MIAMI – Attorneys for a city commissioner targeted for recall hailed a recent 11th Circuit Court decision that found the timing of the submitted recall petitions violated Florida law.
The Take Back Our City Political Committee has sought to remove Commissioner Joe Carollo after circulating petitions accusing Carollo of abuse of power. The petitions alleged that the commissioner harassed a Little Havana business that supported an opponent of Carollo’s and used public funds in support of the campaign of a political ally.
But J.C. Planas, an attorney for the committee, said the panel would pursue an appeal with the Florida Third District Court of Appeal once it has Circuit Court Judge Alan Fine’s order in writing. At the heart of the litigation is whether the petitions were filed in a timely manner, since the law says the signatures must be submitted to the city within 30 days of the committee obtaining the first signature.
In the recall bid, 30 days after the first petition was collected was a Sunday. The committee submitted copies of its petitions to the city clerk on the Saturday night before the deadline via email, according to Planas, and the originals were submitted the following Monday.
“We believe that the remedy on an untimely petition is not to invalidate all of them,” Planas told the Florida Record. “It’s actually to probably discount the ones that are older than 30 days.”
Fine decided that the statute in question provided an absolute deadline for turning in the petitions and that by exceeding the deadline when it turned in original petitions, the committee unfairly had additional time to obtain petitions after the imposed deadline.
Planas, however, said the committee does not acknowledge a late delivery of petitions.
“Our constructive delivery of the petitions in an electronic form Saturday night constitutes an early submission of the petitions,” he said, adding that a number of other procedural issues make the judge’s order “defective.”
Carollo called the recall process flawed and the product of monied special interests.
“I am honored that Judge Fine’s ruling will allow me to continue my focus to advance the health, safety and welfare of all Miamians during these challenging times,” he said in a prepared statement.