A pugnacious former police officer, Miami-Dade’s Joe Martinez now fighting the law

The flub by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was brief, but Commissioner Joe Martinez didn’t let it slide.

Levine Cava, the first non-Hispanic mayor in three decades, quickly corrected herself in a commission meeting last year after stating Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz introduced legislation that was actually sponsored by Martinez. “I know we all look alike to her,” Martinez said, to a short laugh from Levine Cava. “But no.”

At 64, the retired police lieutenant and veteran Miami-Dade County commissioner has seemed to relish confrontation on the board and beyond. Now his pugnacious style is meeting its toughest test yet, as Martinez faces criminal corruption charges and promotes a defense that includes questioning the political motives of prosecutors.

“As an outspoken member of the Commission, Commissioner Martinez has publicly disagreed with the State Attorney on important issues,” said a statement from his legal team released Monday morning, referring to Miami-Dade’s elected top prosecutor, Democrat Katherine Fernandez Rundle. “Whether this apparent conflict influenced the charging decision is unknown.”

READ MORE: Miami-Dade commissioner facing criminal charge. Gov. DeSantis could name replacement

Details of the charges were revealed at a Tuesday afternoon press conference by Fernandez Rundle. It’s the first time a sitting Miami-Dade commissioner has faced possible corruption charges in 20 years. After years of delivering verbal punches on and off the dais, Martinez is now fighting in a legal arena against criminal charges.

“If you’re in a brawl with Joe Martinez, you know you’re in a brawl with a cop,” said Ronald Book, a longtime lobbyist on county issues. “He’s got tenacity.”

Through a representative, Martinez declined to comment.

The married grandfather is in the middle of a rare second act in commission politics, having given up his seat in 2012 only to reclaim it in 2016.

Martinez often arrives in the commission chambers dressed in a three-piece suit and armed with a concealed handgun, a holdover from his 17 years on the county’s police force.

Read More: Miami-Dade commissioner Martinez jailed briefly. Warrant details corruption probe

He fought the successful effort to reestablish the county’s police oversight board, resisted the plan to develop the old Calusa golf course, and clashed with Levine Cava over how much of Miami-Dade’s police force should be turned over to an independent sheriff who is mandated to take office in 2025.

A constitutional amendment requires the revival of the sheriff’s office, and Martinez wants to make the post as powerful as possible as he considers running for the position himself. Levine Cava wants Miami-Dade to keep its police force intact under the mayor’s control, a position shared by Martinez’s top foe on the commission, Raquel Regalado.

“I don’t find the way he delivers his message very effective,” Regalado said in an interview. “He wants to be the outsider. He wants to be the guy who is against things ... He’s not someone you could work with on legislation.”

Martinez’s statement on his pending charges described him as the “front runner” for Miami-Dade’s 2024 race for sheriff, and notes he’s a contender to be the commission’s next chair. That’s a position he held twice during his first tenure on the commission.

Martinez resigned his District 11 seat in 2012 to run for mayor, mounting a failed effort to unseat Levine Cava’s predecessor, Carlos Gimenez. Martinez’s resignation ended a 12-year run as commissioner for the West Kendall area.

He tried for Congress in 2014, but didn’t make it out of the Republican primary. He landed back in office in 2016 later after the District 11 incumbent commissioner, Juan C. Zapata, dropped out of the race in the middle of the election, citing personal frustrations with county government.

That set up an easy return for Martinez, followed by taking 55% of the vote in his 2020 reelection.

Though term limits prevent him from running again in 2024, Martinez has raised nearly $800,000 since 2021 for his political committee from lobbyists, developers and others with business before the county. He’s used those dollars to position himself as a contender for the commission’s next chairman.

His Let’s Move Forward committee this year donated more than $100,000 to election efforts for current candidates for open seats on the commission. Those candidates would take office in November and then participate in the vote for the board’s new chairman.

Donations from the Martinez PAC include $90,000 to the committee backing Republican state Rep. Anthony Rodriguez, who won the District 10 seat earlier this month; $15,000 to Juan Carlos “J.C.” Bermudez, who won his District 12 race; $10,000 to Kevin Marino Cabrera, who is in a November runoff for the District 6 seat, and $5,000 to Micky Steinberg, who won her District 4 seat in June when nobody else filed to run.

Martinez’s arrest has insiders declaring an end to his hope for being chairman again, with even his future on the board in doubt.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has the power to suspend county officeholders if they’re arrested for a felony. A draft version of Martinez’s Monday statement, obtained by the Herald, suggested the commissioner planned to make his case for DeSantis to keep him in office.

The draft statement said the question of whether a political conflict between Fernandez Rundle and Martinez caused his prosecution “is a matter that will be presented to Florida Governor Desantis.”

The final statement released by a Martinez lawyer omitted that sentence, but people close to the commissioner say they expect him to try and keep his seat.

“He fights for what he believes in,” said Keon Hardemon, a Miami-Dade commissioner. “I hope he fights for his freedom, which he should do.”