Rudy Herbello: The Other Guy Running Against Commissioner Joe Martinez. By Geniusofdespair

Bully County Commissioner Joe Martinez has a second challenger: An X-Cop like himself (except a smarter one). Rudy Herbello was born in Cuba and he has a Master's Degree. He is not raising too much money although he counts as one of his contributors, Frank Rollason, a former Assistant City Manager.

Here is what he says on his website about his career at the City of Miami Police Department:

"In December 2004, Rudy was appraised as an expert auditor due in part to his strong sense of leadership, direction, ethics and professionalism. Rudy was also assigned as a Supervisor to the Internal Affairs Unit, Burglary Unit, Fraud and Forgery Unit and has twice worked directly for the Chief of Police. Rudy Herbello’s last assignment was as a Staff Coordinator to the Assistant Police Chief for the Criminal Investigation Division before he retired on July 11, 2007."

There is one big black mark against Rudy, well maybe just his wife (I put it at the end of this post).

More important to me, here is what he says about Development and the UDB:

This government must prepare and plan appropriately for the impact of growth due to development, traffic, public transportation, water management, and the public schools prior to any projects/plans being approved. This will require better communication between the Miami-Dade Planning Department, developers and the Miami-Dade Public School System in order to appropriately address the possible need for new schools that would have to be built in order to avoid the over crowding in our schools and the traffic around our residential areas. Expanding the Urban Development Boundaries (UDB) would be a reckless form of development that will endanger the ecosystem as a whole and would strain water supplies, community services and would endanger wildlife in the everglades. Any encroachment to the everglades could have devastating impact for many years to come.

The Black Mark (directly from Miami New Times 6/11/98):

Rudy Herbello is a sergeant with the Miami Police Department. Although they own a house in West Dade, they both voted in the City of Miami through absentee ballots.

"There's no discrepancy," Rudy Herbello told the Herald at the time. "Does that mean I can't have more than one house? Some information you have is not accurate." (ME: HMMM...)

Evelyn Herbello was more curt, refusing to answer the Herald's questions. "You guys write whatever the hell you want anyway," she was quoted as saying.

Herbello's bravado was short-lived, however; soon she contacted the Dade State Attorney's Office and offered to cooperate. She claimed that her husband knew nothing about fraudulent votes and that the person who helped her register illegally in Miami was Jorge De Goti's father Jose.

HERE IS WHERE I GOT IMPRESSED WITH HIS WIFE:

"When I first met with her," recalls Joe Centorino, head of the state attorney's public corruption unit, "she was very vulnerable, very emotional. She was in tears. She came in to see me with her priest."

Centorino asked her if she would be willing to wear a wire. "I think she was very conflicted about that at the outset because she still considered these people to be her friends," he says. "But she agreed, and once she got into it she was more comfortable with it. She did a superb job, there is no doubt about it."

Centorino says even he was amazed at Herbello's ingenuity during her meetings with Jorge De Goti and Hernandez. "No amount of coaching could make her as good as she was," he marvels.