The FBI works public corruption cases behind the scenes in ways that are not apparent until a successful sting breaks the news cycle. That happened today in Broward, including a county commissioner. After 9/11 I was told by one federal law enforcement official that every, and I mean every, federal law enforcement resource in Miami was focused on hunting terrorists. I wondered, at the time, if anyone realized how this diversion of resources created its own domestic terror in the kinds of land use dealing that have landed other public officials in jail in Palm Beach.
After 9/11 historic low interest rates set by the former fed chair Alan Greenspan triggered the unsustainable housing boom in Florida and throughout the nation. The con games between land speculators and public officials didn't just start with low interest rates: anyone in the previous decade could see the pressure building as developers found new ways to finance huge developments based on fraudulent Wall Street debt instruments and financial institutions discovered ways to front load profits while off-loading risk to greedy investors and, of course, gullible voters and taxpayers. The FBI should have parked its big mobile units right in front of County Hall during the housing boom.
Instead, the daisy chain of developers, engineering cartels, lobbyists and land speculators used the boom to erect enormous walls against ordinary citizens in the messy business that do land elected officials in prison-- and has, in counties like Palm Beach--changing the underlying zoning of big blocks of property to provide the fodder for suburban sprawl, rock mining, and other forms of large-scale development.
So far, the feds haven't netted a Miami-Dade county commissioner since James Burke and Miriam Alonso. But today's news gives hope that federal law enforcement has not abandoned rooting out public corruption in South Florida ('Crist suspends two Broward politicians arrested in US corruption probe; former official also charged', Miami Herald, Sept. 23, 2009). When fear and paranoia about potential criminal investigations grip offices at the City and County Commissions, that's good for citizens -- at least for the invisible ink and tape recording businesses. Thanks, to the FBI.
1 comment:
What disturbed me the most was the natural way these politicians did these deals. This all seemed like business as usual from the transcripts released. Can you imagine how much has really gone on that the FBI couldn't nail them on?
I can only hope something similar can happen to our unreformable majority. We know Rundle will do nothing.
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