No surprises in Miami: Spence-Jones wins

With all precincts reporting, the tallies show walk-away wins for both Michelle Spence-Jones in District 5 and Wilie Gort in District 1. Both fields were crowded, with nine candidates apiece. And after $300,000 expended by the citizens of Miami, the only change from last November's result is that even fewer people voted (11.9% county-wide, or about 4,268 people in District 1, and 3,820 people in District 5 today vs. 4,854 in D5 last November 3rd), and this time Spence-Jones only got 53 percent, not 83 percent, of the vote. Rev. Richard Dunn, who gave Spence-Jones a run for her money in the "bad vs. worse" election of 2005, got just 601 votes, or just under 16%. David Chiverton did even worse this time than he did last November, getting just 3.6 percent of the vote, and attorney Erica Wright, who won the Herald endorsement, received just 284 votes, or 7.4 percent of the vote.) The Spence-Jones tally is below:

MIAMI: COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT 5
VOTE TYPE SUMMARY
PRECINCTS REPORTING
25 of 25 Precincts Reporting

Candidate	Percent	Votes
Yashica Brown-Rogne	0.76%	29
David Chiverton	3.61%	138
Richard P. Dunn II	15.73%	601
Robert Malone Jr.	4.95%	189
Dufirstson Neree	1.73%	66
Pierre E. Rutledge	8.35%	319
Michelle Spence-Jones	53.48%	2,043
Georges William	3.95%	151
Erica Wright	7.43%	284
Totals		3,820

So now, we await word from Governor Crist. Somehow I doubt he really wants this fight -- the people of District 5 knew what they were voting for this time, for sure. And the word I'm hearing is that Spence-Jones would have a strong case that without being convicted at this point, of the crimes she's accused of, there may be no constitutional basis to remove her. (Still, to be honest, the nerd in me would love to see that fight go to the Florida Supreme Court. Talk about great political theater!) Meanwhile, the devastation in Haiti will be reverberating in the Little Haiti portion of the District tonight.

The plot thickens.

Cross-posted at The Reid Report.

Also, click here for updates on the devastating earthquake in Haiti including info on how you can help.

If it's Tuesday it must be Miami Beach politics

For those not living on the Beach (and 99 percent of those who do and are unaware), you probably haven't heard of the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club. Civic-minded people and those with nothing better to do assemble in David's Cafe on Meridian Avenue off Lincoln Road and there will be an interesting program on life and politics in the city of Miami Beach. Or a talk from a member of the County Commission. Or nothing much, sometimes, but there's a good breakfast, and hey, you're in South Beach and can do whatever you like.

I'm bringing this up because next Tuesday, Sept. 29, candidates for the city commission (which has six commissioners and a mayor) will start a round of forums leading up to the election in only a little over a month. Early voting starts on Oct. 26. Who's running? I'd post a link here but the club doesn't have a Web site, so it's a typing job for me. Later, try this link to the City Clerk. I say later because there's nothing there now.

Quoting the club's news release, which has an error in the election date (It's Tuesday Nov. 3, not Nov. 6.) so I hope this is correct, speaking next Tuesday will be the candidates for the Group III seat, Gabrielle Redfern, Michael Gongora and Alex Fernandez.

Stay tuned for news of who's appearing in coming weeks at the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club.

UPDATE: The Miami Herald, in its Thursday edition, has more news about Miami Beach municipal elections, namely that one newcomer was disqualified from running because a check bounced. Not to worry -- he's planning to run for governor next year, anyway.