When Miami residents ask where in the world their mayor is, the answer is: It’s anybody’s guess.
Once a regular presence, Mayor Francis Suarez now rarely attends commission meetings. His office frequently sits empty. His mayoral calendar is often marked busy with no further details, sometimes for weeks at a time.
As it turns out, Suarez is often not in the city he was elected to lead. The mayor spent at least 85 days outside Miami in 2022, including about half those days abroad, primarily in the Middle East, according to a Miami Herald analysis of city records. He spent almost a week in Qatar, two weeks in Saudi Arabia, and a few days in the United Arab Emirates. He’s on track to be out of town just as much in 2023.
Suarez won’t give any specifics about what he’s been doing in the Middle East, who he’s been meeting or who’s been footing the bills. The only thing he’ll say is that he travels a lot for his work as a private attorney for an international law firm, the most lucrative of 14 side jobs that have transformed him from a debt-ridden city commissioner into a multi-millionaire mayor.
His penchant for secrecy — in particular Suarez’s refusal to name his legal clients — makes it nearly impossible to identify potential conflicts of interest between his public office, where his annual compensation is $130,000, and his much more lucrative private business endeavors.
On any given day, Suarez fluidly toggles between his public and private roles, according to the mayor’s office. That can make it difficult to know whose interests he is representing when he is spending his time abroad mingling with members of Arab royal families and others seeking inroads to Miami.
Suarez says he maintains a wall between his duties as a part-time mayor and his outside work. Still, his mayoral actions appear to at times benefit, if not his personal clients, those of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the firm where Suarez works, which has attorneys and offices all over the world. The firm says that is false.
But one thing is clear: The already blurry lines separating Suarez’s duties as mayor and his personal financial interests get hazier the farther he gets from Miami.
Suarez’s boss at the law firm, founder, and chairman John Quinn, praised Suarez, saying the mayor is a charismatic lawyer whom the firm sends to the Middle East and elsewhere to serve clients and grow our business.
While on one Middle East trip to Qatar, Suarez attended a World Cup semifinal match with soccer star David Beckham, who, with the mayor’s help, had just secured city approvals for a multi-million-dollar stadium deal for his Major League Soccer team.
Miami residents are concerned about the absentee mayor’s priorities. Samuel Rodriguez, a longtime Miami resident, expressed his frustration, saying, We elected a mayor to represent us, but it seems like his main focus is his private business pursuits. It’s disappointing.
With Suarez’s refusal to disclose his legal clients, concerns about conflicts of interest arise. The lack of transparency prevents the public from fully understanding whose interests Suarez is serving when he prioritizes his private engagements over his public duties.
Suarez’s actions in the Middle East have also raised eyebrows. With his frequent visits and socializing with wealthy individuals and potential investors seeking to establish connections in Miami, questions arise about whether he is using his position as mayor to further his personal business interests.
City Commissioner Jane Garcia called for an investigation into Suarez’s activities, stating, The people of Miami deserve a mayor who is fully committed to serving their interests, not someone who blur the lines between public duty and the pursuit of personal wealth.
The controversy surrounding Mayor Francis Suarez raises important questions about the ethical obligations of public officials and the need for transparency. The residents of Miami deserve a mayor who prioritizes their needs and interests above personal financial gain. As the situation continues to unfold, it remains to be seen whether Suarez will address these concerns or face further scrutiny from the public and his fellow city officials.
