Friday, March 09, 2007

The County Commission is all about POWER! By geniusofdespair

You might think you take a $6,000 a year job on the Commission as a public service. And there are those on the Commission that are there for that reason. I think some started out that way but the position soon morphed into something very different: All about power.

There are those that are there ONLY for the power that the commission brings to their dreary lives: Natacha Seijas and Joe Martinez for instance. They want their rings kissed. In today’s Herald, Natacha demanded an apology from Police Director Robert Parker. What gall. (hit read more)


In years past, you know Micky Arison - touted as one of Forbes richest men - a man with $5.8 billion under his belt, had to grovel a bit to get his sticky fingers on OUR FREE public land for the American Airlines Arena. That experience must have filled Commissioners’ heads like hot air balloons.

Imagine now how Commissioners feel; another Forbes billionaire, Jorge Perez, one of the richest men in the world, knows their first name! This is the stuff you save for your grandkids, it is so awesome.

So, when Hud tries to take power, or the Mayor is perceived of taking power, these Commissions balk as if you were slaughtering their first born. Power is the last thing they want to give up, it is more important to them than, even, money!

It is not about us. Just look in the Herald today: Dade leaders pledge to fight takeover of housing agency. What Commissioner Moss DID NOT say in this article in the Herald today: “We are going to do what is best for the citizens of Miami-Dade County and we think it is to retain power of HUD money because HUD has been unreliable in managing funds in other places.”

No, he did not say that, he said:

"I'm not going to go down without a fight.''

It is, in the end, all about them!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Sure thing. got it. ...um could you post the translation?

Anonymous said...

in other governmental bodies, when you're newly elected you get a primer course, a 'how to be elected' tutorial, a lesson in the proper way to conduct yourself as a representative of the people. I wonder if Miami Dade County does this for the commissioners. Their behavior is so basic, so simple minded, so unstatesman like, that it's embarassing. And yet they haven't a clue how they appear.

Geniusofdespair said...

I removed a comment that was entirely in German. I don't know what it said and I went to the link it provided. It did not seem to be a comment on the subject, It appeared to be an ad.

If the author will email me directly we can discuss it. thank you all. I take removal very seriously.

Anonymous said...

The nail is hit on the head, they have an overwhelming need to be liked, not for the effort for the public, it is all about the favors for private individuals. They abhor questions about their comments and God forbid the idiotic votes. The paranoia associated with someone looking into corruption is an insult, they do not see corruption as wrong, doing favors is what makes them popular with the in-crowd who could care less about them personally. What they don't realize is if they were not there, their replacements would also be known to the lobbyists and influential to bully their way through the process.

Anonymous said...

Let's bet how many of the local officials have read Robert's Rules

Anonymous said...

You can go to the county website and watch the hearing... It was mean.

They even had the Mayor trying to sooth them because they were whiney and directed for the Directors neck...

I'm not going to go down without a fight.

That wasn't the whole quote...Moss made a mistake and said something to the effect, that we need to fight like we did all those other times before we went down.... He kept speaking, and the commissioners were laughing and trying to correct him.... He was not thinking about what he said.

But, Gimenez and Seijas and even the county attorney was going on and on about being called unethical...

It was not enough to scold him publicly... they wanted to gut him in front of those men and women he commands. They did not have to do that, they could have written memos to the Manager and Mayor without undermining the Directors authority before his employees.

They did not stop until he finally said "unethical" was an inappropriate word to use in his memo...he may be correct... there has to be a stronger one to use its' place

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how you measure the financial effectiveness of municipal government? What would the metrics be? Does anyone do such a thing at the various levels of city, county and state government?

Are there common metrics like:
Cost per resident
Employee per resident
Average Employee cost
Cost per square mile
Cost per road mile

Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Sorry posted on wrong topic, will repost where I thought I was posting.