The Ethics Dept. of Miami-Dade county might as well be disbanded as far as I am concerned. They just waste our money.
According to a report by Dan Ricker on the Ethics Commission, in the Watchdog Report:
06-54: The Commission on Ethics dismissed the complaint against Citizens to Protect People’s Choice for lack of legal sufficiency, as the Ethics Commission has no jurisdiction over campaign treasurer’s reports.
06-55: The Commission on Ethics dismissed the complaint against Terry Murphy, an aide to County Commissioner Natacha Seijas, for lack of legal sufficiency, as the Ethics Commission lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims contained in the complaint.
06-57: The Commission on Ethics found the complaint against County Commission Natacha Seijas was legally sufficient but was dismissed for lack of probable cause. The complaint alleged that Commissioner Seijas had a voting conflict when the Board of County Commissioners selected a date to hold her recall election due to the fact she participated in and voted on this matter.
I think the way the law is written, they are so limited, we are spinning wheels in this Department. We are paying a lot of salaries for what? "To have no jurisdiction," that is what.
5 comments:
Ethics Commission Members
Kerry E. Rosenthal, Chairman
Gail A. Dotson, Vice Chair
Dawn Addy
Judge Seymour Gelber
Brenda Rivera
I wish all the above would all get together and rewrite the legislatiion.
Any entity that is under the BCC is useless and worthless when it is supposed to defend the citizens of Dade County. By logic, such entities only protect those that put monies in their budgets even when those monies are paid by us taxpayers.
Contacting them to complain is a waste of our time.
IRS Form 1099 & Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose Martinez
According to the Internal Revenue Service they are now conducting an outreach campaign in the entertainment industry regarding the taxability of gift bags and promotional items. This effort is focused on distribution of celebrity gift bags and goodie bags in conjunction with appearances by the stars at award shows and other gatherings.
I wonder if this new rule also applies to our elected, appointed and administrative government officials! Because it should apply to them as well.
Therefore Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose Martinez is also responsible for paying the IRS his fair share of taxes on the many unethical gifts that he has received. Has he filled out Form 1099 with the “market value” for the land he was recently provided at a special price? Has he itemized his 1099 with the “retail value” of the many unethical gifts and deeply discounted items he has received from his generous pals that just happen to be roofers, A/C distributors, window suppliers, plumbing contractors, pool installers, floor installers, landscapers, electricians and such?
Let’s hope so!
If not, then perhaps Commissioner Martinez may have a generous CPA pal that will donate his time and talents to help defend him during his forthcoming IRS audit.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb
Coconut Grove
The problem is that the Ethics Commission is not independent.The county commission sets their budget (same for the IG) and by deafult controls Ethics. We need an independent source of money for Ethics. Maybe a state or federal grant. A county sales tax won't do it, look what happened to the "independent" transportation trust. The money source has to be out of Miami-Dade, unless all those special interest groups want to pony-up donations. Yea, right! Then they would control Ethics and by default the commission.
Our new strong mayor has called for ethics reform- wish him well.
The ethics commission is nothibg but a lapdog for the BCC. They let natasha, dennis and martinez get away with murder, but heaven forbid anyone proposing changes to the BCC rule say anything. I remember how they crucufied the late John Cosgrove for having lunch with someone who may have wanted to do business with the county (cosgrove was on the CITT) . Moss sicced the ethics commissiion on hims and they slapped hi,. Meanwhile, if you are on the BCC, you can get cheap land and free construction, and its OK!! Love this town..
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