Yesterday in Hialeah and Miami Lakes big money donors like production home builders and rock miners spent close to $100 per vote to protect their county commissioner, Natacha Seijas, from a campaign to unseat her, a 10-1 advantage.
The recall campaign was an exercise in shaking the money tree from every branch that relies on county contracts or decisions like permitting and zoning. Seijas ginned up her supporters by rattling on how "outsiders" were threatening the district, but her money came from a different class of "outsiders". Wealthy ones.
Nearly $500,000 was spent by Seijas to turn out 11 percent of eligible voters in District 13. It was the first election recall in Florida’s largest county in 30 years. So the status quo remains securely in place, until the January 2007 election county-wide for an exeuctive mayor.
Seijas doesn’t do “chasten”. Investors in political campaigns don’t write checks without expectation of reward.
Of this dynamic—money buying legislatures—the only component that can change is the awareness of voters.
Although Natacha Seijas and her cohorts on the county commission like to trash the Miami Herald at every public opportunity, their bashing of the newspaper will halt until after the January election.
Big donors/ special interests are in a pickle: if they give to the campaign for an executive mayor, they antagonize the county commission who they rely on. But failing to support the executive mayor initiative puts themselves on the wrong side of a highly popular mayor, Carlos Alvarez.
On this one, the public will definitely go for an executive mayor: Miami Dade County is choking on the costs of unbridled growth imposed on them by a majority of county commissioners.
We suspect that the big donor/special interests are itching for a chance to elect their own strong mayor candidate and are crossing their fingers for it to succeed, but not publicly.
For the time being, they have to dance 'with the partner that brung you', or, depending on your perspective, the one you just paid to keep in office. And that would be, for now, Natacha Seijas and her majority that serve their interests.
8 comments:
It was the absentee vote that did it. You know that can be a scam!
the election yesterday...should be a wakeup call that FLORIDA HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY. COM is a viable option--it's not a personal attack on any one person, but rather a systemic solution to a broken system. Check it out.
Bring on the Strong Mayor. At least under Alvarez it will be okay. Then when we get a bad mayor, like Penelas, we can throw the bum out.
Why not recall her again! Take the French attitude and bother her untill she gives in! No justice, well then no peace. If she thinks that she is going to make our lives a living hell let her keep running for re-election every year. At least then she will have to do something for her district. I mean what would it take, 10 or 20 grand on our side and 500 each time on hers?
Take the French attitude and bother her until she gives in! ... If she thinks that she is going to make our lives a living hell let her keep running for re-election every year.
Can you imagine?
People would be exhausted from collecting signatures, because after each recall, the number of signatures needed would go up .... probably by the precentage she won by. In a few years, she would require 100% of the voters to agree to put it to a vote.... Of course, if she still won, she would require the DNA of anyone wishing to sign a petition.
what we should have done was collected signatures to recall her again (when they voted on Tuesday) That was the time to do it.
<7> On the night of the special election, Seijas appeared on English TV acting as Mother Theresa -humble and promising "to serve those that voted yes as I have always served them". The next morning, on Cuban radio 1140 AM she was her real self -nasty, derogatory, insulting members of the recall committee and boasting about her victory with her now "side kick" Raul Martinez.
Seijas has sold her office to special interests by the sum of $400,000 given to her to stay on her powerful job. Why would anyone spend so much money on a politician, unless that politician has served them VERY WELL and know she will continue to do so. Seijas should be ashamed, if she knows the meaning of that word.
Anonymous points up one of the saddest facts about Miami politics and the media. Instead of a unified editorial and news policy, El Nuevo and Miami Herald run two different versions. So do the politicians. The Anglo version is not the same as the Hispanic version. The Hispanic power elite like Seijas use ethnic differences as wedges to divide the community. They did it with the Miami Herald, and the Herald folded time after time. Of course, AM radio is bought and paid for.
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