The shock of a cargo airplane crash at Miami International Airport was still fresh, five people were dead, flights were delayed — and Miami-Dade’s most powerful politicians were at odds over who got to speak first at a news conference.

The confrontation caught by a hot mic Sunday between Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and a staffer for Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was embarrassing. While Cordero-Stutz stood at the podium waiting to speak, Levine Cava’s chief of staff, Chris Hudtwalcker, approached her and said the mayor should speak first. The sheriff replied, “Sir, with all due respect, I’m going to speak first.”

The whole situation looked silly, a blip before the news conference went on, with the sheriff speaking first.

It should have ended there, with both elected officials retreating into their roles as county leaders to lick their wounds, with perhaps a phone call later on to smooth things over. But it didn’t.

On Wednesday, Cordero-Stutz sent the mayor a lengthy letter outlining why she should have been the first to speak at the conference. She wrote, “When an incident involves loss of life, potential criminal exposure, or an immediate law enforcement response, that authority becomes very concrete.”

Levine Cava responded, arguing in her own letter why she should have spoken first: “This incident went well beyond a fire rescue and law enforcement” one because it happened at a county-owned airport and “is precisely the kind of emergency management event the Charter gives the Mayor clear responsibility for.”

The letters are a public record and were obtained by Herald reporter Doug Hanks and published on Thursday.

Both sides and their supporters will argue who’s right and wrong: Was the crash scene the sheriff’s jurisdiction because her agency is conducting an investigation, or the mayor’s since she oversees MIA and Fire Rescue, which responded to the scene within 30 seconds?

The public would have probably been just as informed no matter who spoke first. That should be the priority.

The animosity between Levine Cava and Cordero-Stutz has been boiling up for a long time. Levine Cava supported the sheriff’s Democratic opponent in the 2024 elections, and they have disagreed over the sheriff’s budget, which is set by the county. What was caught on that hot mic is probably just a glimpse at the ongoing power struggle between the two.

Miami-Dade didn’t have an elected sheriff for decades and the Miami-Dade Police Department director reported to the mayor, making her the point person during emergencies. But a statewide referendum forced the county to start electing a sheriff in 2024.

Under the pettiness of this dispute lies a valid question: Whose responsibility is it to take the lead during emergencies that involve responses from multiple agencies? In her letter, Cordero-Stutz was correct in suggesting the need for a “practical protocol for on-scene communications,” but both sides disagree on how that should happen.

Cordero-Stutz proposed she take the lead during a “law enforcement incident,” while deferring to the mayor “during a declared state of local emergency.” In response, Levine Cava disagreed, writing the mayor’s authority to manage an emergency shouldn’t happen only under a formal emergency declaration.

Before the next natural or human-made disaster, the two should come to an agreement — or at the very least make sure there are no live mics ready to capture another squabble. When we’re talking about lost lives, the last thing Miamians want to hear about is who gets the spotlight first.

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