Mark Rossi could be disqualified as Key West Mayor candidate

Mark Rossi could be disqualified as Key West Mayor candidate

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

A last-minute snafu in the legal process to qualify as a candidate for Key West Mayor may kick candidate and former city commissioner Mark Rossi off the ballot.

Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin acknowledged on Friday, June 22, the deadline for candidates to qualify to be placed on the election ballot, that her office had made an error and mistakenly reported on the county election website that Rossi had qualified. However, Rossi’s campaign had not paid a required $225 fee to Griffin’s office by the noon deadline on Friday. The fee was in lieu of collecting 154 petition signatures, another legal option available to candidates in order to qualify to be placed on the August 28 primary ballot.

“It is the policy of my office to indicate that a candidate has qualified for office once they have met all of the requirements including paying all of the fees,” Griffin said in a press release. “It is also the policy of my office to call candidates to remind them if there is any outstanding requirement for qualification yet to be met. Unfortunately, a mistake was made on Monday [June 18] when my office updated my website to indicate that Mr. Rossi had qualified when, in fact, he had not paid the statutory fee.”

Griffin went on to say that Rossi’s campaign treasurer had been notified of the need to pay the $225 fee on June 7 when he visited the county election office.

“However, that check was not received by noon [June 22], the qualifying deadline. We did not realize our mistake until this afternoon and promptly notified Mr. Rossi’s campaign. Mr. Rossi’s campaign promptly paid the fee,” Griffin said”

Still, since Rossi technically did not meet the qualifying deadline, election laws say he should be disqualified. But Griffin shouldered the blame for the mistake and said it would be “unfair to deny the citizens of Key West the opportunity” to vote for Rossi.

“I intend to place Mr. Rossi’s name on the ballot when the ballots go to print. Nevertheless, I intend to file suit on Monday in the Circuit Court and ask for an immediate hearing to determine if that is the correct decision,” Griffin said. I do so to relieve that burden of filing such a suit from the other candidates who timely complied with all of the requirements for qualifying.”

The county attorney’s office will represent the Supervisor of Elections in the suit, which was expected to be filed Monday, June 25.

Other than the Rossi ballot bombshell, there were no last-minute surprises in the busy Key West election season last week, with all the declared candidates officially qualifying to be on the Aug. 28 primary ballot. The only revelation was the withdrawal of mayoral candidate Danny Hughes, who announced on June 18, prior to the Monroe County candidate qualifying deadline, that he was halting his campaign because of unexpected back problems. Hughes had raised $48,685, more than any other mayoral candidate, and spent $48,229 on his campaign, according to the county election supervisor.

The remaining candidates, including several that are running for county office, turned up at a candidate’s forum sponsored by Hometown!, the local non-partisan resource for candidate and election information. Held in the Studios of Key West, the event was standing room only, as each candidate was given three minutes to make their case to prospective voters.

In the Key West races, the final list of candidates includes Mary Lou Hoover and Wallace Moore, Jr., running to replace Margaret Romero in the District 5 city commission race; and Greg Davila and Jennifer Stefanacci Doll in the District 4 city commission campaign to replace Richard Payne, who is not running for reelection. City Commissioner Sam Kaufman is running unopposed for reelection in District 2.

The Key West mayor race is still chock-full of candidates. Officially qualifying are Sloan Bashinski, Randy Becker, George Bellenger, Bill Foley, Teri Johnston, Cari Noda and Margaret Romero. If Rossi remains on the ballot, the total number of candidates in front of voters in the Aug. 28 primary is eight, down from the original 12 who initially declared their candidacy but dropped out.

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