Uncle Luke announces his candidacy for Mayor of Miami-Dade County

Posted at February 3, 2011 by Julie J Comments Off

Well, after weighing the options, Uncle Luke is in the running for Mayor of Miami-Dade County. He will probably do more than my Mayor, but that is not saying a whole lot.

After running a campaign, I have to admire the people who run for office because I am about 99% sure I would never do that (it would take so much time away from blogging, among other things). Uncle Luke (or Luther Campbell as you will see on the ballot) sat down with the Miami New Times to chat about his decision to run. People sound like they are automatically discounting him due to his past ventures, but he seems like he has some passion and good ideas. Then again, he won’t be my Mayor.

I always think it’s pretty fresh when someone has experience running a successful business decides to run for office. It is a little sad, but plenty enlightening, that that is so rare nowadays.

However, I think Uncle Luke can pull it off. He recently chatted with the Miami New Times upon announcing his candidacy, and you can read the interview in its entirely here. You should know the drill by now, I’ll include my favorite quotes for your entertainment.

New Times: What type of campaign will you be running?

Luther Campbell : Grassroots! I’ll go after those voters who have registered but haven’t been excited enough to vote. Barack Obama’s crew in 2008. I am going after everybody from 18 to 50 years old. It will be just like music marketing. Fun. We will be having campaign parties before the election to get people motivated, get them behind something historical.

Read on to see why he’s running, his platform, and his idea to tax strippers. I like his focus on creating jobs, and his business background. Uncle Luke, you can have my endorsement!

NT: Why are you running? Are you crazy?

LC: I am mad frustrated. I have always been involved in politics, going back to my battles in the city of Miami Beach, dealing with the city commissioners and the mayor. I ran my own nightclub, and I believed African-Americans were treated badly during Memorial Day weekend.

NT: What would be your platform?

LC: The current administration of Mayor Carlos Alvarez hasn’t created any new jobs, yet we keep these government employees who have been around for decades and aren’t doing anything. Then there’s affordable housing. People in the James E. Scott projects have been kicked out of their homes and forced to move to other parts of the county. The same has happened in other parts of the county. Places have been knocked down and never rebuilt. Folks were displaced because of politics and scandal. Instead of this massive incompetence, we need to build gated communities with security-guard entrances in the inner city. Then people would feel just as safe as those wealthier folks who live in Fisher Island and the Kendall suburbs.

When I take Mr. Alvarez’s job, I’ll review the county budget with a fine-toothed comb. When I ran my record company, every year we would first go over what was making revenue for us and beef that side up. Then we would cut the areas where we were not generating revenue. The first place we looked was payroll. I’ll do the same with the county budget.

I’d also address the situation at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Miami-Dade has the highest number of uninsured people in the state. We can’t allow the public hospital to crash, or we are going to have sick people in the streets. My last resort will be raising taxes. We have a long laundry list of things that need to change with the county. We need someone with vision. I believe I have the vision.

NT: What’s with your plan to tax exotic dancers?

LC: Even though all my stripper friends are gonna be mad at me, I think we can stimulate the economy with a tax on strippers. They make all this money and don’t pay taxes. I’d take that cash and put it into a fund where it supports youth athletics for girls like cheerleading or softball. Or it can go to help pay for existing little girls programs that are struggling to get government assistance.

Spotted at RR