The Miami City Commission gave up the lifetime pensions they awarded themselves last week after Miami Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed the move.
After voting on October 15 to give themselves lifetime pensions, the Miami City Commission beat a hasty retreat Thursday in the face of strong public opposition, a change of heart by one commissioner, and a stinging veto by Mayor Francis Suarez.
The mayor’s veto killed the pension plan approved earlier this month on a 3-to-2 vote. Commissioners needed four votes to override the veto. Instead, they let the veto stand without a challenge.
None of the five commissioners spoke in favor of the pension plan on Thursday, and no one defended the earlier vote with the exception of District 1 Commissioner Miguel Gabela, who had voted in favor of lifetime pensions but then reversed course.
Gabela’s change of heart had thrown the measure into doubt. The mayor’s veto killed it outright, but that veto didn’t save the commission from its critics at Thursday’s meeting, including those who felt the question of pensions should have been left to voters.
Commission Chairwoman Christine King was called out individually for her earlier comments about why she didn’t trust Miami voters to decide the issue. “Because people are M&Ms – mean and miserable,” she said on October 15.
Coconut Grove resident Fernand Amandi described those comments as “shameful” and called on King to apologize. She didn’t.
In response to an earlier comment, though, King did seek to explain herself, saying she didn’t mean all people were mean and miserable. “I didn’t say everyone,” King said.
Several people who addressed the commission on Thursday brought M&M candies to the meeting. “I am a proud M&M,” Grove resident John Dolson told commissioners.
Others thanked Suarez for his veto. “The veto of this pension bill was absolutely called for,” Grove resident Nathan Kurland said. Suarez would have received a pension if the measure had survived.
Miami filmmaker Billy Corben, a frequent and often acerbic critic of Miami politics and politicians, called the pension plan a “new corruption tax.”
“You raised taxes to give yourselves more money. In what company, on what planet would you get a fully vested pension after less than 10 years in a part-time job?” he asked. “None of you ran for office on a platform of giving yourselves pensions. If you had, you wouldn’t have been elected.”
“I understand where you are coming from. I heard the voters speak,” Gabela responded. “I always said, if you want to take it to the voters, that’s fine with me.”
Gabela then took a swipe at District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, who voted against the pension plan but said he would accept a pension, if the plan stood and if he served long enough to become eligible. Gabela pointed to Pardo’s position before saying, “I am not the only hypocrite up here.”
Pardo responded, “I am not going to deny myself the same opportunity as my colleagues when I work just as hard. I have always been against the pensions, from day one, and said it should go to the voters, and at no point have I been hypocritical, or reversed, or said anything different.”
When it was his turn to speak, Carollo attacked Corben from the dais, repeatedly calling him “Little Billy” while impugning his integrity. Amandi described Carollo’s remarks as a “disgusting attack.” Pardo later registered his disapproval as well. “So rude,” he said.
The issue of lifetime pensions for public officials – who deserves them and when – was lost in the fray. Suarez offered brief remarks at the meeting to explain his veto, saying that in his case a lifetime pension might eventually amount to more than $6.3 million.
“As I approach 16 years of public service, I never expected or sought such a benefit,” the mayor said in his veto message. “And I do not believe it is fair for the hardworking, taxpaying residents of this city to bear it.”