Greenberg Traurig in the news! by gimleteye

Today there is just so much to write about. Should I start with "American Idol" or Greenberg Traurig.

The Miami Herald reports, "The U.S. Territory of Guam has dropped criminal charges against Greenberg Traurig after Miami's biggest law firm agreed to refund $324,000 in lobbying fees it collected while now imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked at the firm."

Guam realized was that holding Greenberg Traurig accountable would have cost more than it was worth.

Greenberg Traurig CEO Cesar Alvarez, who is also chairman of the board of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, gets to say, "They (Guam) understood that we are the good guys in this, and that Abramoff is the one that took us for a ride."

Let's guess which Miami public relations firm came up with that little bouche amuse.

Greenberg Truarig may be an international law firm, today. But its not-so-humble roots In Miami Dade County are in land use, where the firm bootstrapped its way to wealth and fortune through zoning changes a la carte in wetlands and farmland. In the nasty politics that pass for good government here, the notion that Greenberg are "good guys, taken for a ride" deserves a little scrutiny in view of the speculative values that pass for common sense in Miami's status quo, political elite.

At Miami Dade County Hall or Miami City Hall, perhaps, the lobbyists who have worked for Greenberg garner stars on the wall of fame, but not even close to "good guys" when it comes to our built landscape. Name, one Greenberg Truarig attorney who ever did pro bono work for the environment?

I know: you could say the same of Holland and Knight or Steel, Hector etc., but Greenberg and its heavy handed lobbying deserves a place in the firmament all of its own. Until he was nailed by the law, Greenberg's affiliation with Abramoff was very good for business.

Credit The Miami Herald, at least, with not giving Alvarez the last word.

"In my viewpoint, it was more than Jack Abramoff involved," said the Guam representative. It would be very interesting to hear Abramoff's version of the story. But that's for another day.