Democrats: get your lard assess out of bed. By Geniusofdespair

Go vote for 2 Charter changes. Vote yes. Don't let the Republicans make the decision for you. Unlike Democrats, the majority of Republicans can keep their fat asses in bed this morning -- they use Absentee Ballots. And they also have more riding on this election...their future leader of the free world. Once choosen by Pub voters, corporate PAC dollars will lace our TV watching with unbearable ads hoping to bring this corporate-loving, xenophobic candidate to victory. Democracy rules! Dollarcracy rules is more like it.

LeBron James bikes to work: what do Heat fans think about the traffic on game nights? by gimleteye

This morning I read in the Herald that LeBron James bikes to the Miami Heat arena in downtown Miami to avoid the ferocious traffic -- the result of horrendous decisions on developments downtown by elected officials. No one in their right mind would put an arena, a performing arts center, a museum, and thousands of condo units all served by 1950's era transit. Oh, I forgot Cirque du Soleil.

You have to wonder if the officials Miami and Miami-Dade voters return to office year after year aren't thoroughly contaminated by mercury pollution or some other neuro-toxin that turns common sense to mush.

I am not surprised that LeBron bikes to work. The frustration of trying to get downtown on game day could seriously affect anyone's concentration.

Last night I braved a drive to the beach for dinner at the same time as fans were trying to reach the Miami Heat arena. As I squeezed through in the left lane, I watched with awe the backup in the other lanes. From 95 north and 95 south and 826 eastbound: the traffic was mind-boggling. It took twenty minutes to drive from Coral Gables to the downtown exits, less than ten miles away. I'm guessing it would have taken another forty minutes to drive from where traffic backed up to a parking lot; less than a mile.

This, by the way, is the same area to be served by the largest casino in the continental United States if the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Jorge Perez, Arquitectonica, The Miami Herald, and the GOP-led Florida legislature get their way. There is only one word to describe the traffic pattern in Miami: insane. (Today the board of the MDX -- the expressway authority-- is poised to approve another insanity, stretching SR 836 into farmland edging the Everglades.) Land of the brave, home of the free.

Some points of clarification ... by gimleteye

A reader wrote, "... about those trust fund babies like yourself that have never really sweat a payroll." In fact I grew up "sweating a payroll". For readers..

GOP presidential primary: does Jeb! fit in? by gimleteye

Jeb Bush has retained his popularity among voters in Florida. The question is not why Jeb is sitting on the sidelines in the rancorous Florida primary, but why he manages to have stayed in voters' favor after two terms as governor representing the growth-at-any-cost policies that first carried aloft his biggest campaign backers and then fell out of the sky like a jet covered with ice. (You don't hear much of those arguments these days, do you: that we have to support development because its expanded tax base is necessary to cover the cost of government services.)

The pain and misery that now engulfs so many Floridians, shattered dreams and a foreclosed future, bears scrutiny. And if voters were to take a magnifying glass to their suffering (detailed in this morning's New York Times) they would find Jeb Bush in Florida and the domestic policies of George W. Bush. The Bush administration used interest rates and housing to counter the perceived threats of 9/11 to the economy.

Also today the Times notes how Mitt Romney has courted Jeb! for his endorsement, to no avail. This much is clear: the Bush apparatchiks detest Newt Gingrich. For his part, Jeb's antagonism dates back to the early 1990's when Gingrich held court in DC and Jeb, not George W., aspired to succeed the father. These days Gingrich is too careful to mention the family name. It is otherwise comical the extent to which the Republican primary debates have scrubbed Bush from talking points, as though Pravda circa 1960 is advising the candidates.

History counts for nothing and Jeb! is keeping his powder, dry. It is fantastical to imagine that American voters would vote again for a Bush on the national stage. On the other hand, if Floridians' memories are so short that they cannot even recall that Jeb! and his policies fanned the flames of economic doom, (now only the cinders, foreclosures and ghost suburbs are visible), it may well be that the age of non-accountability could even support another Bush in the White House or the mansion of the Vice President.

Vote Tomorrow Independents, Democrats and Republicans! By Geniusofdespiar

There are two charter questions. Vote YES on both. The Miami Herald agrees:

This would be the first time since the 1950s that an eight-year limit has made it to the ballot.

And, if you are a Republican you can vote in your primary for your Godawful candidates.

