Qualifications, residency and shady texts in race for state House seat that includes Florida Keys
The term-limited representative for District 120 of the Florida state House early on endorsed James Mooney, a long-time Islamorada Village Council member, to take her place.
In a statement released in May, Rep. Holly Raschein, R-Key Largo, said Mooney “is the only person in the race with the knowledge, experience and passion for service that is necessary to carry out this role.”
She was referring to the unique makeup of District 120, which includes some of south Miami-Dade County, including Everglades National Park, and the entire 120-mile Florida Keys island chain.
“Jim has earned my wholehearted endorsement,” Raschein said.
Mooney, 69, is competing in the Aug. 18 Republican primary against Alexandria Suarez, a Homestead attorney, and Rhonda Rebman Lopez, who helps run her family’s Doral-based electrical distributor business.
Suarez, 49, said her diverse professional background — she was a teacher and pharmaceutical rep before becoming an attorney in her mid 40s — makes her best suited for the office.
“My real world experience in education, healthcare and law sets me apart from the other candidates, whether Republican or Democrat,” Suarez said this week.
Clint Ray Barras, vice president of business development for a digital development company in Key West, is running unopposed on the Democratic ticket.
Mooney, a real estate agent with Ocean Sotheby’s Ocean Realty, said his service as a councilman for the four-island incorporated village of Islamorada gives him a tangible track record that shows he’s the most qualified of the competitors.
“By using the experience and knowledge gained, and applying that in Tallahassee, I feel the district will have someone that is ready to go to work with a much shorter learning curve than others,” he said. “Protecting Florida Bay and continuing to work on other water issues is not something many have an understanding of, and it’s certainly not learned on the run. The bottom line is, District 120 will have a leader that has a very good grasp of the issues and has relationships that are solid and respected, locally and at the state level.”
Rebman Lopez, who has far out-raised her opponents, did not return multiple requests for comment for this article.
She’s has $235,727 in donations, while Mooney and Suarez have raised $106,244 and $51,506 respectively, according to the latest available state campaign finance records.
Earlier this year, Rebman Lopez faced scrutiny over residency questions. Specifically, her husband still had a homestead property tax exemption on his Miami-Dade County home that is outside District 120. But Rebman Lopez lists her address in campaign documents in the tony, gated north Key Largo community of Ocean Reef.
According to the latest records on the Monroe County Property Appraiser website, the Ocean Reef home is held in a trust called the 33 Baker Road Revocable Living Trust, which is registered to a Daytona Beach couple.
District 120 runs from just north of Homestead south to all of the Florida Keys. Suarez said her living and working in Homestead while maintaining professional ties in the Keys as a member of both the Key Largo and Key West chambers of commerce puts her in a unique place to understand the issues important to the district’s diverse constituency.
“None of the other candidates, whether Republican or Democrat, have ties across our entire district. Each comes from one area within, or in one case, has moved here from elsewhere to run for this seat,” Suarez said. “None of the other Republicans have lived in the north end of the district, which is a critical piece of protecting our water resources because it serves as the watershed for our aquifer.”
The race has been marred by shady mailers, as well as recent texts from political action committees from which all candidates have distanced themselves.
In December, at least six of Mooney’s financial supporters in the Keys received fake letters on official letterhead from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that stated they would face criminal prosecution if they sent him any more money.
Specifically, the bogus letter stated that Mooney’s supporters face investigation into whether they or their businesses benefited financially from any official actions taken, or votes cast, by Mooney as an elected official.
Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward’s office investigated the incident, but was unable to find out who sent the letters.
Most recently, a mass text went out to voters from a PAC called Help Trump Support the Border that states “Corrupt Jim Mooney is a career politician who raised taxes in Islamorada and dated his high school student. Alexandria Suarez is the pro-Trump pro-[Second Amendment] candidate who’ll fight illegal immigration.”
Suarez said she condemns the texts, calling them “egregious and vile,” and said she had nothing to do with them. She also said her paid consultants, Front Line Strategies in Tallahassee, did not authorize or send the text. She also reached out to Mooney to tell him she was not behind the text message.
“Dirty politics is a waste of everyone’s time, especially in a COVID world,” Suarez said Friday.
Help Trump Secure the Border is registered as a PAC with the Florida Department of State to an address on Ocala Road in Tallahassee. The number listed with the PAC when called went to a voicemail of an automobile detailing business.
According to state records, the group has raised $34,500 since August 2018. All contributions came from another Tallahassee PAC called Florida First Forever, which has raised $1.9 million since 2016.
The Miami Herald/FLKeysnews.com called the number listed with the PAC on the state department’s website and asked for Florida First Forever. A man who answered the phone said, “I don’t think I can help you.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Qualifications, residency and shady texts in race for state House seat that includes Florida Keys."
