Dolphins owner’s Super Bowl gift to county Mayor Carlos Gimenez: two $4,000 tickets

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez accepted a gift of two $4,000 Super Bowl tickets from Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, according to an ethics report, a gift made at a time when the congressional candidate is helping the real estate mogul bring Formula One racing to Hard Rock Stadium.

The planned gift was revealed in a memorandum from Jose Arrojo, the executive director of Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. It was obtained by el Nuevo Herald through a public records request.

The memo concluded Gimenez was free to accept the tickets, since they weren’t offered in exchange for favorable treatment from the mayor. The memo states that ”Mr. Ross has offered to gift, and Mayor Gimenez has accepted, two event tickets valued at $8,000.” The report does not say whether Ross actually gave the tickets to Gimenez. Gimenez’s office did not respond to inquiries about the mayor’s plans for the tickets.

Late Friday, a senior Gimenez advisor sent an email to Arrojo disputing his memo’s wording. Legislative Affairs director Nicole Tallman wrote in the 9:59 p.m. email that “the Mayor did not accept the tickets prior to the issuance of the ethics opinion, as indicated in your opinion.” Arrojo wrote back that the opinion remains the same “the transaction [Gimenez] is considering.”

Gimenez has been an ally of Ross in county government, negotiating a subsidy deal in 2014 worth up to $5.75 million a year for the Dolphins and vetoing county legislation that would hamper his efforts to bring Formula One racing to Hard Rock. His administration also agreed to pay $4 million in Super Bowl expenses, including covering $1 million worth of hotel rooms for NFL players this week. Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Super Bowl Host Committee, is an owner of the Coral Gables lobbying firm, Floridian Partners, which represents the Dolphins in county talks.

Gimenez’s Super Bowl plans were publicly hazy Friday evening. His press secretary, Patricia Abril, said his office was “not sure if he’s going” to the game. The statement was issued before she was asked about the reported gifted tickets from Ross.

This is the first Super Bowl for Gimenez as mayor. He was elected in 2011, and is now running in the Republican congressional primary for Florida’s 26th District, seeking a seat held by freshman Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

Abril did not immediately respond to questions about Ross’ gift to Gimenez of tickets to the most popular sporting event in the United States.

The Host Committee sent out form letters from Barreto to elected officials across Miami-Dade offering to let them purchase Super Bowl tickets at face value. Letters in early January sent to Miami-Dade commissioners offered pairs of tickets worth $3,000 each. Emails turned over to the Miami Herald this week through public-record requests did not show any commissioner accepting the offer.

“Hi Rodney, Thanks so much for considering me,” Commissioner Eileen Higgins wrote back Jan. 4. “It’s just a little out of my budget for the year, but I’ll see you at a couple of the other events.”

Like Gimenez’s office on Friday, other elected officials expressed uncertainty about whether they planned to attend the biggest sporting event of the year, and one requiring the hottest tickets in town. “I don’t know yet,” said Oliver Gilbert, mayor of Miami Gardens, the city that’s home to Hard Rock Stadium.

Gimenez remains a vital player in the future of Hard Rock. The lobbying team Ross employs for the Dolphins is still fighting anti-Formula One county legislation backed by Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who represents Miami Gardens. A final vote is scheduled for Tuesday.

In the original memo, Arrojo write that the county ethics code allows elected officials to accept gifts as long as they aren’t part of a quid pro quo transaction. Gimenez was able to accept Ross’ tickets because the commission staff found no evidence that Gimenez had requested the tickets from Ross or accepted them in exchange for a favor, Arrojo wrote.

According to the ethics commission memo, Ross indicated he is paying for the tickets with his personal money — instead of using funds from any of the entities Ross is affiliated with — and that future invoices will prove this.

The ethics code requires officeholders to publicly disclose any gift worth more than $100, unless the gift is accepted as “official business.” In this case, Gimenez could argue the game is official business since he’s due to participate in a proclamation ceremony in his official capacity as mayor.

However, Arrojo asked him and any other local office who accepted tickets to report them “in abundance of caution, and to promote transparency in local government.”

“We recommended he disclose the gift in a public filing, and he agreed,” Arrojo said. “It’s up to the voters and the general public to decide on the value of it and what that means.”

Gimenez isn’t the only mayor who’s been gifted tickets.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez received that Host Committee letter but decided he wasn’t going to drop $6,000 for him and his wife to attend the game he hopes results in a victory for the Kansas City Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers.

“I’m kind of leaning KC,” Suarez said. “I’m an AFC guy.”

Soon after, a wealthy friend and donor asked the mayor if he was going to the big game. Suarez said he replied no, but he had an offer to buy tickets. That’s when the donor, philanthropist and wealth advisor Eugene Frenkel offered to pick up the tab, Suarez said. The first-term mayor accepted the gift for him and his wife, which he told the Miami Herald he will disclose in a required quarterly report in which elected officials list gifts they receive. The mayor said his benefactor has no business with the city.

Frenkel is on the board for Make-A-Wish of South Florida, and the CEO of Legacy Wealth Advisors. He also gave a political committee controlled by Suarez $5,000 in 2017, when he was running for mayor.

“I’ve known him for a few years,” Suarez said. “I met him through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”

The city of Miami has also provided the Host Committee with a $500,000 cash subsidy, and the city has budgeted to absorb about $3 million in additional costs to pay police, firefighters, code inspectors, public works and solid waste workers to work Super Bowl-related events.

The sponsorship relationship between local governments and the Super Bowl led the Broward County attorney’s office to advise county commissioners not to purchase the face-value tickets. Broward commissioners received the same form letter from the Host Committee, and the county government has a sponsorship deal with the committee.

According to internal emails, Broward County attorneys discussed the matter with state ethics officials, who said an official opinion would not be available by Sunday. Still, after talking to state officials, the county attorney’s office gave Broward commissioners conservative advice based on the difference between the face-value price of the tickets and the going rate on the secondary market.

“In light of our discussions with the Commission on Ethics, it is our advice that you refrain from purchasing tickets offered to you at face value by the Super Bowl Committee,” wrote county attorney Rocio Blanco Garcia.

Read Arrojo’s memo below:

INQ 20-04 Sanchez Gimenez Gifts Sec 2-11.1 (e) by Joey Flechas on Scribd