An effort to recall Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago failed by just 75 signatures, according to the Miami-Dade County Department of Elections.
Lago called it a victory for himself and residents over "out-of-town special interests" bent on changing the city's character with rampant development.
His detractors complained that "dirty tricks" kept them from collecting the requisite number of petition signatures and vowed that the fight to unseat Lago is not yet over.
Florida statutes provide that for cities with 25,000 or more registered voters, petitions to recall elected officials must receive signatures from either 1,000 or 5% of its voters — whichever is greatest.
In the case of Coral Gables, which had 32,157 voters living within its borders as of April 1, the threshold is 1,608.
A citizen effort to recall Lago called End the Corruption Political Committee collected and submitted 1,719 petition signatures, but Elections Supervisor Christina White ultimately certified just 1,533.
That's 75 shy of the threshold, Deputy Elections Supervisor Robert Rodriguez told Florida Politics on Monday afternoon.
"The people of Coral Gables have demonstrated their resolve, choosing to put our community first despite the overwhelming influx of dark money and the spread of disinformation aimed at undermining our city's integrity and eroding trust in our municipal institutions," Lago told Florida Politics by text.
"This illegal recall was more than a challenge to the office of Mayor of Coral Gables; it was a direct attack on our democratic principles and the civic engagement of our residents who have consistently said no to the out-of-town special interests — and their supporters in City Hall —who seek to transform it into something our founders didn't envision."
Maria Cruz, Chair of a political committee called End the Corruption that spearheaded the petition drive, contended it was old-fashioned skullduggery, not overwhelming affinity for Lago, that quashed the recall effort.
In a Saturday email with the subject line, "Lago Legacy: Lying, Bullying & Dirty Tricks," Cruz said her petition signature was rejected because supporters of Lago's "fraudulently signed (her) name on several petitions in order to sow chaos and create duplicates."
"This confusion would force the Elections Department to challenge all of the petitions including the one that I signed publicly in front of the Clerk," she wrote. "This effort was wide-spread and intentional. The Lago supporter-led scheme to de-legitimize valid petitions and undermine the will of the voters is yet another example of the deceitful nature of our Mayor."
Lago denied he or anyone he was associated with did anything underhanded.
"Their failure at the hands of the residents is purely a reflection of their lies, disinformation and incompetence. Anything else is nothing more than an excuse to continue attacking our city. I will not stand for this," he said.
End the Corruption started collecting signatures in mid-March, accusing Lago of "misfeasance and malfeasance" in part due to his business ties with real estate developer Rishi Kapoor, who is accused of an alleged $93 million real estate investment fraud scheme.
Last quarter, the only period for which fundraising and spending data is available for End the Corruption, the political committee raised $50,000 split relatively evenly between three Tallahassee sources: the Florida Consumer Alliance, Mark PC and Florida Workers' Alliance.
Mark PC, the sole donor to the Florida Workers' Alliance last quarter, is run by ethics, elections and government affairs lawyer Mark Herron. It's raised $3.1 million since 2014, the vast majority of it from other political committees, lobbying firms and law firms.
Of the political committee's 176 contributions since May 2013, roughly 22% came from companies or organizations that listed a Miami-Dade County address.
Herron initially denied knowing about End the Corruption when the Miami Herald asked him about it. He later said he administers Mark PC for numerous clients and declined to go into further detail.
Lawyer David Winker, the registered agent for End the Corruption, said Lago's assertion that outsider development interests bankrolled the recall effort was "baseless."
"The Mayor's accusation that it was developer-funded is just simply not true," he said in a short phone interview.
Winker, who has represented Coral Gables Commissioner and frequent Lago opponent Melissa Castro, also pointed to questionable wording in a letter White wrote to Coral Gables Clerk Billy Urquia. In the letter, advance-dated to April 30, White wrote, "For the purpose of signature verification, my office follows the directives given by the municipality."
"We're trying to figure out what that is, what the Gables told them," Winker said. "What are the directives from Coral Gables? What's going on? I've never seen that before. Usually, they just follow Florida election law."
Rodriguez told Florida Politics that line simply referred to the relationship his office has with municipal Clerk offices during elections, petition initiatives and similar activities.
"We review the petitions based on the directive of the municipality and whatever they tell us to review on the form, including signatures and making sure they're voters," he said.
"Just like with municipal elections, they're the supervisors of their election. Then they tell us, 'Please review and make sure these people are voters and that their signatures match what you have on file,' and whatever else they want us to review."
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Content from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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