Court To Take Up Miami Gardens Mayoral Candidate Appeal
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to take up an appeal from a Miami Gardens mayoral candidate who was barred from Tuesday's ballot because a bank returned a qualifying-fee check.
The justices said they would consider the appeal by James Wright but will not hear oral arguments.
Wright took the case to the Supreme Court after the 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled against him.
The case involves a series of events that began in February when Wright opened a campaign account with Wells Fargo Bank and was issued "starter checks" for the new account, according to the appeals-court ruling. Wright used one of the checks on June 1st to pay a $620 qualifying fee to get on the August 30th city ballot. On June 16th, two weeks after the qualifying period ended, the city clerk was notified that the check had been returned because the "account number on the check could not be located."
The clerk notified Wright that he had been disqualified as a candidate.
Wright, who had enough money in the account to cover the qualifying fee, filed a lawsuit June 30 seeking to get on the ballot. But a Miami-Dade County circuit judge last month rejected Wright's arguments, and the appeals court upheld that decision.
