Dirty Tricks or Shady Ethics?
Election-Time Ethics Complaint Rears its Head

By Lee Molloy

A complaint filed with the State of Florida Commission on Ethics by Miami Beach resident Alex Sarduy on Sept. 22 accuses Group 3 candidate Alex Fernandez of violating Florida statues pertaining to campaign finance, and alleges Fernandez distributed misleading campaign materials.

In a city quite used to election-time campaign posturing, the emergence of an ethics complaint weeks before an election is not all that surprising.

“I want a fair election,” Sarduy told The Lead, although he declined to answer any further questions about his motives. “I wanted the complaint to speak for itself,” he said.

In the one-page complaint obtained by The Lead, Sarduy claims that Fernandez may be in violation of the Florida statute that makes it illegal for a person to make campaign contributions in excess of $500 to a candidate. He alleges that Fernandez’ loan to his own campaign of $103,620 is suspect, and that it was Fernandez’ partner Robert J. Wolfarth who placed the money in his campaign account.

Fernandez dismisses the notion. “That’s money that I worked hard for and I earned on my own,” Fernandez explained to The Lead, saying that he made the money when he “worked for Newstar Media Solutions.”

Furthermore “I haven’t received any money from [Wolfarth] or from his family,” Fernandez said, “not even a contribution.”

The complaint also alleges that the 23-year-old Fernandez distributed misleading campaign material through the mail. Fernandez’ mailer reads “For nearly a decade, I have been honored to serve and address the needs of our community. From the steps of our nation’s capitol in Washington DC, to the Miami-Dade County Commission, and most recently at the Mayor’s Office in the City of Miami Beach, I have had the privilege to directly serve your needs.”

In his complaint, however, Sarduy claims this statement is misleading and asks how it is possible for Fernandez to have been serving the community at age 12.

Fernandez is happy to explain: “When I was 13,” Fernandez said, “I founded an organization called Holiday Charity for Camillus House.” Holiday Charity helps formerly homeless families enjoy the holidays by bringing them Christmas trees, toys, etc. To date the charity has raised more than $1 million for those in need, he says
Calling the complaint “dirty politics” Fernandez believes that these kind of actions “discourage good honest public servants from running” for election.

Fernandez also says that he does not know Sarduy at all. “I must assume that whoever made that kind of complaint must be somebody associated with one of my opponents,” he said, “but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

Candidate Gabrielle Redfern denies any knowledge of the complaint as well, but believes that the allegations should be looked into. “I think breaches of the public trust are hugely important and they should be brought into the open,” she said.

A Google search result for “Alex Sarduy Miami Beach” reveals the name Alex Sarduy was once on a list of endorsements for Fernandez’ other opponent, former commissioner and current Group 3 candidate Michael Gongora. However, when the link is clicked on, the name Sarduy is missing from the list, indicating it could have been recently removed.

Gongora however, denies knowing Sarduy. “My guess would be that he attended one of my events,” Gongora told The Lead. He also said that he didn’t know why Sarduy’s name would appear and then not on his Web site. “I would have to reach out to the person that maintains my Web site,” to find out, he said. At press time, the mystery of the disappearing name remained unexplained.

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