I am surprised at Commissioner Carlos Gimenez (relative of the vile Natacha Seijas) – I thought he was one of the better Miami Dade County Commissioners. It was reported today in the anemic Miami Herald by one of our favorite reporters, Scott Hiaasen Dade police could lose power to investigate corruption - subtext: Miami-Dade police would no longer investigate public corruption cases at County Hall under a proposed law designed to limit the mayor's authority. I didn’t think Carlos would start the movement to seize power from the Mayor. The ink is not dry on the Strong Mayor election win reports and the commission is already posturing to take apart what we have sewn together.
And, dear readers, last night a woman in my class said, “I am for the strong mayor.” I asked “Did you vote.” She said: “oh no, my mayor is...” and she recited her city mayor’s name. When I told her she had two mayors, once again, I got that blank stare of someone who did not understand the concept. Maybe we should call the County Commission Mayor "the Supreme Mayor." It would serve two purposes: Aggravate the Commissioners and differentiate him from the City Mayors.
Let the fun begin...the commissioners are left with their pants down, they won't be able to hide their aggression. What will they and their lobbyist pals think up next? Things are going to get rough in Miami Dade County. Gimleteye speaks of a "soft and cleansing rain" in a post today — I think it is the calm before the storm.
15 comments:
there is already a rumor that we the voters passed a charter change for partisan elections. Is that true? Local elections don't have parties -- did our vote change that?
New Times had it first on their blog.
You comment about the 'I live in a city, I didn't know he was MY mayor too' lady is surprising and frightening... I didn't think people were that ignorant about the vast size of the county government and how much it controls.
As far as picking a name, we could call him the "Metro Mayor", the name used before the county's name got changed in 1998.
Metro Mayor...maybe. We have to fix his name -- County Mayor is not working that is for sure. How about YOUR OTHER MAYOR. The problem is we still have these unincorporated areas. That is where the confusion arises. Once people get into a city they don't see the need for the county so it slips from that little tiny mind that is focused on what is on TV that night... Oh, I think Lost is on...have to go.
I second Metro Mayor/Metro Miami Mayor since this is what the area is called for statical purposes anyways.
Is it true katy sorenson voted for this today 1/25...?? Rabin said only Souto and Heyman voted against it. SOUTO???
Maybe those are the tow who hate Giminez the most. These things are often about hate politics on the commission.
Carlos Gimenez has proposed and the County Commissioners passed one of the stupidest pieces of legislation I have ever read. What is Gimenez thinking. He is now the punch line for a joke.
I think you are right to say that Gimenez is one of the most reasonable on the BCC. His legislation make absolute sense when taking into account the structure of government as it stands after the Strong Mayor vote. He is an Alvarez supporter, in large part (see his votes on Mayoral Vetoes), however, you need to remember, he came from the City of Miami, and lived through the financial crisis that was created, or allowed rather, in large part due to the structure of government at the City (one person in charge of finance/budget/computers). If you read the ordinance, and listen to his explaination (Defede interviewed him on Friday), I think most will be hard pressed to find no legitimacy in the proposed legislation. Natasha is only related to Gimenez by marriage, and they are not on the best terms right now. My suggestion, fight the urge to have a knee-jerk reaction to this (like many did), and look at the articles (Herald Opinion), listen to the interviews, and really read the ordinance before blasting this move.
As for other comments, Sorenson did vote for it, while Heyman (remember, she is a former cop) and Souto voted against. Gimenez has good relations with all three of them (and very good relationship with Heyman and Sorenson).
"Another stupid county move," I challenge you to specifically address why the proposed legislation is stupid. Sounds like Mayor Alvarez, call an idea absurd before you even understand the reasoning... Too bad people don't take the time to think in this town. If they did, we wouldn't be in this position right now.
To Last Anonymous: Interesting comments. We are the public. We base our editorials on Chuck Rabin's Herald reports. We do not have time to keep up a blog and watch hours of commission meetings - we work for free remember? (besides watching the commission meetings give me heartburn).
If you do watch the meetings, please write a guest blog for us. I depend on the Herald for much of my information, I am not doing responsible reporting here.. I am doing REACTING to reports. See the difference?
