Feeling ignorant about the race for the first elected Sheriff in Miami-Dade in over 50 years, I watched the debate on CBS-4 this evening between Republican Rosanna (“Rosi”) Cordero-Stutz and Democrat James Reyes. Jim DeFede did a great job as moderator.
Mostly it wasn’t a slam dunk debate. Cordero-Stutz scored a point on Reyes’s lack of experience as a beat cop. (Reyes replied we’re electing a manager, not someone to write tickets.) Reyes scored on Cordero-Stutz being endorsed by Incitement-to-Riot-in-Chief Donald Trump. He also scored on Cordero-Stutz blowing off court dates and depositions in a civil suit a decade ago—a bad look for a law-and-order candidate. Generally Reyes was calmer and better spoken; what I saw as Cordero-Stutz’s querulousness and willingness to interrupt others might see as passion. Both seemed experienced and informed.
The sharpest difference came on whether Miami-Dade police should cooperate with ICE if they come in and try to do a mass roundup of alleged illegal immigrants. Reyes said, simply, never. Cordeor-Stutz danced about: she said she wouldn’t help enforce federal immigration law but allowed that she’d allow for support activities to ‘protect the community’ if there was a risk that the federal actions might cause a disturbance.
That seems like a telling difference. Depending on how you came into the issue, it might push you one way or the other—for me a reluctance to assist in (hypothetical) mass round-ups seems like a strong selling point. Others might say for the Sheriff’s Office, public safety trumps standing up for a matter of principle. I’d say none of us are safe if there are mass round-ups….
