By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org
On July 28, Miami-Dade Public Safety Chief James “Jem” Reyes took the stage at a rally in Doral for Venezuelan expats protesting their country’s strongman Nicolas Maduro declaring he won another presidential election despite widespread exit polls showing he lost.
Reyes, who is running in the Aug. 20 Democratic primary for Miami-Dade Sheriff, had a Venezuelan flag scarf draped over his shoulders, and wore a county-issued black shirt and green police tactical pants. Reyes also carried a holstered pistol in plain view.
“The day has come!” Reyes, speaking in Spanish, shouted into a microphone. “Freedom for Venezuela! Long live a free Venezuela! Today, tomorrow and always…the exiles are with those exercising their right to vote. We believe in them! We believe in liberty! We believe in democracy!”
Days later, on Aug. 4, a video clip of Reyes’s speech was uploaded to his campaign’s Instagram account that said, in part: “It’s time for authoritarian dictator Nicolas Maduro to end the attacks and political persecutions as the world knows he lost.”
His theatrical display was the latest example of Reyes exploiting his government job to build name recognition in his quest to become Miami-Dade’s first elected sheriff since the 1960s.
Last November, six months after Reyes was hired as Miami-Dade’s corrections director, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava promoted him to public safety chief overseeing county police, fire rescue and the jails.
Two months later, Reyes announced his candidacy as a Democrat, the same political affiliation as Levine Cava. His campaign manager, Christian Ulvert, is also in charge of Levine Cava’s reelection operation, as well as running the campaigns of three other Democrats running for tax collector, elections supervisor and clerk of court and comptroller.
SKIRTING THE LAW
Campaigning in his police uniform while displaying his firearm would constitute violations of Florida law and Miami-Dade’s conflict of interest and ethics ordinance prohibiting county government employees from using their official authority for political activities, including stumping for votes while on duty.
Representatives of Reyes’s campaign vehemently denied that the public safety chief was courting Venezuelan-American voters when he charged up the crowd in Doral last month. In an Aug. 10 written statement, campaign spokesperson Claire VanSusteren claimed Reyes was on official county duty because he was “introduced by the event organizers as chief of public safety.”
Furthermore, Reyes’s campaign was not involved in the Doral event, VanSusteren added: “The campaign posted the video a week later on our social media platforms once it was publicly available.”
Reyes’s campaign manager Ulvert, who sent Florida Bulldog VanSusteren’s statement, also denied that his client was campaigning at the Doral rally. “It wasn’t a political event,” Ulvert said via text. “He attended a community event and was introduced as chief. And it’s well documented in the media as such and anything short of that would be the biggest insult to the Venezuelan community.”
However, one of the leading contenders in the Republican primary who saw the video believes Reyes was stumping for votes. Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz, a Miami-Dade Police assistant director, said Reyes is not taking great care to separate his non-political job from his electioneering.
“He is posting videos of himself campaigning wearing an exposed gun on his social media,” Cordero-Stutz told Florida Bulldog. “If it wasn’t a political event, then why did his campaign choose to use it on his social media?”
John Rivera, a former Miami-Dade Police sergeant and ex-president of the Police Benevolent Association also running in the Republican primary, concurred with Cordero-Stutz.
“You can’t be campaigning on duty,” he said. “State law says you can’t wear your uniform in ads or when you’re campaigning.”
Reyes is unlikely to face any disciplinary action because his boss, Levine Cava, wants him to be sheriff, Rivera said.
“They made [Reyes] chief so they could give him a good title,” Rivera said. “Everywhere you see the mayor’s signs, you see his signs too. His campaign manager is the mayor’s campaign manager. And his [campaign donations] are coming from the same sources.”
TAKING LEAVE
Tip-toeing around state and county regulations for government employees running for elected office has become the norm for Reyes, whom Levine Cava promoted last year apparently as part of a plan to have a loyal ally in the sheriff’s race.
Since qualifying to run for sheriff on June 10, Reyes took advantage of a loophole in county rules requiring employees who run for elected office to take a leave of absence. Reyes continued working full-time while he presumably campaigned during his off-duty hours even though his “work is around the clock and duty to serve is 24/7,” according to VanSusteren’s Aug. 10 statement.
“He has taken a leave today and will continue to do so next week as he campaigns in the final stretch leading up to Aug. 20,” VanSusteren said.
Should he win the Democratic primary, Reyes will go back to work full-time until “the final stretch of the November election” when he would face off against the Republican primary nominee, VanSusteren added.
Her statement also noted that Miami-Dade’s charter only requires employees running for county mayor, county commissioner, county clerk and county property appraiser to take a leave of absence from their jobs until the date of an election. Miami-Dade’s elected officials have not amended the charter to include the sheriff, tax collector and elections supervisor because those are appointed positions until 2025.
In 2018, Florida voters approved a statewide ballot amendment mandating every county elect independent constitutional offices to include sheriff, clerk of courts, property appraiser, tax collector and elections supervisor — beginning with this year’s election.
Miami-Dade also has an administrative order requiring employees who run for municipal, state and federal elected offices to take a leave of absence.
OPPONENTS TOOK LEAVE
Cordero-Stutz, the assistant police director in the Republican primary, took a leave of absence on June 7, a couple of days after she qualified. “I submitted a memo that went up the chain of command,” Cordero-Stutz told Florida Bulldog. “I decided it was in the best interest of my campaign to focus on that. Being an assistant director takes a lot of responsibilities.”
She also believes the charter should be updated to include the sheriff’s position. “That is a loophole,” Cordero-Stutz said. “I do believe they are going to have to clarify that charter language. It was incumbent on us as candidates to make that decision because it is subject to interpretation.”
John Barrow, a Miami-Dade Police major who is among three other Democrats vying against Reyes in the primary, told Florida Bulldog he also took a leave of absence shortly after qualifying after realizing the demands of running a grassroots campaign.
He initially took three weeks off and was working on a reduced schedule since he announced his candidacy in March, Barrow said. “I realized I needed to fully take [a leave of absence],” he said. “I am a member of the command staff. A lot has to be done to achieve the goals and objectives in a high level, managerial executive job.”
Barrow quickly realized that running for a new countywide elected office required a full-time effort. “There was no way I had time in my day for my fulltime job and campaigning,” he said. “To give my best, I needed to take a step back from my day-to-day responsibilities with the Miami-Dade Police Department so I could focus on this election.”
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