The Miami-Dade Elections Department should be releasing a new set of contribution figures for April through June, so I decided to take a quick look at the figures they have so far for one incumbent, Geniusofdespair's favorite County Commissioner: Natacha Seijas.A few things jump out. She raised $116,100.00 and overwhelming relied on large contributions - the max anyone can give is $500, and out of Seijas's 261 donors, 215, or 82% gave $500.
And most of those large donors were developers, or were involved in construction or real estate. 57 of the 215 large donors were listed as developers or "real estate developers", another 19 were listed under real estate, and 57 contributors were in construction and building trades.Taken together, that's 126 contributors, or more than half of her large donor base.
Attorneys were another big contributor to Seijas - 26 of them gave her $500.
Who cares? Well the next time developers and builders are pushing for a zoning change that generates any kind of opposition, who do you think she is likely to favor? You may have already been able to guess without the help of these figures in the case of Seijas, but you get my point.
Now for a note of introduction. I'm new here, both at the blog and in South Florida, and I'll be contributing regularly. Next, I'm going to start mapping out the $500 contributors for all the candidates to get a sense of who's getting support from where.
14 comments:
Welcome aboard!
The math shouldn't be too hard to do.
When you look at the commissioners and the mayor there are lots of $500 bundles. The mayor has lost all the 25.00 checks he had when he first ran. I guess the days of his grassroots campaigns are over. His list looks like the other politicians now, except it is bigger. The commissioners are not doing nearly as well. Maybe the power has shifted, and you can tell by where the money went. Interesting.
Happy adding....
Oh gosh. Good thing I am blind.
Is that cleavage there? What would the political pundits say?
Happy to report that Mayor Alvarez's campaign is still running as "Grass Roots" and getting stronger every day.
If you attended any of his campaign fund raisers, breakfast meetings, even a KFHA Town Hall Meeting you could see why and,
how he has done it all this time.
Mayor Carlos Alvarez has earned the respect of everyone in Miami Dade County. Yes, everyone.
4 MORE YEARS !
Proud "Yellow Shirt"
AC
Welcome SunshineUnderground -- warning: you are entering muddy waters getting involved with County Politics -- hope you are up to it! You started with the worst of it.
Yes that is cleavage alert reader.
I am happy to see this new blogger. We need someone who will devote their time to our nefarius (you know the word I mean) crooked politics. This blogger is a very welcome sight.
AC:
I do not think that 500.00 or 100.00 checks are very "grassroots" at least for my neighborhood. We are more like the 10.00 to 25.00 check range, if we manage to pay the taxes on house.
Mayor Carlos Alvarez has earned the respect of everyone in Miami Dade County. Yes, everyone.
I disagree there.
(Although, I guess it works for some people, since the guy he "fired" over the wireless thing gave a hefty check to the campaign. That man must be very forgiving)
As a retiree I can't see what he has done for the older folks besides visit the senior centers. What has he accomplished that would not have happened without his existence? If he didn't have a county manager, we would not have running water or garbage pick-up. He could never do it.
Crime going down doesn't have a thing to do with him, the county economy has not gotten better and he has non-responsive staff. My wife wrote to him several times and she got only a "canned" answer back.
What town meeting was that? When was the last time the mayor went out knocking doors to talk to us real folks? When was the last time he went out without a photographer trailing? Nah. He is just another politician, just like the rest.
Don't forget she is the darling of unions. She will amass big bucks from the unions and their poor members will work the polls for her. They will also spend your precious dues to hire others to work the polls. The net payback will be her vote on union contracts while she screws their families with misspent tax dollars, sprawl that increases traffic, stresses water which raises your water/sewer bills, outrageous retirement benefits for a few and just about every other way she can screw the average union worker (not to mention her horrible track record on our environment). The rank and file need to start asking their leaders why they are supporting the worst commissioner in Miami-Dade.
District 13 voters need to look at Lourdes Aguillar; at least she is honest.
Welcome Sunshine!
FYI - Reports will not be published until July 25, bc the data runs thru July 18 this time, not June 30.
I cannot wait to see them!
Same goes for me, can't wait to see them...
82% gave $500. That sounds like neighbors helping her get re-elected...I give $500 like...NEVER!
Hello all and sorry for the delayed response (I'll be quicker next time).
I believe her closeness with unions helps explain why people in building trades supported her - but she received a small amount from them compared to what she got from developers. And yes, the reports don't come out till July 25, which will give me time to create the map I'm working on for all the candidates.
Darn, that photo of her is nauseating at first glance and worse if you study it. She has never been attractive and she is definitely getting uglier as she ages.
Natacha is so entrenched that I'm afraid we are stuck with her until she gets indicted or she dies of old age. At least she will go down in history as being a real piece of crap commissioner and one of the worst examples of district elections in this county.
SayHoss brings up a great point; district elections. District elections have allowed commissioners like Seijas, Diaz, Rolle, Martinez, Souto, Edmonson and Jordan to get re-elected (maybe Edmonson will not be). Does anyone think these loosers could be elected countywide? Of course not. That is why they hang on to the system like pit bulls. Remember the discussions by the charter review committee to add countywide seats?That died a quick death. And who attended the meetings and tried to intimidate the panel-Seijas. Souto blasted them from the dais. All designed to keep their kingdoms. Which they did!
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