Hurricane Hizzoner

Xavier Suarez is Miami's first strong mayor. But is he stable enough to use his new powers wisely?

Another chaotic week ends, leaving Miamians to wonder how long before the white-suited men with butterfly nets come to take the mayor away."

Best-selling novelist Carl Hiaasen wrote those words, but you won't find them in yarns like Tourist Season or Strip Tease. Instead, Hiaasen was describing the real-life mayor of Miami in his newspaper column last month. "Mayor Loco," Hiaasen calls him.

Mayor Xavier Suarez isn't pleased with the title, and for weeks he has threatened to sue Hiaasen and his paper, the Miami Herald. Last week, to emphasize his pique, Suarez phoned the Herald's advertising manager and left another...

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