Luther Campbell is no longer the least qualified mayoral candidate

Roosevelt Bradley, candidate for Miami-Dade mayor

Luther Campbell is fighting a losing battle. He's trying to convince someone...anyone, - with the help of Miami New Times - that he's a serious contender for the office of Miami-Dade mayor.

Yesterday he unveiled one of the planks in his platform. He wants to tax strippers.

If a stripper makes five or even six figures a year — and some do — a few hundred bucks to register with the state like a real estate agent or a nurse is a wise investment. For one, cities could keep underage girls out of the industry. For another, they could actually take care of their people.

Miami could be the first wave in a stripper tsunami. Exotic dancers from across the nation come here to get naked. We have more strip clubs than anywhere in the United States. We're home to the two largest strip clubs in the country — Tootsie's Cabaret and King of Diamonds — where P. Diddy and Rick Ross recently made $1 million rain on the dancers.

Uhhh, sure Luther.

But Campbell has to be the happiest man in South Florida. He can no longer be called the least qualified candidate for Miami-Dade mayor.




That distinction now belongs to former fired Miami-Dade Transit Director Roosevelt Bradley who has announced he's entering the race.

From the Miami Herald, March 16, 2007:

Transit director is forced out

Friday, March 16, 2007
by LARRY LEBOWITZ AND MATTHEW I. PINZUR

Abstract: Miami-Dade's veteran Transit director became one of the first to fall since Mayor Carlos Alvarez was given broader powers to hire and fire at County Hall.

Miami-Dade Transit Director Roosevelt Bradley , one of the highest-ranking blacks in county government, was forced to resign abruptly Thursday night.

Bradley , 51, confirmed his departure from the $225,000-a-year post but declined to comment further about the circumstances. He did not return subsequent phone calls.

Vicki Mallette, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, said that Bradley resigned. Mallette didn't know if an interim replacement had been named for the nation's 14th-largest transit agency, which has a $425 million annual budget and nearly 4,000 employees.

"The mayor doesnt want to comment any further on personnel matters," Mallette said. "I believe theres going to be a memo [today]."

A tireless worker known for putting in seven-day weeks, Bradley had broad political support, especially among black commissioners, union leaders and in the community. His departure came as a surprise even to some of his harshest critics at County Hall.

"It's no secret that I had problems with his agency," said County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, who recently stepped aside as transportation chairman.

"It wasn't about [ Bradley ]. It was about the agency and how it was run. Long-standing problems with deficits. Inefficiencies," he said. "On a personal level, I thought he was a decent man. But I had problems with the way that agency was run."
[...]
Allegations lingered during Bradley 's tenure about patronage, nepotism and irregular hiring practices.

A 2005 inspector general's audit slammed Miami-Dade Transit for hiring a Pembroke Pines woman who was best friends with a close friend of Bradley 's.

Beatrice Fullington was hired to a sensitive security job even though she had an outstanding warrant for allegedly stealing money from her previous employer.

The Fullington investigation had further fallout.

Bradley subsequently fired one of the inspector general's key witnesses, safety and security director Bonnie Todd.

Todd filed an unfair labor practices complaint. On the eve of her hearing, she was rehired into another position of equal stature at the transit agency at the same pay level.

Read the county memos on Bradley's firing below.

Roosevelt Bradley Termination