It's the final countdown for North Bay
Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa. The Miami-Dade Elections Office has
verified that a political action committee seeking a recall against
Esquijarosa has obtained the required number of voter signatures to
call an election.
Citizens For Full Disclosure needed to get 440 John
Hancocks in its second round of petition gathering. The group
collected 520 valid signatures, which means Esquijarosa could be
ousted just one year after being elected.
In 2010, she won the mayor's post by just six votes. But she quickly got into trouble when she was caught failing to report rental income from a downtown Miami condo and a foreclosure against her on her statement of financial interest.
Her troubles snowballed when residents snitched on her to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser's Office.
Esquijarosa had been claiming a homestead exemption on the condo she rented. She was slapped with a lien for failing to pay more than $3,000 in unpaid back taxes.
She was recently fined by the ethics commission for lying on her financial disclosure form and was laid off from her job at the city of Miami. Oh, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is also investigating Esquijarosa on possible fraud charges related to her fake homestead exemption.
You can read New Times full coverage of Esquijarosa's scandal here.
Citizens For Full Disclosure President Richard Chervony says Esquijarosa should do North Bay Village taxpayers a favor by simply resigning. "Don't embarrass our city any further or cause our city to spend money it cannot afford," Chervony said.
Esquijarosa did not respond to a request for comment sent to her city email address.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
