Helen Williams first came to our attention when she unsuccessfully ran against incumbent Carlos Alvarez for Mayor of Miami-Dade. Before that, the former teacher spent a lot of time speaking before the school board as a concerned citizen type. Well, today Alvarez was sworn in for his second term, and Williams was again in front of the school board, this time casually alleging racism.
The board was discussing the fate of their (spoiler alert: soon to be former) attorney, Julianne Rico. She accepted $15,000 from the board to move to Miami-Dade but never did. A school board member asked her about it two and a half years later, and she ended up writing out a check for the amount. She was placed on leave, and the board was deciding whether to rehire her, terminate her for cause, or accept a moderator's recommendation to settle for about $200,000 in salary plus costs of healthcare.
Williams got up to speak and said, "If she was any other ethnicity, she'd be sitting in jail right now," and suggested Rico be fired. The board didn't touch the racism claims but ended up agreeing and passed a motion to fire the attorney for cause.
By the way, have you ever listened to these board meetings on the radio? It's like an old-timey drama, and the new chairman, Dr. Solomon C. Stinson, has such a soothing voice.
Update: Herald, of course, has the details, but it's so boring with out casually accusations of racism by someone that 35% of the county wanted to be our Mayor and the smooth, smooth voice of Stinson.
