Career politicians always say, “We have term limits. They’re called elections!”

In the Village of El Portal, term limits are also called “federal investigations.”

When the filing deadline to run for office in the Village came and went last Friday, Mayor Claudia Cubillos was nowhere to be seen.

We can’t help but wonder if her decision not to run for re-election has anything to do with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) investigation of the Village – the one that she flatly denied was in progress.

You will recall the May 5, 2020 Public Safety Committee meeting, when the topic of reimbursement from FEMA for Hurricane Irma expenses came up, Claudia absolutely, positively insisted:

So, I wanna add a couple things.  Number one, if you’ve got a formal letter saying we’re actually in an investigation, then I kindly ask you to show it to the Manager, because we’ve received “rumors,” oh, you know “this and that,” but none of that has been concrete.

Except for one tiny, little detail …

She already knew about a formal letter from FEMA dated September 24, 2019 advising the Village of El Portal that it was under investigation.

In other words …

Claudia.

Flat.

Out.

Lied.

Again.

If a FEMA investigation weren’t bad enough, according to an August 6, 2020 Miami Herald article, the Village is also being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Also stepping down at the end of her term is Claudia’s “political ally,” Councilperson Vimari Roman … who still hasn’t figured out how building permits and business licenses work.

While neither Claudia nor Vimari would respond to the Miami Herald for a comment, an August 18, 2020 article noted that “Cubillos announced in her State of the Village address in 2018 that she didn’t plan to seek re-election in 2020.”

The article also reported, “In an Instagram post Saturday, Roman said she had been ‘leaning towards shifting [her] focus’ since last year. ‘Then COVID-19 happened and it put a lot into perspective. I decided that after two terms it was time to focus on family and my business,’ said Roman, who works as a career and life coach.”

We’re sure that the all the negative attention she’s been getting lately had absolutely nothing to do with her decision.

Nothing at all.

As of now, there will be only three members of the El Portal Village Council sitting on the dais after the November 3, 2020 election.

Vice Mayor Omarr C. Nickerson, who is vying for the mayoral seat, will now run unopposed.

Councilpersons Anders Urbom and Luis M. Pirela, who were not up for re-election this year, will retain their seats until 2022.

While Claudia’s and Vimari’s absence on the dais will be no great loss to the Village’s 2,500 residents, the two ethically-challenged politicians will be leaving behind an even bigger problem than the ones they’ve already caused.

Even though they had to have known for some time now that they would not be seeking re-election, they never publicly stated as much.  Their silence on the issue prior to Friday’s deadline possibly even contributed to the fact that no other El Portal residents filed to run in their seats.

The Miami Herald reported:

On Aug. 7, a group of village residents invited elected officials to attend a town hall style Zoom meeting where they tried to gauge who would be seeking re-election. Nickerson, Pirela and Urbom told the group they planned to run, according to Nickerson, while Cubillos and Roman didn’t respond.

Three or four residents on the call expressed interest in running themselves but ultimately decided against it. Nickerson said they seemed uneasy at the time about the possibility of facing incumbents.

“Sometimes people can get intimidated with the idea of running against an incumbent,” Nickerson said. “I wish that they would just run, man.”

Well, they didn’t.

The bad news is that the Village will now have to spend money it can’t spare to hold a special election that didn’t have to happen, if only Claudia and Vimari had publicly announced their intentions to vacate their seats.

The good news is that with the two of them gone, El Portal will finally have a chance to attract honest and ethical candidates who will serve the best interests of the residents.

For a change.

The best news of all is …

OMARR NICKERSON IS THE MAYOR-ELECT OF EL PORTAL!

We were already planning to endorse Mr. Nickerson in what we hoped would be a landslide victory against the Wicked Witch of El Portal.

Even though he’s running unopposed – and we’ll sure miss out on all the fun we’d have bashing Claudia – we’re just gonna go ahead and endorse him anyway.

We look forward to watching Mayor Omar C. Nickerson bring some much needed civility, transparency, and accountability to the embattled Village, which has been sorely lacking in all three for far too long.

Stephanie