Road to the presidency runs through public service, Mayor Suarez, not personal enrichment | Opinion
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez called off his ridiculous presidential bid this week, becoming the first candidate to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination.
The end of his 76-day unremarkable run was expected.
Only the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, from where Cuban-American Suarez launched his campaign with the fact-challenged speech “A Time for Choosing,” took him seriously.
However, evoking Reagan’s ghost, a Miami-Dade 1980s favorite, didn’t help him win converts or raise enough campaign funds among today’s insurrectionist Republican crowd.
So that’s one Florida man out of the race and two remaining in the top spots: Indicted, booked and mugshotted front-runner Donald Trump, and his runner-up political disciple gone rogue, Gov. Ron DeSantis.
READ MORE: What a trio! The Florida men — Trump, DeSantis, Suarez — are a hoot to watch | Opinion
Hello, federal disclosure
The mayor’s exit from the race — good riddance — came with a gift for Miami taxpayers and voters: transparency about how the mayor earns his extra take-home pay and, finally, a solid list of consulting clients that pose potential conflicts of interest.
Lucrative side gigs are under investigation by the FBI.
For years, Suarez has failed to disclose details of his full income from outside City Hall, which may not be a local or state elections requirement, but is the public’s business and should be an ethical concern for elected office holders.
But, lucky us, on the day before he publicly called his flailing campaign quits, Suarez was forced to file with the Federal Elections Commission disclosure forms revealing his multiple sources of income, as required by the Federal Election Campaign Act.
READ MORE: Miami mayor discloses millions in side gigs in his last act as a presidential candidate
The paper trail shows why he has been hiding the nature of his consulting work: His private jobs paid well for access to power.
Suarez, 45, has been making millions of dollars from the same industries he promotes as mayor of Miami.
His earnings far exceed the $170,000 a developer apparently paid him, according to a Miami Herald investigation, to push his project at City Hall, and what attracted the FBI to him.
Suarez, a lawyer and private equity executive, could make ends meet when he became mayor in 2017, began to also earn a $126,000 salary as part-time mayor.
But, in the past 20 months, Suarez’s income — his mayoral salary plus 15 consulting jobs or “arrangements,” as the Herald put the relationships — brought him between $2.1 million and $12.9 million, disclosure forms show.
He has investment properties — and owns a $235,000 yacht, according to Fortune magazine and the Herald.
He’s now solidly a millionaire, whose VIP lifestyle is also subsidized by others, which he has previously failed to report.
His net worth ballooned to $ 3.4 million in 2022, the year after his reelection for a second term as mayor of Miami. It was the second year in a row that Suarez doubled his net worth, and now we know how.
His American Dream
Suarez might call his wealth the American Dream come true.
In his campaign launch speech, he made references to having that wish for all Americans. But he failed to tell them that mayoral powers are some comfortable bootstraps from which to pull yourself up and rise.
He’s not simply another consultant using his knowledge to help a client. He’s a connected one with the power to nudge City Hall bureaucrats to approve or reject, to move along or stall a project, a permit, you name it.
Wealth made from a public service position is exactly what turns voters cynical — and makes them run away from politics.
And speaking of profiting from politics — is that what Republicans are ranting about in the case of President Biden, his son Hunter and the infamous laptop?
What was Suarez thinking when he took jobs that conflict with his public post?
Didn’t he consider, when he launched his presidential run, that he would be scrutinized even deeper? A pretty stupid move in a town that thrives on “Radio Memba” news, word of mouth and still has, thankfully, investigative journalists.
But, who knows what’s on the mayor’s mind. He’s not talking to the Miami Herald these days.
Most likely, Suarez didn’t see beyond the calculation of what the national exposure of a presidential long shot would give him. Some kind of extra super power? New markets to work into his consulting business?
Not a Vivek
But hey, at least Miami can boast that Suarez isn’t as callous as Vivek Ramaswamy, the young biotech guy, and still GOP hopeful.
He made his millions buying cheap discarded patents he developed — like an Alzheimer’s drug that didn’t work. His publicly traded company collapsed with the drug’s failure, and investors lost their money — but clever Ramaswamy had already made billion-dollar profits.
No, not mayor Suarez. He wouldn’t sell America’s viejitos the false hope of health, only the false Republican narratives about communists coming to get them.
Ugh.
Suarez’s lack of a credible platform made his presidential run, even if it was only to raise his profile, so tiring and stale.
He didn’t have a new idea. And his love affair with crypto currency, once a novelty, doesn’t count.
The title and nickname “America’s crypto mayor” and “Bitcoin Suarez” might work with the bros — but it doesn’t make you a charging bull in national politics.
And it certainly doesn’t void the fact that Americans, perhaps more xenophobic than ever — the cornerstone of Trumpism — are far from seriously considering a Hispanic candidate, much less, one facing the prospect of a corruption investigation.
