Effort to recall Coral Gables mayor falls short by nearly 120 signatures
An effort to recall the mayor of Coral Gables fell short by nearly 120 signatures, putting an end to a campaign that sparked a criminal investigation and stoked discord in a politically divided City Beautiful.
On Monday, the Miami-Dade County Elections Department confirmed that it had certified 1,533 of the 1,719 petitions submitted earlier this month by End the Corruption, the political committee behind the recall. In order to advance to the next phase, the group needed signatures from 1,650 people, or 5% of the city’s registered voters, according to the city clerk.
The recall effort was viewed by some as a referendum on Mayor Vince Lago, who was elected without opposition to a second two-year term last year. End the Corruption had accused Lago of “misfeasance and malfeasance” in part because of his business ties with embattled developer Rishi Kapoor.
In a statement to the Miami Herald, Lago called the news a “personal vindication for me, my family and friends” and also a “victory for the residents of Coral Gables.”
Lago accused “out-of-town developers who wish to destroy our community” of driving the recall effort — a claim he has made repeatedly in recent weeks while declining to name any specific developers.
“The fact is that this recall was never about me,” Lago continued. “It was always about the future of our city. That is why our residents chose to say no [to] the empty political attacks from those who funded a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging our city’s identity and eroding the public’s faith in its municipal government.”
READ MORE: Coral Gables mayor says recall effort is funded by ‘dark money.’ Where did it come from?
Attorney David Winker, the registered agent for End the Corruption, said it is too early to concede and that the group is in the process of gathering more information about the standard used to verify the signatures and the justification for denying nearly 200 of them.
“The process continues,” Winker said.
The group had submitted 1,719 signatures to the clerk’s office on April 12 — giving them a buffer of nearly 70 signatures. Miami-Dade Deputy Supervisor of Elections Robert Rodríguez did not immediately have specifics about why approximately 200 signatures weren’t certified but said the 89% that were certified is a “completely normal” amount for a petition.