Gambling: The deals in each State, Florida is among the worst. By Geniusofdespair

I put the States in order of when they allowed gambling from the earliest,  Colorado in 1931 to the latest, Maryland in 2008.  If you follow along you will see the deals for each State. You will also see that the deals get better and better because we know just how much money these casinos generate. The lowest rates are for the first two States to approve gambling.

In any event, look at this list and tell me why Florida is going to go backwards and take LESS money then other States, the lowest rate except for the early States. Following my list is an open letter to the two asses in the legislature pushing this low rate.  Sergio Campos wrote them the letter.

Nevada
Legalization date 1931
State gaming tax rate - Graduated tax rate with a maximum tax of 6.75% on gross gaming revenue; additional fees and levies may be imposed by counties, municipalities and the state adding approximately 1% to the tax burden

New Jersey
Legalization date 1976
State gaming tax rate - 8% tax on gross gaming revenue, plus a community investment alternative obligation of 1.25% of gross gaming revenue (or an investment alternative 2.5% on gross gaming revenue)

South Dakota - Legalization date 1989
State gaming rate - 9% tax on gross gaming revenue; gaming device tax ($2,000 per machine per year)

Iowa - Legalization date 1989
State gaming rate - Graduated tax rate with a maximum of up to 22%

Colorado - Legalization date 1990
State gaming tax rate - Graduated 20% max

Illinois - Legalization date 1990
State gaming tax rate - Graduated from 15% to 50% of gross gaming revenue

Mississippi - Legalization date 1990
State gaming tax rate - Graduated tax of 8% on gaming revenues; up to 4% additional tax on gaming revenues may be imposed by local governments 

Louisiana - Legalization date 1991
State gaming tax rate - Riverboat Casinos: 21.5%1; Land-based casino: $60 million annual tax or 21.5% of gross gaming revenue, whichever is greater; Racinos: 18% of gross gaming revenue paid to horsemen; 18.5% of net to state taxes and 4% to local parish

1Riverboat casinos pay an additional 4 percent to 6 percent to local governing authorities under the terms of “local boarding fee” agreements.

Rhode Island - Legalization date 1992
State gaming rate - 27.33%1
1FY 2010 data was used to calculate the percentage of revenue retained by operator.

Indiana - Legalization date 1993
State gaming tax rate - Riverboat and land-based casinos: Graduated tax rate from 15% to 40% of gross gaming revenue; $3 per patron admissions tax; Racinos: Graduated slot tax from 25% to 35% of gross gaming revenue

Missouri - Legalization date 1993
State gaming tax rate - 21% tax on gross gaming revenue; $2 per patron admission fee, per excursion, split between home dock community and the state.

Delaware -Legalization date 1994
Revenue retained by operator 42.21%

West Virginia -Legalization date 1994
Revenue retained by operator 45.89%

Michigan -Legalization date 1996
State gaming tax rate - For permanent facilities: 19% tax on gross gaming revenue (10.9% to city of Detroit, 8.1% to state of Michigan); state and municipal service fees also are levied annually

New Mexico - Legalization date 1997
State gaming rate - 26% tax on gross gaming revenue; 20% to purse supplements; 0.25% to fund disordered gambling treatment and awareness

New York -Legalization date 2001
Revenue retained by operator - 33.47% - New York gets 66.53%

Maine - Legalization date 2004
State gaming tax rate - 1% tax on handle, or the amount wagered; 39% tax on gross gaming revenue; 3% tax on gross gaming revenue to the city of Bangor 

Oklahoma - Legalization date 2004
State gaming tax rate - Graduated state tax from 10-30% on gross gaming revenue; 9% tax to state racing commission, varying payments to horsemen, breeders and purses depending on track gaming revenues.

Pennsylvania - Legalization date 2004
State gaming tax rate - Slot machines: 34% to state gaming fund, 12% to horse racing industry, 5% to economic development, 4% to local and county governments; Table games: 16% tax - 14% to general fund, 2% to local county municipalities

Florida - Legalization date 2006  (They are going to reduce this rate for Racinos)
State gaming tax rate - 42.79% (3)

3- This figure only represents what operators retain after state taxes are collected. It does not take into account what operators allocate to horse and dog breeders funds, local authorities and public gambling awareness. Thus, the percentage of revenue retained by operators is actually significantly lower than this 50 percent figure.

