Hialeah is the political Bethlehem of wealthy Cuban American developers who use ward politics in a single district to ensure that what they want to build in other districts will come to pass, hell or high water.
Hialeah is the fortress. The stronghold. And it is the place where the unprecedented will happen on December 19: a recall election of the de facto chair of the county commission: Natacha Seijas.
Not only did the Miami Herald fail to investigate the difficulties encountered by petition signature gatherers, it participated in disinformation by asserting that collecting 3000 signatures to recall Seijas was not an insurmountable obstacle.
In point of fact, signature gatherers faced intimidation tactics used by neighborhood watch associations in Havana, Cuba.
Day after day, they were hectored, threatened, and even false arrest by the Hialeah police. Places of business where signature gatherers tried to inform citizens were also called and threatened.
What drove the signature gatherers to persist was a force of determination equal to Seijas’ wealthy developer supporters who will spend upwards of $1 million in December to protect a county commissioner who is only paid $6000 per year.
It is worth pointing out that the individuals defending Seijas are not just a handful of vaguely recognizable lobbyists or name developers like Sergio Pino.
They are important intermediaries in fundraising for national elections in both political parties.
Doing the bidding of production home builders greases the political wheel that connects Hialeah to County Hall to Tallahassee and Congress. Zoning changes in south Florida for production home builders was the foundation for law firms like Greenberg Traurig, whose executives exert no-so-subtle pressure on Herald executives they rub shoulders with.
That is why Natacha Seijas is tweaked but not worried about the December 19 recall election.
She knows it will be lightly attended because her colleagues on the county commission scheduled it that way.
How many voters in Hialeah are going to take time to go to the polls, setting aside family and Christmas preparations in order to join a 'below the media radar' incipient rebellion?
The developers and their lobbyists no longer live in Hialeah. They live in expensive gated communities in Coral Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest and Miami Beach. Their real estate taxes are higher than most Miami Dade workers make in a year.
They don’t go to Miami Beach or Key Biscayne on Sunday. They use their yachts or private planes to get away from the traffic and bad parks and bad schools you are stuck with.
Whatever happens in Hialeah on December 19, take away this lesson: the majority of the Miami Dade county commission cannot be reformed.
In the coming days, the Miami Herald will be filled with breathless accounts of 20,000 visitors descending on our city to breathe the rarified air of modern art. Meanwhile, the real story persists: of a political elite that has turned Miami into a chop shop for production home builders whose authority is vested in the county commissioner from Hialeah, Natacha Seijas.
7 comments:
Correction on the Seijas recall election date: it is on December 19th not the 23rd. The strong mayor vote is on January 23rd, 2007.
Hopefully people are waking up and will go vote on these 2 days. Lord knows we need it. As our elections department likes to say Democracy works, yeah this is true but people need to get out and vote!
Slowly but surely the county commission will be purged of these rascals and new faces will emerge with our true interests in mind.
Keep the faith!
Thank you anonymous reader I made the correction to the date. I know what is going to happen in Hialeah: The little, innocent old ladies - the pawns in this play - are going to be scared out of their wits that their services are going to be revoked if Vile Natacha leaves office - she has said as much. We all know that it would be political suicide for a new candidate not to take care of this voting block, but these old ladies are being threatened with the cessation of their lunch programs, etc. That is a sad way to keep your office.
Genius:
Wasn't Natacha discussing meals for the elderly when she made her I want you "taken out in a Body Bag" remark to Commission Chair Gwen Margolis?
Too bad many of the elderly cannot see further than their own needs to the needs of the entire county.
Don't dispair, Nat didn't withdraw her two items from the BCC today because she found religion, she was getting trashed on spanish language radio all week. The "viejos" are getting smarter and I hope in time to vote her out for Christmas. Ho Ho Ho
She brought 3 busloads of poor elderly to vote yesterday. They were toting "goody bags" they were given on the bus. The sad part is that this is probably one of the few gifts they will receive during the holidays, and they don't even realize their vote is being BOUGHT by this bandit under the guise of "let's protect our benefactor". Fidel Castro could not have done it better.
Natacha "Lucrecia Borgia" Seijas is so desperate that she has sent her Chief of Staff, Terry Murphy, along with other of her employees to the early voting polls to harass and insult the volunteers supporting her recall. Do they get paid overtime for this service to the commissioner? Let's all find out.
They better not be on County time. Call her office and demand answers.
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