Hispanic financial consultant wants to be city's second mayor

He was born in Mexico City in 1959 as the second of seven children in an upper-class family. But when he came to America two decades later, he had little except for a half-finished college education and a suitcase full of ambition.

Now, at 44 years old, Bailleres proudly points out that he leads a comfortable life. He works out of his Bonita Springs home as a financial consultant for Citigroup. He has a wife and three children.

He wants to give back to the country that has given him so much and to help people who, like him in his younger days, need a nudge in the right direction.

Bailleres said Monday he is running for mayor of Bonita Springs. The city's first mayor, Paul Pass, plans to step aside next April when his four-year term expires.

If elected, Bailleres would become the city's first Hispanic council member since its 1999 incorporation. Bailleres is critical of the way city leaders have dealt with the Hispanic community, which makes up about 17 percent of the city's population.

"It's very wrong" that none of the seven council members are Hispanic, he said. "The Hispanic community has an inferiority complex. It's triggered by the lack of embrace."

Bailleres doesn't object to the City Council's decisions to purchase two largely Hispanic mobile home parks, Imperial River Court and Bamboo Mobile Village, and move their residents elsewhere. But officials should have done a better job of explaining to those people why they were being displaced, he said.

The city also needs to provide more activities for children, Bailleres stressed. Unless more parks are built and youth programs are established, youths will have no alternative other than to turn to gangs.

One other candidate has thrown his hat into the mayoral ring: Councilman Jay Arend, who also serves as the city's vice mayor. The election is March 9.

Winning isn't everything to Bailleres. He will be satisfied as long as people hear his message.

After working several odd jobs to pay his way through school, Bailleres eventually gained college degrees in business and economics. He moved to Bonita with his wife, Robin, in 1989. They live on McComb Lane in southwest Bonita.

By his own admission, Bailleres (which, he explains to English-only Americans, is pronounced "BY-AIR") is never at a loss for words. He often wears suits and has a Chamber-of-Commerce smile and handshake. He is also utterly loyal to his friends, many of whom are also Hispanic businessmen who have found success in Southwest Florida.

"There's a lot of people who don't know how much he's done for the community," said longtime friend Jose Antonio Romero, owner of four Maria's Mexican restaurants in Lee and Collier. "It's going to be kind of tough."

Many of Bailleres' clients are young Hispanic men working blue-collar jobs. He works with them to reduce their debts and put as big a chunk of their earnings as possible into high-performing retirement funds.

When he started considering running for mayor, he consulted with the incumbent. He had crossed paths with the mayor before because their children have taken part in activities together at the Bonita Springs Recreation Complex.

The two sat down together about a month ago at Romero's restaurant on Old 41 Road.

Bailleres came away from the meeting believing Pass was in favor of his candidacy and started telling so to others. Pass says that isn't true; he has already endorsed Arend, his longtime colleague.

Bailleres "needs to start looking at campaign election laws before he goes dropping people's names. I just don't know him that well. Anybody can run for mayor. That's all well and good. But you want to be careful before you start dropping people's names," Pass said.

Whatever was said, the two men apparently misunderstood the sentiments of the other.