Miami Dade Property Appraiser Race: Who gives a shit? By Geniusofdespair

I don’t really care about this race but I took a quick look at it in case any of you do. There are 4 candidates vying for this post and here are their financial reports:

Jim Shedd has collected $26,325. His report is not very interesting except he got 10 donations from “Brown” interests in the amount of $5,000. Brown is suing to move the Urban Development Line after the State of Florida rejected their application to move the line. Shedd made a donation from his campaign account to the Lincoln Diaz Barart campaign which might be illegal or unethical at the very least. He is paying Dark Horse Strategies (Emiliano Antunez Mgr.) to manage his campaign. I was notified today (October 4th) that Mr Shedd did NOT make a contribution to L D-B out of his campaign account he paid for an event he attended with a personal check and there was some mis-communication between he and his treasurer.

I will not vote for Jim Shedd. (We have a second article/endorsement of the Property Appraiser, hit here to review it.)

Pedro Garcia has collected $14,475. No red flags on his report.

Eddie Lewis has collected $10,450. He gave his campaign about $7,000 of that. The rest of the donations are mostly from individuals.

Gwen Margolis has collected $334,087.90 ($200,000 was her own money). Her long history as State Senator, County Commissioner and as the first County Commission Chair enabled her to tap into some big bucks. Her long time lobbyist pal Rick Sisser is managing her campaign.

Among her donors: Armando Codina Corporation’s ($1,000), Miami Dolphins ($2,000), Turnberry out of Davie ($3,500), Charter Schools USA ($500), Racing Interests ($2,000), Braman, various entities ($4,500), Ron Book of course ($2,000), Edward Easton (Parkland) ($500), Krome Mining Partners, et. al. ($1,500). She is a longtime friend to developers. I wonder why Brown isn't on this report?

Each candidate paid a County Commission Qualifying Fee of $6,530. That seems an excessive fee to run for office.

The Margolis camp told me why this race is important and why she is the candidate of choice:

"Since this will be the first elected Property Appraiser, Miami-Dade County needs someone who is experienced, honest and has proven integrity. We need a candidate who understands property values, how taxes are levied and the local and state mechanics of taxation.

As the first woman President of any State Senate in the Country, as Chairperson of the County Commission, as a realtor, and as a member of the Value Adjustment Board; Gwen Margolis is the only candidate that meets the criteria for the first elected Property Appraiser.

Gwen has many ideas to improve the current system at the Property Appraiser's Office. I believe one of Gwen's most important ideas for the office is to create an outreach program so we can understand exactly how the Property Appraiser comes up with the appraised value of our property.

We all know the importance of a people friendly website. Another one of Gwen's promises is to revamp the current website. If we compare Dade's with Broward's website you can understand just how unfriendly Dade's is."

( GENIUS SAID: DON'T F--K WITH THE WEBSITE IT WORKS FINE, I USE IT EVERY DAY. I HAVE BEEN ON BOTH -- EXCEPT DADE'S NEED A HISTORY ON THE PROPERTY LIKE BROWARD'S).