Khavari Back on the Campaign Trail

Economist Farid A. Khavari, who ran for governor of Florida last year on a platform calling for a state-owned bank, is one of eleven candidates hoping to replace ousted Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez in a special election set for May 24.

Alvarez, the county’s two-term mayor, was unceremoniously removed from office on March 15 in one of the largest recalls in U.S. history, a recall election largely instigated and financed by billionaire car dealer and former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman.

As in his gubernatorial campaign, the University of Bremen-educated economist is again calling for a publicly-owned bank. His proposed Bank of Miami-Dade County, he says, would solve the county’s fiscal woes — Miami-Dade is currently struggling with a $400 million budget gap — while eventually phasing out property taxes.

Khavari, 68, said his proposal would do wonders for Miami-Dade’s recession-ravaged economy. At 12.9 percent, Miami-Dade’s jobless rate currently exceeds that of Detroit and the county continues to suffer from a record number of foreclosures.

“With the profit of that bank, we could do miracles,” Khavari told the Miami-Herald.

One of those miracles, he insists, would be the creation of 150,000 new jobs by investing in decentralized solar energy, eventually enabling Miami-Dade residents to produce their own electricity.

Khavari, who was born in Iran and raised in India, faces a daunting task in his quest to become Miami-Dade’s next mayor.

Among other things, he’s running against several better-known and well-connected candidates, including Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, the acknowledged frontrunner in the race. Robaina, who has raised more than $767,000 for his campaign, was recently endorsed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, a resident of Miami-Dade.

Khavari‘s other opponents, representing a cross-section of Miami’s diverse political and cultural life, include former county commissioner Carlos Gimenez, a longtime critic of the county bureaucracy; former state Rep. Marcelo Llorrente; Roosevelt Bradley, Miami-Dade’s former transit director; and ex-county commissioner and businessman Jose “Pepe” Cancio, who at age 71 is the oldest candidate in the field.

The crowded field also includes a wild card — rapper Luther “Luke” Campbell, a former member of the controversial 2 Live Crew, who appears to be waging a serious campaign as an “outsider” while soaking up what little media attention might otherwise have been provided to some of the lesser-known candidates in the race, such as Dr. Khavari.

Khavari, the author of nine scholarly books, isn’t impressed with any of them and has little confidence that the next mayor will be able to effectively manage Miami-Dade’s $7.5 billion budget.

“I don’t see another candidate running for mayor who has a clue about the economy they want to run,” said Khavari, who firmly believes that the nation’s eighth largest county is experiencing “one of the worst financial disasters in history.”