My parents are a major influence in my life. A central lesson they passed on is smart financial management and responsibility.
My father, an immigrant who would go on to be the most decorated foreign service officer in U.S. history, oversaw and implemented embassy and project budgets globally. Throughout my childhood and well into my 30’s, he served as administrative counselor and on specific infrastructure assignments — including Mexico, El Salvador, Columbia, post-war Sarajevo, Egypt, and the entire Caribbean region. He managed millions of US tax dollars for security, capital improvements, building maintenance, property acquisition and disposition, personnel, US Marine and Army detachments, DEA and FBI assignments, and more. The US government hired my mother to manage an $89 million dollar health care development project in Latin America. At the time, it was the largest US healthcare tax dollar investment in history.
My parents accounted for every penny to the State Department, Inspectors General, and Congressional Oversight. Their reputations as responsible stewards of public money is impeccable. Fiscal responsibility is not abstract to me. It is my parents’ legacy, a core value they instilled, and a guiding principle throughout my career and community involvement.
I have been honored to have organizations entrust me with fiduciary responsibility over money and budgets. The Miami Dade Trial Lawyers entrusted me as treasurer before they entrusted me as president. At Palmetto Elementary, parents entrusted me with the financial books and to appropriately resource fund-raised money to hire teacher aides. When we opened a 501(c)(3) for the Project Peru Medical Teams, doctors and nurses entrusted me with the financial books and tax returns. At Palmetto High School, parents elected me as treasurer, and I am proud to say I just turned over a clean, fully accounted-for set of books to the incoming treasurer. At my law firm, my partners entrust me with the trust account. In all these endeavors, every penny I oversee is accounted for.
If elected to Village Council, I pledge to be a conscientious steward and fiduciary over public funds. I pledge to keep our taxes among the lowest of any municipality in Miami-Dade. We have the 8th lowest tax rate among the 34 municipalities. I will bring smart, accountable, open, honest, financial management and responsibility. My soul and my experience wouldn’t let me do it any other way. The way I see it, the Residents are the real oversight committee. And I will do everything necessary to earn your trust so that our Village Council is accountable to our community.
