Public Service
Raul L. Martinez began his public service career in 1971 as a member of Hialeah's Minority Group Housing Committee. In 1976 he was appointed to the Personnel Board and later in 1977 elected to the Hialeah City Council. In 1981, Martinez was elected mayor and re-elected in 1983. In 1985 he became the first Hialeah mayor in 44 years to run unopposed. He was re-elected in 1987 and in 1989 he was elected to a four-year term.
In 1993, Martinez won re-election by 273 votes, because of a 2 to 1 margin amongst absentee ballots. The election was thrown out by a state judge who ruled that "overzealous" and "unscrupulous" campaign workers forged so many absentee ballots as to taint the entire vote. Martinez won a special election that was called in 1994. Martinez was again re-elected mayor in 1997 and 2001 where for the second time in his career ran unopposed. He has run and won 9 times as Mayor of Hialeah.
Mr. Martinez has received numerous gubernatorial appointments amongst them the Florida State Commission on Hispanic Affairs from 1979 to 1982, where he was elected Chairman in 1981, and on the Governor's Commission on the Statewide Prosecutor's Function from 1984 to 1985. In 1985, he was appointed by then Governor Bob Graham to the Democratic Policy Commission's Roundtable on Defense and Foreign Policy, as well as to the State Comprehensive Planning Committee.
Mr. Martinez is a past-president of the Dade County League of Cities, the Florida League of Cities and served on the Board of Directors of the National League of Cities. He is Chairman of the South Florida Employment and Training Consortium and was the founding vice-chairman of the Beacon Council, a Miami-Dade County development agency composed of public and private sector leaders. The Mayor also served on the High Speed Rail Franchise and Environmental Review Committee.
In 2004, he was the Parliamentarian to the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston.
On December 13, 2005, Hialeah City Hall was renamed as the “Raul L. Martinez Government Center” in recognition to his 24 years as mayor and 4 years as a councilman.
In 2007, the Republican controlled Florida legislature renamed 49 Street in Hialeah as "Mayor Raul L. Martinez Street".
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