Make sure you vote November 17th if you live in the district or call your friends there and tell them to vote for Gabrielle.Gabrielle Redfern's opponent, former Commissioner/lawyer Michael Gongora, has been a lobbyist although he denies the obvious.
According to Steve Rothhaus of the Miami Herald, Gongora said:
"I made some perhaps bad votes in the past but they didn't come from a bad place. I'm not a lobbyist." One of those bad votes:
He...voted against a measure that banned his law firm, Becker & Poliakoff, from lobbying the city while he sat on the dais.
Gabrielle Redfern has no money ($3,000) to campaign so she will have to win by word of mouth. Gongora has about $70,000. She was endorsed by the Miami Herald and the Transit Miami Blog. She has been on numerous Miami Beach boards, and most important, Redfern is not a professional lobbyist. Gongora had his chance and as he freely admits, he made bad votes.
Maybe in an educated district, money will not rule, after all, Gabrielle Redfern did make it to the runoff sorely short on funds!
6 comments:
Gabrielle deserves a chance. Luckily the City of Miami voters have a history of voting for the best qualified candidates over the best financed.
It would be great to see money NOT elect candidates. Let their qualifications earn them their position.
Although I agree with this endorsement based on this particular lobbyist and his votes, the blogosphere continues to disappoint me with its unabashed hatred for anybody with the word "lobbyist" attached. A lobbyist is merely a representative for an interest, and there are thousands of them fighting for "evil", certainly, but there are thousands of them fighting for good as well. I think we need to focus more on the firms they represent, rather than the talent they hire.
Maybe we should be weeding out lobbyist from holding public office, serving 2 masters. Fressen comes to mind. Give me a list of who you consider good lobbyists Miamicane. Would be most interested because all lawfirms are also not evil.
Good Choice!
I know both. Gabrielle has no political debts. Gongora would be not be best for the city.
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