An Odd Municipal Legal Battle in South Florida: Who Is the Mayor of Miami Lakes?
Wayne Slaton, second from left, won a mayoral special election in Miami Lakes, Florida, after Michael Pizzi, not pictured, faced federal bribery charges, which he was found not guilty. Gov. Rick Scott, center, has blocked Pizzi's return to office. Town of Miami Lakes / Facebook
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Despite having his name cleared of past criminal charges for more than a year, Michael Pizzi is suing for the second time to reclaim the job—plus benefits and back pay—he says he is legally entitled to.
After a South Florida mayor was accused of taking a bribe from an undercover FBI official in August 2013, he was removed from his job by the state.
However, a year later, a federal jury found Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi not guilty on all seven counts of bribery. He returned to his old town office and planned to get back to work.
Instead, Wayne Slaton, the longtime Miami Lakes Civic Association president Pizzi had soundly defeated at the polls in 2012, had moved into Pizzi’s old office and has refused to leave . That’s because Gov. Rick Scott held a special election two weeks after Pizzi was arrested to fill his seat.
“It was completely ridiculous. I never should’ve been charged, I never should’ve been removed and I should have been reinstated as mayor the day I was exonerated,” Pizzi told reporters on Monday .
There is precedent in Florida law that if a public official is acquitted, they can return to their old job with back pay and benefits.
For example, Scott reinstated Michelle Spence-Jones as a Miami commissioner in August 2011 after a similar incident.
However, Miami Lakes does not specify whether a town official should be reinstated if they have vacated their post for more than six months, which is what happened to Pizzi, and Scott refused to reinstate the mayor, telling the Miami Herald: "They have a major now, they had an election."
Pizzi sued the governor and won but he still hasn’t been reinstated. As the Herald reports , the Florida Supreme Court forced the governor to revoke Pizzi’s suspension in December, something Scott has previously refused to do. However, even though Scott was required to revoke the suspension, Pizzi’s suit did not directly call for the town of Miami Lakes to reinstate him as mayor .
On Tuesday, Pizzi filed suit with a Miami-Dade circuit judge, seeking to force the town to reinstate him as mayor and remove Slaton, who won the special election called by Scott in late 2013. He’s also asking for the city to cover his legal fees and to pay him back salary and benefits dating back to the time of his removal from office. His second term was scheduled to last through 2016.
“[T]he town of Miami Lakes refused to reinstate [him] as mayor and continues to persist in that refusal, prompting this litigation,” reads an excerpt from Pizzi’s complaint. “Wayne Slaton refuses to vacate the office of mayor, and continues to purport to discharge the duties and responsibilities of the mayor.”
However, Slaton and Miami Lakes Town Attorney Raul Gastesi are expected to fight Pizzi’s efforts. In 2013, previous Town Attorney Steve Geller told council members that if they ran to replace Pizzi and he was later exonerated, that they would have to vacate his post.
“I would remind you that if you have three years remaining on your seat and you give yourseat to run for the position of mayor, and Mayor Pizzi ends up being found not guilty, or charges [are] dropped or anything, then you lose the seat,” Geller said at the time.
For now, Pizzi will have to wait and see what another court decides but he sounded confident on Tuesday, telling Local 10 News : "My name is Michael Pizzi, and I am the mayor of Miami Lakes."
WATCH: Michael Pizzi on Local 10 News