Kansas - Legalization date 2007
State gaming tax rate - 22% state tax, 3% local government tax and 2% tax to fund problem gambling treatment

Maryland - Legalization date 2008
Revenue retained by operator - 33% - Maryland get 67%

Following is the open letter from Sergio Campos, questioning the 10% gambling deal, sent to Rep. Fresen and Senator Bogdanoff (Mr. Campos says that he is a retired Financial Analyst/Budget analyst with over 47 years experience):

County Commissioner Joe Martinez is Running for Mayor. By Geniusofdespair

Joe Martinez officially filed his papers to run for County Mayor on January 25th. All I can say is Ugh! Actually I am happy that little Joe is running because it is a RESIGN TO RUN position. He will have to resign his commission seat. On that I say Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! That joy is, of course, based on him losing the mayoral election.

I would never support Joe for Mayor, unless he wanted to pay me. I don't think he has a chance, Gimenez is sooo much better. But Joe has the ego to believe he can do it.

I took this picture of Joe at Mayor Gimenez's swearing in. Commissioner Martinez was so excited at seeing all his lobbyist buddies, he was in a frenzy, hopping about the room greeting all the men in suits.... it was as if he were in ecstasy. We all know his ecstasy wasn't about the Mayor being sworn in.

The Florida GOP presidential primary: calls for a third party ... by gimleteye

Observers of presidential politics in America will want to spend some time reading and cogitating "The Obama Memos" by Ryan Lizza in this week's New Yorker. 

Lizza reminds us that Barack Obama ran as the post-partisan president, "proposing himself as a transformative figure, the man who would spring the lock." But nothing of the sort happened, and not because of Obama.

Lizza reports of data by political scientists Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal. According to data, "both the House and Senate are more polarized today than at any time since the eighteen-nineties."

Polarization also has affected the two parties differently. The Republican Party has drifted much farther to the right than the Democratic Party has drifted to the left. Jacob Hacker, a professor at Yale, whose 2006 book, “Off Center,” documented this trend, told me, citing Poole and Rosenthal’s data on congressional voting records, that, since 1975, “Senate Republicans moved roughly twice as far to the right as Senate Democrats moved to the left” and “House Republicans moved roughly six times as far to the right as House Democrats moved to the left.” In other words, the story of the past few decades is asymmetric polarization. Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lizza#ixzz1kqkHMrcI

This "asymmetric polarization" is true in Florida. Democrats in the Southeast counties, like Miami-Dade, are more liberal than the blue dog version in the northern parts of the state. For governor, Democrats continue to push forward candidates like Alex Sink, a former banker and state treasurer, whose commitment to an imagined middle ground was the centerpiece of her ill-fated campaign against Rick Scott.

But there is nothing that resembles a middle ground in Republican politics in Florida today; witness the clamoring by Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney to be "the conservative" values-voter candidate, scrubbing for legitimacy in the far right corners of political ideology.

Lizza writes, "Two well-known Washington political analysts, Thomas Mann, of the bipartisan Brookings Institution, and Norman Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, agree. In a forthcoming book about Washington dysfunction, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” they write, “One of our two major parties, the Republicans, has become an insurgent outlier—ideologically extreme, contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime, scornful of compromise, unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.” Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lizza#ixzz1kqlplCNu

These points also resonate in Florida where Republicans-- at least those in power and whose views are represented in public forums-- are indeed unpersuaded by facts, evidence and science. This explains the perverted logic of rejecting federal intervention in the matter of regulating water quality in Florida, as though we are too poor and dumb to clean up the mess we have made of the state. The absolute conviction that somehow the US EPA and regulations are to blame for job loss and the worst economy since the Great Depression defies logic, too. The GOP has simply gone off the rails.

If it is even worse than it looks, isn't it time for a centrist party to emerge? It might be along the lines of points adopted by Congressman Ron Paul; socially liberal-- based on a fear of government intervention in personal lives, fiscally conservative-- based on a conviction that neither political party has demonstrated a clear understanding of limited government-- and in foreign policy, reigning in military budgets and unrealistic ambitions.

Conventional thinking has always held that it would be a Green Party that would emerge in the United States as a third party. But watching the irrational behavior of the GOP-- filtered by Lizza through the failure of Obama to bridge the great divide-- one senses that the only way forward for Republicans and independents, too, is a centrist party that rejects the immoveable far right and takes heart from Ron Paul or Alan Simpson.

