Mayor Suarez Baloney-Peddling Goes National With Presidential Debate Fiasco

Voters around the country are getting to know Miami mayor and budding presidential candidate Francis Suarez.

They might be wondering, "Who is this dashing, occasionally well-spoken leader who promises to fix the federal budget, court young voters, and heal the political rifts afflicting the country? And why did he falsely claim he qualified for the first Republican presidential debate?"

For those not yet in the campaign news loop — or actively avoiding it like the bubonic plague — Suarez took to social media last week to profess that he had met the polling qualifications to participate in the August 23 presidential debate in Milwaukee.

Turns out, the announcement was — take your pick of wording — inaccurate, misleading, a crock o' baloney, or all of the above. (Please consult our patented Suarez Baloney Meter.)

Evidently, the Republican National Committee did notify Suarez last Thursday that he might qualify for the debate based on polling results and that tickets would be reserved for his campaign. But the mayor jumped the gun. Sure enough, when the debate participants' list was released on August 22, Suarez was not among the lucky eight contenders.

In a statement, the mayor blamed the debacle on a mixup over which polls would qualify him for the debate.

"I respect the rules and process set forth by the RNC, and I look forward to working with my party to ensure we win back the White House and restore the path to a brighter future for our country," Suarez said.

No elements of this fiasco surprised South Floridians who've been observing Suarez in recent years.

Whether born out of absent-minded optimism, lack of critical thought, or raw and unfettered B.S., Suarez's mouth often writes checks he can't cash. (Literally so, on one occasion: Last year, New Times broke news that Suarez had presented an oversized million-dollar check to a community nonprofit before arranging for the city commission's required approval.)

We're not out to pick on Hizzoner, truly. But between Suarez's "Weeble" gaffe and the botched debate announcement, we'd be downright derelict in our duties if we did not take willing passengers on a tour of the Miami mayor's past bloviation.

Reinvigorated by the mayor's latest snafu, we present a quartet of choice instances of Suarez's baloney peddling.

Bad Check

In October 2021, Suarez staged a press conference at Miami City Hall to present an oversized million-dollar check to the nonprofit Circle of Brotherhood as a nod for its service to Black communities in the Miami area. Photos from the ceremony were featured all over his social media: the mayor with a big grin holding the check alongside members of the organization and its leadership.

During the press conference, the mayor criticized other politicians for making promises and not following through.

"I'm sure Leroy probably thought I forgot," the mayor said, noting that it had been six months since he had talked with the group's organizer Leroy Jones about a contribution from the city. "It is okay because I'm sure a lot of people make promises and forget. That's unfortunately become the status quo."
Turns out, Suarez was not exactly practicing what he preached, as he did not have the authority to make the million-dollar promise in the first place. The contribution was coming out of a $137 million package allocated to the city from the federal government via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) — and it required approval from the city commission.

The commission put off voting on the item, and the city tried to reduce the donation to $250,000, the Circle of Brotherhood said. The organization wholeheartedly rejected the reduced amount, with Jones proclaiming, "The mayor promised us one million dollars. We want one million."

After more than a year of delay and a failed vote on the item, the city commission revisited the measure at a March 2023 meeting, where it eventually passed following public outrage.

Mayor Solves Homelessness

Let's revisit New Times' trusty Baloney Meter. Remember Suarez's video where he jogs all over his notoriously pedestrian-unfriendly city to announce his 2024 presidential bid? (How could one forget? The myriad close-up shots of his calf muscles are imprinted into our brains evermore.)

In that video, the mayor appeared to take credit for a number of accomplishments, including lowering the city's homeless population.

"Now, instead of 6,000 homeless, we have 608, and I am not finished yet," he claimed.

That's more than a tad misleading, as that dramatic decrease did not happen under his mayoral watch. He seems to refer to figures that date back many years when reports showed the city's homeless population was roughly 6,000.

The Miami-Dade County census found there were around 750 unsheltered homeless people within city limits by 2005. The figure stood at 640 in late 2022, according to the Homeless Trust's August census for that year.

Miami Is the Best City! (Out of Two Cities)

One thing that Suarez seems to have down pat – he is constantly promoting Miami regardless of whether his claims have a basis in reality.

He once declared on the platform formerly known as Twitter, "Miami Ranks #1 Best City in the U.S. to Live & Work!"

"The Magic City will continue to focus on quality of life, safety, and economic freedom to ensure a #MiamiForEveryone & #MiamiForever," Suarez raved, linking to a CNBC story.

But it seems he only read the story headline, which, to be fair, cagily teased the study results.

The finding was based on a survey of expatriates, foreigners who moved away from their native countries, about living abroad. Moreover, only two cities, New York and Miami, met the survey criteria.

So, Suarez should have trimmed his proclamation's scope to say: "Miami Ranks Marginally Better Than New York City in Expat Poll."

MiamiCoin Goes Bust

Miami's crypto-obsessed mayor boasted city taxes could one day be replaced by revenue from MiamiCoin – a now nearly worthless cryptocurrency token. He made the media rounds, throwing his support behind the concept and making bold claims about the benefits the city would reap from the token.

ICYMI my interview on MiamiCoin w/ @FoxBusiness

✅The revolutionary concept of @mineCityCoins

✅Understanding how it’s generated $5M+ for the City

✅How these benefits translate into a better quality of life for Miamians pic.twitter.com/ipewPwBMdw

— Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) September 20, 2021

In 2021, Suarez said MiamiCoin was generating "several thousand dollars every 10 minutes" via a system where the city received a portion of assets deposited by miners staking a claim on the MiamiCoin platform.

"It could potentially generate over the course of a year upwards of $60 million," he told Fox Business.

According to Suarez, the money generated from MiamiCoin could alleviate homelessness, increase City of Miami police funding, and improve the quality of life for city residents. He even touted a plan to give Miami residents a digital wallet where they would find a bitcoin dividend from the MiamiCoin yield.

In February 2022, the city received its first donation from CityCoin – the nonprofit behind the digital token – amounting to $5.25 million. Suarez later said that the city had received a decent chunk of change amounting to $21 million in total.

While, according to Suarez, the City of Miami made good money off the token, those who directly bought into MiamiCoin saw an unfortunate end. After hitting its peak in September 2021, at around 6 cents, the coin lost nearly all its value.