Husband, wife on same City Council? They sure will talk less

Frank Cerabino

At first, I thought Martin Marquez had come up with a clever way to take a timeout from his 37-year marriage.

Marquez, a 66-year-old architect in Miami Springs, a community wedged between Hialeah and Miami International Airport, is running for office next month along with his wife, Kathie.

They’re seeking two of the seats on the Miami Springs City Council in what is believed to be the first time that a husband and wife have tried to become elected colleagues on the same public body. This poses a significant challenge, because the state’s Sunshine Law would prohibit them from discussing any city business in private if they’re both elected.

“We’re building a six-bedroom home,” Marquez told me. “So if it means that before a big vote is coming my wife and I have to sleep in separate bedrooms in our home, we can do it. And we can drive separate cars to the meetings if that makes people feel better.”

See what I mean? This could be either an extreme form of personal deprivation for the public good, or just clever way to seek a voter-imposed marriage hiatus.

Or to put it another way: “Not tonight, dear, I have a potential conflict of interest.”

Marquez assured me that he’s not trying to avoid talking to his wife or spending more time with her. It’s the opposite.

“She’s my office manager, my soul mate and the keeper of my sanity,” he said. “On our business card, I’m on one side of it, and she’s on the other.”

They’re just two kindred spirits looking to share their lives in a whole new way. It’s probably a good idea for Marquez to be part of a couple seeking office, seeing as how he has run unsuccessfully three times on his own for the council.

“There are five seats on the council,” he said. “So my wife and I would only be two of them, so we could never control the vote. So what’s the big deal?”

The couple sought an opinion from the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust on their proposed campaigns. And they got back a mixed message.

“It is my opinion that there is no legal prohibition against you or your wife occupying seats on the City of Miami Springs City Council,” the ethics board Chairman Joseph Centorino responded.