Garnering 39 percent of the vote, Jim Cason was elected mayor of Coral Gables yesterday, promising to tackle the largest issue facing the city - a nearly $200 million shortfall in the city’s pension fund.
The first time office holder won because as voters told the Miami Herald: “The main issue was the control over the budget and pensions. They need to be reined in.’’
As Miami-Dade County faces an election for mayor on May 24, is Cason's election in Coral Gables a harbinger of things to come? We think so.
The voters of Miami-Dade County already resoundingly rejected the fiscal lunacy of former Mayor Alvarez, voting him out of office based on his decisions to raise taxes and his inability or unwillingness to address budget and pension issues facing the county.
Of the eleven people now running to replace Alvarez, one will have to emerge with a coherent plan to tackle excessive salaries, runaway budgets, and the pension obligation dangling over county hall like the Sword of Damocles.
Mayoral aspirants would be wise to take a page from Mayor Cason's playbook that included "an extensive brochure detailing the city’s pension issues, with the headline: The Real Truth About the Financial State of the City of Coral Gables."
Contrary to the opinion of many so-called political campaign consultants, the people of Miami-Dade County are not dumb and cannot be led to vote through silly slogans and visceral appeals. Rather, the people of Miami-Dade are ready for a candidate to face fiscal reality and explain to us how he or she will deal with these challenges.
The people are ready to listen, are any candidates ready to speak the truth?
