Hialeah mayor’s aide campaigns for a councilman. Are taxpayers footing the bill?

A Hialeah city employee who works in Mayor Bryan Calvo’s office has been campaigning for interim City Council member Luis Gonzalez, who is seeking election to retain the seat, raising questions about whether she is doing political work while on the public payroll.

Read more Ex-NYPD cop who worked for Miami Beach arrested by FBI on child porn charge

Camila Kaemmer, a full-time field aide in Hialeah’s Division of Constituent Services, which helps residents navigate city government, spent more than three hours Wednesday campaigning for councilman Gonzalez at the John F. Kennedy Library, one of the city’s major early-voting locations, passing out flyers for the candidate.

Wearing a pink shirt without campaign branding, Kaemmer carried Gonzalez campaign signs and approached voters in Spanish, urging them to support him in the special election.

“Are you a Hialeah resident? Vote for Luis Gonzalez, number 143,” Kaemmer told voters as she handed out campaign flyers.

When the Herald asked Kaemmer why she was campaigning for Gonzalez, she walked away.

City records show Kaemmer was hired on Jan. 12, the same day Calvo was sworn in as mayor. Her annual salary is $48,000.

On her LinkedIn profile, Kaemmer describes herself as a “Campaign, events, fundraising coordinator.” The profile does not identify the candidates she has previously worked for or provide details about her campaign experience.

Gonzalez served on the Hialeah City Council for 12 years before losing his seat to challenger Jesus Tundidor in 2019. After Tundidor unsuccessfully challenged Calvo for mayor in 2025, he vacated his council seat. The council unanimously appointed Gonzalez in January to fill the vacancy.

Gonzalez, 56, is running in the November special election to retain the seat and serve the remainder of the term, which ends next year. Calvo has endorsed his candidacy. Gonzalez faces Mariana Chavez, 21, who is campaigning on a new generation of leadership and more transparent, open government.

The key question is whether Kaemmer was campaigning on her own time or during hours for which she was being paid by the city.

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has said county and municipal employees who want to participate in political campaigns should limit that activity to their off duty hours, according to ethics guidance issued in 2023.

Read more J. Allison DeFoor, former Florida Keys sheriff, Lt. governor candidate, dies

The guidance also says paid political campaign work constitutes outside employment for county and municipal employees and must be reported to the appropriate authorities. For municipal employees, that means the city clerk. It further states that public officials and employees may not coerce anyone into supporting a candidate or contributing to a political campaign.

The Miami Herald requested records from the city to determine whether Kaemmer sought paid time off during the period she was observed campaigning and to establish the dates and hours of any leave. The city had not provided the records at the time of publication.

Chavez said she had seen Kaemmer campaigning since early voting began on Oct. 19 but did not know she worked for the city or in the mayor’s office.

“It’s unethical on all means, not only on the mayor’s end, but on my opponent’s end,” Chavez said. “This is not something that she should be doing. She works in the city, she’s working for the mayor. This is a nonpartisan race. You should pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and do your stuff.”

Chavez also questioned why Calvo is supporting Gonzalez.

“I think that this is something that the mayor is doing because he is truly trying to stuff this opponent down everybody’s throat,” she said. “People are aware that he [Gonzalez] was a council member for many years and didn’t do anything for the city. People voted him out in 2019, and a lot of people to this day don’t want him in office. So why is he being pushed?”

The Herald asked Gonzalez whether he was paying Kaemmer for her campaign work and whether she was campaigning during hours for which the city was paying her. He did not respond.

Campaign finance records reviewed by the Herald did not show payments from Gonzalez’s campaign to Kaemmer or to anyone else for campaign work on his behalf.

The Herald also contacted the mayor, his chief of staff, his spokesperson and Kaemmer’s direct supervisor, Jonathan Martinez, director of the Division of Constituent Services. None responded to calls or text messages seeking comment.

Florida law also prohibits candidates from using the services of state, county, municipal or district employees during working hours to further their campaigns. Under Florida law, a violation is a first-degree misdemeanor.

Read more FIU students defend racist, violent group chats as jokes in federal trial

This story was originally published October 28, 2026 at 3:52 PM.