It's official: Carlos Alvarez is now the former Mayor of Miami-Dade.
Alvarez suffered probably the worst recall defeat in modern political history when he was recalled by voters at a 9-1 margin.
Voters swept Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez out of office by a stunning margin Tuesday, capping a dramatic collapse for a politician who was given increased authority by voters four years ago to clean up much-maligned county government but was ushered out in the largest recall of a local politician in U.S. history.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/...
Now, it's easy to see that Alvarez had many past and ongoing issues involving his term as mayor including some questionable spending decisions related to his benefits and his choice in hiring some of his aides. However, Alvarez was also pushing for a new union contract for county workers that would have given raises to public sector workers and brought their wages closer to their counterparts in the private sector.
Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, Alvarez incurred the wrath of several wealthy residents by implementing a 12 percent increase in property taxes. Specifically, he got on the wrong end of a Billionaire. In America apparently this is the wrong end to be on, as Norman Braman, the billionaire in question and one of the 400 richest Americans per Forbes, was the driving force behind the recall election.
I would think that considering the wide margin of the election, Alvarez had major issues beyond supporting the unions but it is becoming rapidly apparent that raising taxes - even when it would seem that economic environment would demand it - is becoming a third rail of politics for many states, counties and cities.
It is evident that we must continue to push back on the tea-baggers, the mainstream media and our wishy-washy politicians to make them understand that the mindset of TAXES ARE TEH EVIL is not an attitude that our nation can tolerate during this recession. Hard decision must be made in some cases and if raising taxes to make sure that we have basic services is the answer then we must not be afraid to ask the question.
From the Alvarez case is particular it is clear that we need better leaders, not only on a national level but also on county and city level. Elections matter!