Giant Python Hunt in the Everglades. By Geniusofdespair

Watch Monster Python on PBS. See more from Inside Nature's Giants.

Also awesome footage of the Everglades.

Latin Builders Association and HBO Contractor endorse Santorum ... by gimleteye

It is interesting how much coverage the media gave of the love fest the Latin Builders Association threw for the Republican candidates for president. I'm sure if Sierra Club invited the candidates (and they agreed to appear) there would have been only a footnote in the newspaper. As it is, the Miami Herald did give a footnote (and not a story so far as I could tell) that the LBA board endorsed Rick Santorum. I can't think of any better endorsement for Santorum, assuring he will never be elected, than if Tony Soprano endorsed Santorum himself. (This clip needs subtitles in Spanish.)

Just finished reading "Dead Last". By Geniusofdespair

I wrote about James W. Hall's appearance at the Miami International Book Fair on November 22nd.  Specifically that his book "Dead Last" was not available for purchase.  Feeling my pain he sent me an autographed copy for free.

I  just finished reading the book (I had a few ahead of his in my book reading line-up). Following in the footsteps of  John D. McDonald who created the reluctant PI, Travis McGee of Fort Lauderdale; Hall created Thorn, an eccentric, swept into being a investigator by circumstances. Thorn lives in the Keys and fishing is his passion. His full name, never used, is Daniel Thorn.

The mystery took the reader for a ride through Miami. He weaved the infamous Silver Sands Motel in Key Biscayne into the story along with Perricone's restaurant, the Miami River, Flagler and Spring Gardens among other places. I thought that one location sounded suspiciously like the Miami River Inn but it was not named that. Anyway, I enjoyed the read and I liked the character Thorn. Continuing characters are my favorite for mystery reading, if you like them you want to read more. One character I didn't like was April's mom - annoying. I was wrong about who the murderer was so I was surprised by the ending. I was hoping it was April's mom so she would go to jail and never be heard from again in Hall's books.

It made "Dead Last" better that I knew most of the places that Thorn was traveling through. Even some names were familiar. One character had the last name of Matheson. As I read, I wondered if Hall got his protagonist's name from Miami Architect Thorn Grafton. There were also lyrically written passages that could only describe Florida - for example:

"The sky was leaden and low and in the east the sunrise was muffled to a vague pink. The air smelled tense and electric from an incoming storm. Overhead in the lowering sky two parrots groused at each other as they made their morning rounds."

Thanks again for the book Mr. Hall, you reminded me, I have to make an appointment with Dr. Rivlin (you have to read the book).

Norman Braman talks about gambling on Dylan Rattigan Show. by Geniusofdespair

January 27th - Auto Dealer, Billionaire Norman Braman talks about the effect gambling will have on Miami.



Really good point comes at 1:00 on the counter....and another at 2:50 on the counter.

If you are on a phone use this link.

The MDX: Driving Miami into the abyss of more sprawl ... by gimleteye

The board of the Miami Dade Expressway Authority, or MDX, is in the midst of approving the extension of the Dolphin Expressway/ SR 836 south into farmland and open space and needs to hear from the public why that is a terrible, horrendous idea. What is at stake is including this project in the MDX 5-year plan. If approved by the MDX board, it will trigger another in a long list of skirmishes at the Urban Development Boundary; this is where the battle to protect the Everglades has been fought over the decades in Miami-Dade County. Unfortunately, the MDX board is poised to do the bidding of land speculators. The board includes land use lobbyists like chairman Felix Lasarte, Gonzolo Sanabria, Al Maloof and Maritza Gutierrez. 

Today is the deadline for public comments. It is worth a moment of time to write to MDX and express your own thoughts about more suburban sprawl next to the Everglades. As if the western edge of Miami-Dade County isn't littered with enough foreclosures and ghost suburbs to last a lifetime. Ask the MDX to withhold approval of this boondoggle from its 5-year plan (the project identifier is #83618). tgarcia@mdxway.com


The MDX is planning to expand the 836 Dolphin Expressway west toward Krome Avenue and then south to Tamiami Airport. In other words, a massive highway project to bail out powerful land speculators whose investments are gathering dust because there is zero demand for the suburban sprawl they helped scatter throughout Miami-Dade County. Ramon Rasco, Sergio Pino, Rodney Baretto, Ed Easton are just some of the shareholders who could extract value from their speculative investments-- made near the top of the real estate bubble-- and fatten profits for land they may or may not even be paying mortgages on. While these issues are beyond the purview of the MDX board, they provide atmospherics of environmental destruction familiar to Southeast Florida: build highways, build sprawl, wreck the Everglades, and make taxpayers foot the bill.