I don't know what Gimleteye is doing but there is a much more responsible person there -- you should write to him rather than me. I am writing to you in my pajamas, in my office at 11:33 pm. Do you know how bad it is...I woke up last night at 1 a.m. with the TV on...spouse watching it. I changed the station. I was looking for my blog..and couldn't figure out how to get to it on the TV. The screaming spouse woke me up. So You are barking up the wrong tree if you think my knee is not going to jerk. This is where people can have knee jerk reactions. It is the public having a voice.
Maybe, just maybe you can admit, the timing by Gimenez was really, really, really stupid. He could have let the dust settle. That is why people are on the attack and having jerky knees. We were all waiting to see what the commission would do...and the Gimenez thing was the first thing. Et tu anonymous?
And...you saw what Barreiro did today ACCORDING TO THE HERALD (I am reacting to the herald report now) - instead of following the county's own rules to not allow committee heads for more than two terms, Commissioner Barreiro just changed the name of the committee to get around the rule and left Natacha at the helm. Clever? I think not.
Crude. The public doesn't like these kinds of reports.
And...here is another comment with the utmost worst timing (I won’t call it stupid) okay?
"We're going to need to take a much stronger oversight role," Commissioner Carlos Gimenez said. "We're going to have to look at administration proposals with a much sharper eye. We'll need to add staff to make sure we implement our fiduciary responsibilities." (From Miami Today)
Well, I can certainly keep you all posted as to what is going on with the BCC, as it is part of my job to do so.
The timing aspect of the proposal is a difficult question. The Strong Mayor Vote necessitated the proposal. Could he have waited another few months, sure, but the reaction would have been the same (maybe a bit muted, but not by much). Either way, the proposal has to go to committee before it comes back to the BCC, and I am sure changes will be made. Word is that Mayor Alvarez has reached out to the Commissioner to work on a compromise. At the end of the day, if you truly believe in something, and you believe it is in the best interest of the County, should you really care what public perception is? The answer is yes, but only if you are focused on your image rather than on the substance of your service. The longer this legislation takes, the longer the structure of government will be in place that does not provide enough safeguards. You need at least a layer of seperation between the investigators and the boss, and that is what this is all about.
Re: Bruno. That practice is as old as the committee structure. There is no secret that Natasha is the king maker (from Barbara Carey Shuler to Bruno), and she has chaired the same committee since BCS. If you notice, the names of the BCC committees change every two years, because there are also membership restrictions. My opinion, if they want to maintain continuity in committees (which is legitimate) just modify the ordinance to allow you to do so without changing the names of the committees every year. I was just getting use to the new committee names!!!
As for the Miami Today quote, it is on the money. In fact, Commissioner Gimenez has tried to increase oversight since he began. Remember where he came from at the City. He understands the value of true oversight. He left the City in the best financial shape it had ever been in, and Arriola screwed that up in 3 short years.
In fact, if you look at the BCC agenda, I think in April of last year, he proposed enacting measures (much like those imposed by the State Oversight Board at the City, another point, he left the City with $140 million in reserves back when the City had a $550 million operating budget, the County, in contrast has a $7 billion dollar operating budget, and less than $20 million in reserves), but the rest of the BCC, and the Manager fought against it, and called it "mirco-managing." Now that the political will has changes with the change in structure, the BCC was more than ready to enact these safeguards, and at the end of the day, I, and the people should be happy it got done.
I urge you to listen to the interview Gimenez had with Defede on Friday. I think you will understand when you hear him explain it. It is a responsible proposal, along with his proposal for more oversight as to the budget process.
By the way, I wonder what those in favor of the strong mayor would think if they learned the architect of the initiative was and is a lobbyist. My guess is that it would not have been received as well as it was. Fact is, the Mayor himself said that he would not disclose the identity of the strong mayor initiative, because that person "does business with the County." That means one of two things: (1) Vendor or (2) Lobbyist. I happen to know it was the latter, and who it is... Unfortunately, the people were sold a bill of goods...
Gimenez's push is all about politics. He has his eye on running for city mayor and is preparing his record this is what it is all about.
Well, apparently, after fighting with Gimenez initially, the MAYOR himself apologized for rushing to judgement on the proposal. Question his motives all you want, the legislation is absolutely proper and should be commended under the circumstances. If you really do think Gimenez actions are a move by him to create a record for his run for City Mayor, you really don't know him or how he operates. Unlike the rest of the board, he motives are transparent, and have everything to do with County governance, and nothing to do with his pending campaign for City Mayor. By the way, I don't think he has formally announced his intentions yet, and don't rule out the possiblity that he runs for County Mayor instead.
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