FBI arrests mayors, FBI agents Tuesday arrested the mayors of Miami Lakes and Sweetwater, Fla., on bribery charges related to government contracts in their towns.
Agents arrested Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi and Sweetwater Mayor Manuel "Manny" Marono at their City Hall offices.
Pizzi and Marono are expected to make their first appearances in Miami federal court Tuesday. It's not clear yet how the cases are related.
Pizzi, who is serving his second term as mayor, has been in the public eye for years. He is an attorney who once worked for a high-profile criminal defense law firm in Miami and served as a Miami Lakes councilman before running successfully for town mayor in 2008. He was re-elected last year.
In 2012, Pizzi easily defeated challenger Wayne Slaton, who had served as Miami Lakes' first mayor after its incorporation in 2000. The Pizzi-Slaton mayoral showdown was particularly nasty for Miami Lakes, a normally below-the-radar community.
Previously, Pizzi drew attention to himself by helping lead the effort to recall a political nemesis, Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, in 2011. She was voted out of office that year along with County Mayor Carlos Alvarez in a special recall election.
Marono, a member of the Sweetwater City Commission since 1995, was elected as mayor in 2003.
Like Pizzi, Marono also has a prominent profile for a small-town official. He is serving as president of the Florida League of Cities, with a membership of more than 400 cities, towns and villages in the state. In 2011, Marono also played a role on Gov. Rick Scott's transition team. That year, Marono and former North Bay Village Manager Jorge Forte launched a public affairs and business development firm, 7 Strategies.
Forte and Marono, who had known each other since high school, named the company in a reference to Scott's seven-step plan to create 700,000 jobs in seven years. 7 Strategies is focused on strategies that forge "better ties" between clients and the public sector, the partners told The South Florida Business Journal in 2011. It also lobbies on behalf of some clients.
7 Strategies has supported Scott's job creation plan, which is tied to measures that eliminate Florida's business income tax, lower residential property taxes and cut government spending.
The company's focus is related, in part, to public sector-related opportunities for business, because local, state and federal officials have been working through billions in stimulus dollars that companies can tap, the partners said.
Marono touted his early support of the governor as a value for potential clients. He said his company would vet clients to make sure their agenda is "in line with the governor's strategy and is not going to detract from that message."
"We know how local government works, how the state works, how the county works and how the governor works - which is the most important part," Marono told the Business Journal. "We know how the governor works."
Now the Republican governor, as a result of Marono's arrest on corruption charges, will have to suspend the Sweetwater mayor from office as he awaits trial. Scott will also have to suspend Pizzi as Miami Lakes mayor.
In a statement after the arrests, Scott said: "This is disappointing. ... While we wait to see the evidence, the fact remains that elected officials must be held to the highest standard."
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/06/5627402/fbi-arrests-mayors-of-miami-lakes.html#storylink=cpy
Agents arrested Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi and Sweetwater Mayor Manuel "Manny" Marono at their City Hall offices.
Pizzi and Marono are expected to make their first appearances in Miami federal court Tuesday. It's not clear yet how the cases are related.
Pizzi, who is serving his second term as mayor, has been in the public eye for years. He is an attorney who once worked for a high-profile criminal defense law firm in Miami and served as a Miami Lakes councilman before running successfully for town mayor in 2008. He was re-elected last year.
In 2012, Pizzi easily defeated challenger Wayne Slaton, who had served as Miami Lakes' first mayor after its incorporation in 2000. The Pizzi-Slaton mayoral showdown was particularly nasty for Miami Lakes, a normally below-the-radar community.
Previously, Pizzi drew attention to himself by helping lead the effort to recall a political nemesis, Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, in 2011. She was voted out of office that year along with County Mayor Carlos Alvarez in a special recall election.
Marono, a member of the Sweetwater City Commission since 1995, was elected as mayor in 2003.
Like Pizzi, Marono also has a prominent profile for a small-town official. He is serving as president of the Florida League of Cities, with a membership of more than 400 cities, towns and villages in the state. In 2011, Marono also played a role on Gov. Rick Scott's transition team. That year, Marono and former North Bay Village Manager Jorge Forte launched a public affairs and business development firm, 7 Strategies.
Forte and Marono, who had known each other since high school, named the company in a reference to Scott's seven-step plan to create 700,000 jobs in seven years. 7 Strategies is focused on strategies that forge "better ties" between clients and the public sector, the partners told The South Florida Business Journal in 2011. It also lobbies on behalf of some clients.
7 Strategies has supported Scott's job creation plan, which is tied to measures that eliminate Florida's business income tax, lower residential property taxes and cut government spending.
The company's focus is related, in part, to public sector-related opportunities for business, because local, state and federal officials have been working through billions in stimulus dollars that companies can tap, the partners said.
Marono touted his early support of the governor as a value for potential clients. He said his company would vet clients to make sure their agenda is "in line with the governor's strategy and is not going to detract from that message."
"We know how local government works, how the state works, how the county works and how the governor works - which is the most important part," Marono told the Business Journal. "We know how the governor works."
Now the Republican governor, as a result of Marono's arrest on corruption charges, will have to suspend the Sweetwater mayor from office as he awaits trial. Scott will also have to suspend Pizzi as Miami Lakes mayor.
In a statement after the arrests, Scott said: "This is disappointing. ... While we wait to see the evidence, the fact remains that elected officials must be held to the highest standard."
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/06/5627402/fbi-arrests-mayors-of-miami-lakes.html#storylink=cpy
