Commissioner Natacha Seijas Millan, her name on campaign documents, has a way of rewarding her loyal supporters with county funds.
In August 2006 she distributed a glossy, expensive no doubt, news letter to her constituents. This “campaign piece” was produced while she was battling a citizen’s recall. Among the list of organizations to which she donated public funds was a $10,000 donation to the Dade County Farm Bureau (detailed in a Miami New Times story by Francisco Alvarado). The Dade County Farm Bureau is the non-profit arm of Farm Bureau Insurance. The Dade County Farm Bureau is more a property rights than farming organization, consistently adopting the policy of “let market forces control the UDB”. Their board members include bankers and big farmers with large tracts of land to develop. They have long fought to remove zoning restrictions on farmland and were key players in burying both the Agriculture and Rural Retention Study and the Watershed Study (with a lot of help from Seijas). They also spend a lot of time giving each other awards.
If Seijas has warm fuzzy feelings for farmland destruction that’s her business, but why would she donate funds that should be spent for projects in District 13. The last I heard, District 13 is not a bastion of agriculture. She can really support agriculture by voting against projects outside the UDB but that won’t happen.
But one good turn deserves another. A few months later, the Dade County Farm Bureau held a fundraiser for Seijas to battle her recall; not that she needed the money because the developers gave her megabucks.
This exchange of money keeps the campaign wheels turning but it’s our money, washed.
Officers of the Dade County Farm Bureau:
Title P
DUNAGAN, LARRY
15025 SW 232 ST
HOMESTEAD FL 33170
Title P-EL
CARPENTER, KERN
18285 SW 264 STREET
HOMESTEAD FL 33031
Title D
WILSON, MARK
16350 SW 77 COURT
MIAMI FL 33157
Title S
SHEKELS, ROBERT L
28100 SW 194TH COURT
HOMESTEAD FL 33031
Title V
ALGER, JOHN
P.O. BOX 1253
HOMESTEAD FL 33030
1 comment:
Who is the de facto BCC chair by process of elimination? Seijas. Now then who can make land value rise quicker, the BCC moving the UDB or those pesky Redland incorporation types, planning councils and advisory boards? Moss and Sorenson have allowed their territory to be invaded by Seijas crashing the party with a $10,000 check courtesy of taxpayers.
Lurking in the background is Martinez with the CSX corridor initiative. Farm Bureau has had Seijas, Kasdin and Diaz-Balart in the past few months as guest speakers at events. Connect the dots.
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