State Rep. Daisy Baez could find herself in hot water and facing an ethics complaint over allegations she doesn’t actually live in the district she represents.
Earlier this summer, the Miami Herald reported Baez had been living outside of House District 112, which covers part of Miami-Dade County and instead was living a mile away in House District 114.
Now Baez will face the music from a special House committee created to determine whether she should be sanctioned for violating Florida law.
The Florida Constitution says state lawmakers must actually live in the districts they represent in Tallahassee. Elected officials are required to live in and be registered to vote in the district they seek to represent by Election Day.
Florida House Public Integrity and Ethics Committee chair Larry Metz, R-Yahala, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Richard Corcoran that he believed there was evidence supporting a “probable cause” Baez had committed an ethics violation.
Among the committee members on the Select Subcommittee on Member Conduct are state Reps. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, Cord Byrd, R-Jacksonville Beach, Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, Tom Leek, R-Daytona Beach and Emily Slosberg, d-Delray Beach.
Miami blogger Elaine de Valle reported in May that Baez seemingly acknowledged she sleeps outside her district in her Malaga Avenue house in HD 112, but Baez said she was on the hunt for a house inside HD 114 boundary lines -- nearly seven months after being elected to the Florida House of Representatives.
“Right now, I’m sleeping at that house, yes. But I think I don’t want to talk about the situation any more,” she told de Valle at the time. “I’m trying to correct the situation.”
A few weeks later, Baez apparently righted her situation and became a full-time resident in the district she should have been living in all along.
Baez called news stories about her residency mixup "distractions" from “important issues” facing the state and her community.
“I currently live in the district I represent and right now my focus is on the special session and my continued efforts to push for more responsibility and transparency when handling our tax dollars, to protect our public schools and the environment and to bring better paying jobs to the district,” she said in May.
Earlier this summer, a Coral Gables voter filed a complaint against Baez, alleging she was breaking state law by living outside of the district she represents.
Coral Gables Republican voter Christian Rodriguez sent a formal residency complaint to the Florida House of Representatives May 29, requesting Baez be removed immediately from her position.
Sunshine State News contacted Baez for comment but had not received a response at the time of this article’s release.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
