Miano drops out of Key West mayor race; endorses Johnston

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

The hyper-competitive race for mayor in Key West, which had drawn as many as 12 candidates, took another twist Monday, March 19, when one of the top candidates pulled out.

Kate Miano, owner of The Gardens Hotel, wrote on her Facebook page that she was ending her campaign, which she had announced in a kick-off party only 10 days earlier. Miano said the recent deaths of her old friend Bill Barry and Jon McIntosh, who she referred to as her boyfriend, had left her “in a very low place.”

“I have been questioning where I should be at this point in my life. Life is too short,” she wrote. “I am so sorry to disappoint you and all the other wonderful people who selflessly put time, positive energy and money into my campaign. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Miano’s kick-off campaign event on March 9 drew an estimated 800 people to her hotel on Angela Street. Her speech included background on her arrival in Key West 22 years ago and working as a waitress at Margaritaville while she pulled together enough money to purchase a five-room guest house. She asked attendees to place their trust in her for mayor and choked up when she said, “My love affair with this island is, I think, the same love affair that all you have. I want the best for Key West.”

In her Facebook announcement, Miano endorsed Monroe County Planning Board Commissioner Teri Johnston for mayor. Johnston announced her entry into the crowed race last week, a move that led to the withdrawal of another candidate, Last Stand President Mark Songer. Songer said he was pulling out because he and Johnston had similar ideas on how to protect the environment and sustainably manage growth in Key West and he didn’t want to “dilute” the votes of his supporters by forcing them to chose between the two candidates.

Miano said she was endorsing Johnston for the same reasons.

“Teri Johnston and I have nearly identical views on what the problems facing our beloved Key West are and similar ideas on potential solutions. I am therefore lending my support to her and her campaign,” Miano wrote.

Johnston, a former Key West City Commissioner, said she met with Miano the morning of March 19 to discuss her withdrawal and subsequent endorsement. One area where their ideas overlapped, Johnston said, was over the need to make Duval Street cleaner and more accessible to tourists and residents by adding benches, public bathrooms and more recycling bins. Affordable housing and the impact of rising sea levels due to climate change was also an area both women agreed needs focus, Johnston said.

“Kate and I ran very parallell platforms. Her issues are my issues. And we had a great deal of overlap with our supporters,” she said.

Miano’s kick-off party at The Gardens drew an estimated 800 people. The campaign had purchased 600 nametags for the party and had run out about an hour after the event began. Miano said she will be returning all campaign donations.

With Miano and Songer dropping out, the Key West mayor race currently has 10 candidates. One of them, Key West City Commissioner Margaret Romero, said after Miano’s withdrawal that she still intends to continue her run for mayor even though she has not yet filed application papers with the Monroe County election office. While some had thought Romero might be hedging her bets by not filing, holding open the chance she might decide instead to run for reelection to her city commission seat, she said that was not the case. Romero said she wants to give her constituents “a break” from all the campaign rhetoric for a while and won’t actively begin campaigning for mayor until after the May 21 deadline for candidates to submit their application papers. But she promised she is running for mayor, a goal she has had for the past decade as she ran twice against Mayor Craig Cates and lost.

“I will not run for my [city commission] seat. I’m not going back on my word. It would be poor of me to tell people that have approached me [to run for her city commission seat] and say, ‘ha, ha, fooled you,’” Romero said.

Mary Lou Hoover and Wallace Moore, Jr., have announced they are running to replace Romero in District 5.  In addition to Johnston and Romero, candidates for Key West Mayor inclulde Sloan Bashinsky, Randy Becker, Rick Brown, Bill Foley, Robert Goodreau, Danny Hughes, Mitchell Jones and Darrin Smith.

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