Re-reading the Miami Herald's vacuous coverage of the Seijas recall by gimleteye

On Sunday, another story by the Miami Herald that misses the point of the epic battle between the popular Mayor of Miami Dade County Carlos Alvarez and the de facto chair of the county commission, Natacha Seijas, whose dismal role in county politics has made Miami Dade county unpleasant for citizens and businesses alike.

A few days ago, the Herald’s Chuck Rabin reported the story as a battle of personalities. We immediately took issue. Read our blog postings below for details.

We also made the case that if the Herald and El Nuevo Herald understood, or cared for, its readership—it would put this story on Page A1, not buried in the B section.

In Sunday’s paper, again the Herald buried the story in the B section—this time on page B5.

From a battle of personalities, now the story is a “rounding error” by Seijas, who has offered a resolution to the county commission to cut her opponent’s salary by only $108,000.

Both stories misdirect readers' attention from the enormously high stakes of the recall election against Seijas, which is a prelude to the county-wide vote for a strong mayor form of government in late January. Seijas district is Hialeah, the political Bethlehem for powerful Cuban American builders and their lobbyists who live in tonier zipcodes, in gated communities in Coral Gables, in Pinecrest and South Miami.

On radio and on television, vile Natacha plays the role of innocent: “I don’t have any idea what people object to.” Ask anyone in county government: she is feared and loathed for her vindictiveness and vitriol against any who cross her agendas.

Even the unions have been cowed into submission by Seijas, despite the fact that working people have been most harmed by growth policies of the county commission which are jeopardizing the foundation of Miami-Dade's economy.

Seijas exemplifies how the single member district system of county commission government is failing.

When the media just report her astonishment how many people are opposed to her, it plays into her mode of operation.

To her Hialeah consituents, Seijas is mild and caring and attentive to seniors' needs like no one else. But to the production home builders whose interests she represents, Seijas is Miami's version of Tom Delay.

But Hiealeah is not just another exampale of tightly controlled local politics.

When petition gatherers had the courage to collect enough signatures to force a recall, they were treated to abusive tactics straight out of the neighborhood watch associations in Havana, Cuba. From verbal abuse, to intimidation of business owners where they sought to collect signatures, to detainment by the Hialeah police: the Herald failed to elevate this story to the position it deserved.

And why does Hialeah deserve a high position? Because any cursory study of electoral demographics reveals that the district is a powerhouse, because so many people vote and so many people vote the party line according to what the big production home builders and their lobbyists want.

Not a single interest that does business with Miami Dade county will drop a dime in the hat that is being passed around to collect money to unseat her. Meanwhile, she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from developers too scared to turn away her call.

It is a sad and pathetic state of affairs, that is only deepened by the Herald’s printing in today's Issues and Ideas section, a letter from the Ethics Commission head, Robert Meyers defending the Ethics Commission that we have sharply criticized.

Meyers concludes his rambling “Delicate balance of rights and wrongs” by saying, “I am not convinced that the community needs an Ethics Commission to penalize an individual (ie. county commissioner or other elected official) for making a decision that doesn’t pass the smell test.

Mr. Meyers has completely lost his sense of smell.

The Herald did report that the chair of the county commission Joe Martinez was given a free pass by the Ethics Commission although he took free work from the son of a powerful member of the Latin Builders Association on his new home, built on a lot whose purchase cost to him was considerably lower than other lot sales in the area at a time when Martinez was lining up to approve applications to move the Urban Development Boundary sought by the Latin Builders Association.

What the Herald AND El Nuevo Herald need to do, is to inform its readers what is at stake with the Seijas recall and the strong mayor county-wide vote in late January. That requires a clear editorial direction and positioning the issue on the front page of both papers.

Our position is that the only glimmer of hope is for a strong executive mayor, with line of authority, responsibility and accountability to the public for the county manager and department heads of county government. The 13 single member district system of county government is killing Miami Dade county, and it cannot be reformed by commissioners--a majority of whom have carved out unassailable fiefdoms.

We applaud Mayor Carlos Alvarez for taking on an urgent quest. While we are concerned that the production home builders who support Seijas today will rush to elect one of their own to be a new county mayor, we are more confident that abuse of power--should it occur--by an executive, strong mayor will be redressed by voters county-wide in a way that is impossible today, because of exactly the situation we have: Seijas sitting astride the county commission like the talent agent on Borat.