of his then-fiancé at a house on Northeast Miami Place. Investigators questioned Celestin about his failure to attach paperwork that would have proved he lived in North Miami. But they concluded that the city's residency form was ``poorly drafted'' and that Celestin did not intentionally misrepresent himself. * In Miami, three candidates for Miami's District 5 seat last year owned homes in Miramar, Palm Beach County and Miami's Upper East Side, none of which is in the district. The candidates - Willie Williams, incumbent Jeffrey Allen and Georges William - all signed sworn statements saying they live in the district. None were disqualified. Even if the complaint goes nowhere, Weithorn says she is raising an important issue. ``I think someone who has a long history on Miami Beach is more qualified than someone who came here a year ago,'' she said. As for Gongora, she says, ``he didn't even vote in the last Miami Beach election. I wish I could tell you every single time someone has brought that up to me.'' But Gongora feels vindicated. ``It's a smear campaign that went awry,'' he said.
