That's a lot of coin: Mayor tries to pay $4,000 fine with coins

HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) -- Talk about some loose change.

A Miami-area mayor who is feuding with his local commission tried to use 360,000 pennies and nickels -- that's 28 buckets full of coins -- to pay a $4,000 ethics fine.

Instead of accepting the change, the ethics commission doubled the fine for Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, saying he intentionally broke the rules because he knew the panel only accepted checks. And now the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust is suing the mayor.

The commission ruled in July that Hernandez lied about interest rates on a $180,000 loan to a jewelry salesman now jailed for a pyramid scheme.

El Nuevo Herald (http://hrld.us/1OgKZSS ) reports that Hernandez has called complaints against him a "political circus" and described commission members as "clowns."

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Information from: El Nuevo Herald (Miami), http://www.elnuevoherald.com/