Big highway projects have always served to lubricate the relationship between politics and developers. Given the overdevelopment of Miami-Dade, this kind of project -- and the fraudulent underpinnings of the "extend and pretend" economy-- ought to rejected.


Sierra Club and Tropical Audubon Society write: "We ask the MDX board to remove the 836/Dolphin Expressway Southwest Extension (project 83618) from its 5-year plan. We question the necessity of the this project and am concerned about the impacts to residents, agriculture and America's Everglades. We believe this road is unnecessary and will actually will increase, not alleviate, congestion on SR 836. Commuters currently have the option of taking several highways into downtown Miami. The existing 836, the Florida Turnpike, the 874, the 878 and the 826. Most of these roads have been or are currently being rebuilt to handle greater capacity. Future and existing toll revenues should be used to maintain these roads and provide for public transit alternatives, not to build new roads into environmentally sensitive areas. The project will threaten Everglades National Park and nearby federally-protected wetlands. A new layer of highway extending away from the city will fuel sprawl because of its proximity to the Urban Development Boundary. This highway would attract development of agricultural and wild lands buffering the Everglades and pose a direct threat to the $12 billion federal-state Everglades restoration project."

What this project would also do, is to reinforce exactly the growth pattern that failed Miami-Dade County, wrecked the Everglades, jeopardized thousands of acres of wetlands and farmland, and imposed billions in unfunded infrastructure costs on taxpayers. You don't get out of a ditch by digging the same ditch, deeper. But that is the kind of logic Miami-Dade lobbyists and appointees embraced, in the run-up to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Watch what they do, now.

Who is Paying Attorney Stephen Cody To Disrupt Meetings in Miami Lakes? By Geniusofdespair

Stephen Cody Represented Natacha Seijas during the Recall.

The big question always comes down to: Who is paying Stephen Cody? He doesn't appear to do work when he isn't paid. He charged Natacha Seijas and her PAC's a small fortune over the years. He has had a shadow client before like he has in Miami Lakes. He tried to get Eugene Flinn thrown out of the District 8 County Commission race. Who paid him for that? No one knows.

We have an example of the importance that Cody puts on getting paid in a recent (4/13/2011) Florida Bar "Admonishment" where he was fined about $2,000 for minor misconduct. In the complaint, even though he had a $5,000 retainer, he did not answer calls from his client so she stopped paying 2 installments due. In return, he says for NON-PAYMENT, Cody then failed to send his client correspondence advising his client of the status of the appeal. In Cody's signed admission he stated:

"Respondent (him)  failed  to  send  written  correspondence  to Vazquez advising her of the status of the appeal and/or his failure to file the appeal due to her nonpayment."

 So why is Stephen Cody in Miami Lakes snapping photos and passing out 15 pages of stuff, most of it dismissed ethics complaints (deemed frivolous), at a meeting in Miami Lakes?  Kevin Morejon, a 20 year resident said he wanted to know.

Kevin said he went to the meeting held by Mayor Pizzi with 75  to 100 of his neighbors.
Pizzi was having the Town Meeting at the Royal Oaks Park Community Center  on January 17th at 7:00 pm. The topics were public safety, park and lake issues for homeowners in Miami Lakes. The town of Miami Lakes is a very long way from Cody's Palmetto Bay office. When people arrived, they were confronted by Stephen Cody, and some workers he brought with him, according to Kevin Morejon. He said Cody and his crew confronted everyone going into the meeting and passed out a  bunch of pages with an unflattering photo of Mayor Pizzi stapled on the front.  According to Pizzi the content of the pages were an old ethics report of false allegations against him. He said the multiple page flyer cut off the portion of the report that said that these were allegations from years ago and that they were all dismissed.

Morejon said that he didn't know who the group were crashing the meeting, until he heard an employee call the man in the blue shirt Mr. Cody. He said they were disturbing the residents and they were unprofessional. Morejon said "I thought it was wrong that they gave under-age kids the stapled papers.  Mr. Cody was taking numerous photographs too. I thought he was a photographer at first. My guess is he took 25 to 30 snapshots. It was very disruptive." Apparently for a time he was blocking the view of  Mayor Pizzi as he was talking, filming or snapping photos.

