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Update, 2:50 p.m.: This story has been updated to include a response from Commissioner Ricky Arriola.
Since he started deliberately infecting first responders with the coronavirus last spring, Miami Beach commissioner Ricky Arriola has been one to watch on social media.
Over the past year, Arriola has been promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19 from less credible websites while railing against the media, local and federal government officials, and anyone else he labeled “Team Doomsday”. After the commissioner engaged in a particularly heated spit on Twitter with documentary filmmaker Billy Corben last month, the leaders of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party threatened to crack down on registered Democrat Arriola.
Last night the party kept that promise – with a 60-1 vote, the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee called on Arriola to step down.
At a virtual meeting on Zoom, party chairman Steve Simeonidis gave Arriola “a clear example of what a bad Democrat looks like”.
“I think it is up to us to show that one of the differences between our party and the other party is that we are ready to hold our members accountable,” he said.
The Democratic Executive Committee is the governing body of the Democratic Party in Miami-Dade County. The resolution, approved by the voting members, is an official document showing that the party opposes Arriola’s comments. It also prevents Arriola from joining the party leadership at the local level, unless members vote to lift the ban in the future.
The resolution introduced by state commissioner William Byatt states that Arriola’s “conspiratorial floors have often turned into racist and classicist bigotry”. Byatt and others accused Arriola of anti-Semitism after referring to Corben as “Billy Cohen,” the documentary’s birth name. Arriola also angered local Democrats, comparing looting during protests against Black Lives Matter to the January 6 uprising in the U.S. Capitol.
At yesterday’s meeting, Byatt said Arriola should be held accountable for his “open bigotry and incredible rudeness”.
“Last year, his public role was the complete opposite of what we stand for,” said Byatt. “He’s an embarrassment for our communities and for our party.”
Another party member, Nucleus Shelton, said Arriola’s statements made it clear that he was no longer in line with the party’s values.
“At this point, the call-out season is Democratic-only,” Shelton said. “Basically, I wonder which side are you on?”
Arriola, reached by the New Times, said the criticism was “a perfect example of what’s wrong with the Democratic Party. They’re big on small things.”
“It’s like being censored by a knitting club. This organization only knows how to lose elections, as their results show last November,” he said in an email. “No elected official takes them seriously.”
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Jessica Lipscomb is the Miami New Times news editor and an avid Florida Woman. Born and raised in Orlando, she was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
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