AMINDA MARQUES GONZALEZ Herald Staff Writer

The Florida Supreme Court won't order Gov. Lawton Chiles to remove Hialeah suspended Mayor Raul Martinez from office.

Without comment, the court on Monday denied a petition filed in August by Hialeah resident Maria M. Rivero. She had asked the court to order Martinez's removal to make way for a mayoral election.

"We're definitely disappointed," said Frank Zaremba, the attorney representing Rivero. "We still hope that the governor would move on his own. The whole situation in Hialeah is intolerable."

Martinez was convicted in March on six charges of extortion and racketeering.

Zaremba had argued that a conviction is final upon the
finding of guilt. Chiles' position has been that Martinez's conviction is not complete until his appeals process is over.

Unless Martinez resigns -- which he has repeatedly refused to do -- or Chiles removes him, there will be no Hialeah mayoral election until November 1993.

Julio Martinez, the council president who ascended to the mayor's seat after Raul Martinez was suspended in April 1990, can continue to serve as acting mayor until the 1993 election.

The city charter has no provisions for a special mayoral election.

"The relief the woman was really looking for may be best found by revising the provisions of their charter," said Debby Kearney, deputy general counsel to the governor.