Morejon said, after I revealed Cody was an attorney: "Now you tell me he is an attorney. If he is a lawyer, I am surprised he was doing that.  Some residents left because they were scared." Then I said to Kevin: "What would you think if I told you that he was Natacha Seijas' lawyer?"  He said: "I would freak out. Why would she stoop to his level if she sent him? She might as well have been there herself giving out the papers." He said a lot of people ripped up the papers in front of Cody.

I also spoke to Mary Collins, of Miami Lakes who, like Morejon, wanted to know why Cody was in Miami Lakes. She said, "Why is Cody so interested in Miami Lakes he doesn't even live here?" Good question. If I had, to guess, this is who I think is paying Cody.  I told Mary that he was once Natacha Seijas's attorney. She said: "I didn't realize he was her lawyer but I did not sign that recall petition."

 Kevin assured me his is not helping Pizzi's campaign for reelection but he said he will vote for him because of what he has done for the Town. He said "More police are out there, the mayor came through stepping up and doing his duty, protecting Miami Lakes Residents.  Mayor Pizzi made Miami Lakes better, he is accomplishing goals and he tells the truth."

Kevin Morejon had one final thought: "I think Mr. Cody's behavior should be reported to the Florida Bar."

Another Bar complaint Cody?? Wasn't one enough?

Vote Yes, and Yes Again On 2 Miami Dade County Charter Changes, January 31st. Guest Blog by Vanessa Brito

Last year, we turned down proposed charter amendments that made a mockery of our needs. This year, we are still not getting what we want, but at least it got better...better enough to vote YES.

Most residents do not want to compromise, but in this case, it seems to be a necessary evil. Voting YES will ensure that residents and grassroots organizations will have more time to collect petition signatures for Charter amendments, without having to rely on Commissioners to put them on the ballot. Beyond that, we get to put an end to perpetual incumbency by voting YES on the second amendment, setting term limits to 8 years.

It seems like so much time has passed since Miami-Dade voters recalled Mayor Carlos Alvarez and I began the recall of Commissioner Natacha Seijas, but it has been less than a year since that historic and proud moment for voters. Now we have to keep that ball rolling, and these 2 charter changes will do just that.

With one week left to the January 31st GOP Primary and Special Election, it is expected there will be dismal turn out of Countywide electors even though we have these 2 important Charter Amendments on the ballot. Do voters know it is NOT just a Republican primary? Do they know that Democrats and Independents need to vote too?

I won't lie. I would love for Commissioner term limits to be retroactive, giving us an opportunity to completely restructure our local representation and government. The reality is, however, that unless the current commissioners approve such language for a special election ballot question to electors, it will not happen. Of course, we have one shot at getting retroactive term limits on the ballot, but that would mean that on January 31st, voters would need to approve the first proposed amendment Relating to Initiative Petitions and Elections on Charter Amendments. In this case, we would have a 120 days to collect petition signatures for a Charter Amendment. I can tell you from experience, 120 is much better than 60, any day.

I won't lie. I believe $92,000 is too high a salary for public service. Notwithstanding the almost three-figure salary, public servants should dedicate their time FULLY to responding to residents' needs and issues. That will happen if you vote YES. Commissioners will be barred from having outside employment. I would dare say that the bulk of County Commissioners that currently hold outside employment make much more than $92,000/year thanks to their connections to lobbyists, consultants, and departmental knowledge.

It is difficult to swallow a $92,000 salary, especially for people we feel have been representing themselves more than the taxpayers. Still, the second proposed amendment relating to Salaries, Service, and Term Limits of County Commissioners ascertains the one thing we have always wanted - for sitting Commissioners to finally have an 8 year term-limit. Last time the County Commissioners offered us 12 years and it failed - rightfully so.

I plead with the people of Miami-Dade to remember that the County Commission WILL NOT give you exactly what you want - not now, not any time soon. The Commission is hoping that you will vote down these amendments to justify their inaction on Charter reform in the future.

Has anyone wondered why Commissioners have not spent much time talking about these Charter Amendments and most non-Republicans are not aware that they have a right to vote on these Amendments?

Put it on your Facebook page and tell your friends and family to vote YES on these 2 Charter Amendments. Tell them: One will stamp County Commissioners with an expiration date and the second will give us more time to change that expiration date.