Everyone elected in this state House district has pleaded guilty. Voters will try again
BY DAVID SMILEY
dsmiley@miamiherald.com
February 15, 2018 07:00 AM
Updated 2 hours 54 minutes ago
The people of Florida’s 114th House District may not want to read this next sentence.
Since the district was formed in 2012, every candidate voters have sent to the Florida Capitol on their behalf has pleaded guilty to criminal charges. In April, it was Erik Fresen, a Republican who failed to file his income tax returns for eight consecutive years. In November, it was Daisy Baez, a Democrat who lied on her voter’s registration about living in the district.
On Tuesday, some of the 34,000 Republican voters in the district, which includes Flagami, Coral Gables, West Miami and parts of Pinecrest and Cutler Bay, will head to the polls to begin the process of voting for the first time — hopefully — to elect someone who won’t disgrace them. Whoever they choose will run against a Democrat in a May 1 special election called by Gov. Rick Scott after Baez resigned in order to avoid jail time.
Baez “spent a lot of time earning the trust of voters in that district. And it was all for naught. She was running under the pretense of a lie,” said Sean Foreman, a Barry University political science professor who lives in the district. “That’s what’s most disappointing for the voters: Regardless of party, we’ve elected people who we thought would be good representatives but they violated the public trust.”
more
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article200031194.html
