Many were angry with Rep. Daisy Baez because, with her gone, Democrats will have just 40 members in the 120-member chamber, which gives the GOP a supermajority advantage in the chamber and therefore greatly weakens the minority party. | Facebook Democrat Baez to quit Florida House, plead guilty to perjury

MIAMI — Democratic State Rep. Daisy Baez is expected to resign her Florida House seat Wednesday and agree to plead guilty to a perjury charges in a criminal case over whether she lawfully lived in her Coral Gables-area district, according to her colleagues and a draft plea agreement obtained by POLITICO Florida.

In return for pleading guilty to the misdemeanor perjury charge and leaving office, Baez will pay a $1,000 fine, take an ethics course and serve one year of probation, during which time she can’t run for public office, the plea agreement says.


Baez was was unavailable for comment. She was returning on a flight to Miami on Tuesday from the Dominican Republic, where her mother had passed away. Fellow Democrats said her attorney, Ben Kuehne, had informed them of the plea on Tuesday.

And many were angry with Baez because, with her gone, Democrats could have just 40 members in the 120-member chamber in the midst of the lawmaking session that begins in January. That would give the GOP a supermajority advantage in the chamber and therefore greatly weakens the minority party. For the GOP to hold a two-thirds advantage, its candidates will need to win two special elections in the coming months in seats currently held by Republicans.

Democrats said she shouldn’t have broken the law about her residency and that she shouldn’t have lied about it once a House Rules complaint was initiated against her at the same time that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office was investigating.

“Daisy thought we were all supposed to stand by her,” said one House Democrat, “But she decided to lie and fight this. You’re supposed to live in your district. And you’re not supposed to lie, especially under oath. Daisy did both. And now we’re paying for it.”

Incoming Florida House Democratic leader, State Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami, said Baez will be missed if she leaves. As the Democrat in charge of reelection efforts for his party in the House, McGhee said he was fighting in the House to make sure that Republicans didn’t get the two-thirds vote needed to expel Baez.

“The situation with Daisy is we were trying to save her in the House to make sure they didn’t expel her. My goal is to ensure that my 41 members return to the Florida House,” he said. “But there’s a probability she is facing criminal charges. And she may resign tomorrow.”

Asked if Baez should quit, McGhee said: “We will wait to see what happens. That’s a decision she and her family has to make. I can’t tell a legislator what they should do with their political career.”

It’s the second major scandal to rock the Florida Democratic Party, which saw incoming Senate minority leader Jeff Clemens. D-Atlantis, abruptly quit Friday after POLITICO Florida reported he had an extramarital affair with a lobbyist.

In Baez’s case, the perjury was worse than the potential crime because there is no criminal statute solely concerning a lawmakers’ residency — it’s strictly a state constitutional issue.

Earlier this month, her attorney suggested that the criminal investigation was stalled because the House was examining the case. But sources said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle saw that Baez gave inconsistent statements under oath and decided to file charges.

Baez not only kept her primary Coral Gables residence outside of House District 114, she said she rented a second property when the Miami Herald last May raised questions about her residency.

“I have two residences,” Baez told her hometown newspaper shortly before ending the conversation.

After the Herald article ran May 16, Baez then rented a third property. The leases on the two rental properties, however, indicate that Baez was not a renter when she spoke to the Herald and said she lived at the first rental house in question. Sixteen days earlier, on April 30, the first property’s six-month lease expired. The second property’s lease did not start until May 25, nine days after the Herald story was published.

At the time, Baez was running for yet another office in another district, state Senate District 40, which was left vacant by Republican Frank Artiles, who resigned after using racial and sexist language during the spring lawmaking session.

Coincidentally, Artiles, years earlier, was caught not living in his district. But his case wasn’t taken up by the House because no complaint was filed against him.

UPDATED: This story was updated to explain how Republicans could hold a two-thirds majority during the next legislative session, which begins in January.