Posted on Wed, Mar. 03, 2004
HIALEAH HOUSING AUTHORITY
Fired employee sues agency
A lawsuit alleges that a Hialeah Housing Authority employee was fired for talking to investigators about misconduct during a city election.
BY REBECCA DELLAGLORIA
rdellagloria@herald.com
A woman who was fired last week from the Hialeah Housing Authority filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the agency and its director, alleging she lost her job for blowing the whistle on her boss's participation in a city election.
Miriam Valladares, who worked for the agency for five years, stated in her complaint that she was fired after admitting she cooperated with private investigators looking into possible absentee ballot fraud by the authority and its director, Alex Morales, in the city's November election.
Valladares contended she was fired three hours after admitting to an authority attorney that she told a team of private investigators that Morales was working full time on the political campaigns of certain incumbent council members during office hours and that he had asked agency employees to do the same.
(snip)
Valladares is one of a number of authority employees who have been interviewed by investigators seeking to prove Narvaez's allegations that allies of Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez coerced voters, in particular residents of city-run subsidized housing projects. Narvaez has alleged that Morales, a Martinez ally, used employees to collect absentee ballots from residents, and vote for three incumbents.(snip)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/8091076.htm