If not so deadly, it would be absurd ... by gimleteye

The Miami Herald reported Monday that the nominal chair of the Miami Dade County Commission, Bruno Barreiro, changed the name of one of the most important commission committees to push the de facto commission chair, Natacha Seijas, back into her slot, which would otherwise have been impossible because county rules prohibit chairs to run committees in consecutive terms.

The Infrastructure and Land Use Committee is now to be called the Government Operations and Environment Committee. Its mandate is to include oversight of elections.

Commissioner Seijas wears her disdain for the environment like a badge of honor. As the leader of the new rule making it much harder for citizens to mount election referenda, she has proven herself an enemy of popular democracy, as well.

We do not share the view expressed in another posting by one of our blog readers familiar with the county way of doing business, that the committee changes are benign and timeless events.

We have noticed, time and again, how the outcome of committee agenda items are predetermined before meetings ever begin.

More often than not, big decisions—whether on the dais as committee or full body—are predictable as Kabuki dramas with lobbyists scurrying back and forth with cardboard props like stage hands and the majority of commissioners in scripted roles and cell phones in the place of cue cards.

Dress rehearsals involved county commission staff reciting the outcome to department heads.

Under the current county commission regime, the public interest is locked down. This is where the new strong mayor form of government gets interesting, because liberating the public interest is not just the key to improving our government in Miami now but also the key to 2008.