Blogs and the truth ... by gimleteye

Over the weekend, there was a hiccup on the Eyeonmiami fact checker. Without any revenue source for this blog, I often rely on published news reports. (In this case, I relied on BusinessWeek whose report identified, mistakenly, Miami’s political Gutierrez with his hand in the state till of New Mexico. I withdrew the post as soon as I discovered my mistake.)
That’s frustrating. On the other hand, the mainstream press with substantial revenue sources often fails to connect the dots on important stories occasionally generated by excellent reporting.

One example: the Miami Herald and the influence of prominent downtown law firms like Greenberg Traurig in promoting zoning changes in farmland that lead to the kinds of unsustainable development that drove the national economy off the tracks. Consider, too, how the excellent Herald report, “Borrowers Betrayed” failed to connect the dots up the political food chain to the central feature of mortgage fraud: the simplistic, hubristic reliance on the efficiency of free markets to protect consumers and the public better than regulations or their enforcement. It is the same story with the $7 billion financial fraud by Allen Stanford (also represented by Greenberg Traurig) with Miami origins.
In both cases, I spent time connecting the dots for readers that the Herald could easily have done, if its editors and publisher had chosen to. (Read our archive: housing crash, Crist, Rubio, economy)

The same phenomenon is occurring with the Herald coverage of the contest in the Republican primary for US Senate, pitting the local boy Marco Rubio, former House Speaker, against Gov. Charlie Crist. This weekend, Beth Reinhard reported an interesting story: how Crist recently snubbed the Latin Builders Association, leaving the association without a speaker only two weeks from its meeting date.

The feud between Crist and Miami’s Hispanic builders, who pushed Jeb Bush forward in two successive terms as governor, discloses the fault lines of Florida’s failed growth model: how state legislation and the promotion of “free markets” for housing that were anything but free chewed up wetlands, the environment, and public welfare in ways that resulted in a massive breakdown of the economy.

Florida leads the nation in mortgage foreclosures—some 23 percent of all mortgages are underwater—for a reason: it is largely the responsibility of the lobbyists and Growth Machine that manifested so clearly in the ring suburbs of South Florida; horrendous development patterns that benefited mainly the hierarchy of insider groups like the Latin Builders Association.
Although Charlie Crist is not cut from their cloth as Jeb Bush was, Crist has a healthy respect for the capacity of Miami’s builders to maintain political fortresses in influential districts like those that touch Hialeah and the City of Miami. To a very large degree, Crist’s abandonment of stewardship for Florida communities—manifest in new state laws that were crafted to “streamline” development regulations and neuter the Florida Department of Community Affairs—was in response to the challenge by Rubio. Embraced by conservatives, Rubio has proven little by way of conservative credentials other than hot air that parrots the old Republican mantras that never did much good while Republicans were in control of the White House and Congress. What Rubio does represent, however, is the naked economic goals of homebuilders whose fortunes are burning through cash at an alarming rate, who rely on bank “bailouts” and suspension of margin / equity calls on loans representing large tracts of property purchased at the market top: this is the story that the Herald could tell but won’t, for whatever sensitivities it maintains are important for holding its advertising base.

Recently the Miami Herald, represented by Greenberg Traurig, leveled a lawsuit against a Miami blogger with a handful of paid advertisements on its web page. It is a complicated problem. Blogs like ours also do a service to the paying audience for the Miami Herald. We provide a cheap away for the mainstream press to report out details without getting too close to the heart of politically difficult stories that both touch its advertising base (homebuilders, furniture suppliers, FPL) and also approach ethical questions around the accounting of the worst economic crisis since the Depression. The exchange of money is a point of conflict between for-profit news organizations and blogs that threatens to further diminish the quality of information that goes beyond reporting, to the very point of the news.



Posted on Sat, Aug. 22, 2009
Florida's still head over heels for Charlie Crist

By BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com

Woody Allen said 80 percent of success is showing up. He hadn't met Gov. Charlie Crist.
Crist passed on an offer to stand next to his hard-charging rivals for the U.S. Senate at an Orlando forum sponsored by the Florida Association of Realtors, preferring to appear at the group's breakfast in his official capacity as governor. He also canceled an appearance at Friday's meeting of the Latin Builders Association (LBA), leaving the influential Miami group in the lurch with two weeks notice.

A few ruffled feathers, and that's about it. Even on a day when the headlines roared that 23 percent of Florida's home loans are past due or in foreclosure -- the worst in the nation -- the governor received an enthusiastic reception from the Realtors group.

``The governor's speech was incredible and very positive,'' said John Sebree, the group's vice president. ``Of course he got several standing ovations and people mobbed him for photos.''

At the Latin Builders Association, president Anthony Seijas said there were no hard feelings over the governor's cancellation.

``The governor has been a friend in the past to the association,'' he said. ``You can't let one instance taint the relationship.''

At a time when President Barack Obama's honeymoon is becoming a memory, Crist's love affair with Florida is still going strong. Polls show him with a 20-point-plus lead over his Republican challenger for the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio, and an approval rating of at least 60 percent.

You almost feel sorry for the person who follows in his footsteps. The two leading candidates for governor in 2010 gave adequate but uninspired speeches Friday in their first back-to-back appearances.

Both Republican Bill McCollum, the attorney general, and Democrat Alex Sink, the chief financial officer, said they opposed a tax on services and a constitutional amendment giving voters say over major development. No sparks from Sink, a self-described ``math nerd,'' or McCollum, an all-around nerd who tweets about finishing his yard work and the new Sandra Bullock movie.

Yet there are cracks in Crist's political foundation.

In an obvious jab at the governor after his cancellation, the Republican-leaning builders group turned around and invited his likely Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami. Privately, some members see Crist's action as a snub of the Hispanic community, especially in light of his opposition to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The latest Rasmussen Report survey noted that ``the fact that Crist is barely above 50 percent in a primary against a much lesser known opponent suggests at least a potential vulnerability.''

What Rubio lacks in polling numbers and fundraising he is making up for in positive buzz. He is this month's cover boy of the National Review magazine, a conservative standard bearer, which insists ``Yes, he can.''

``He's got all the tools,'' Jeb Bush, the former governor, says in the article. ``He's charismatic and has the right principles.''

Bush's word is gold among many Florida Republicans, and though he hasn't endorsed Rubio, his praise has to rankle Crist's camp.

At the Realtors forum, board member Alejandro Morin of Miami said the governor hadn't followed through on campaign promises to lower taxes.

``We're on the ground, and we see what is happening to families,'' he said. ``There's a lot of room for improvement and I think that [Crist] fell short.''

Beth Reinhard is the political writer for The Miami Herald.