SEIU and Unions enabling County Commissioner Natacha Seijas: but why? by gimleteye

The Service Employees International Union gave $20,000 to the political action committee set up to save county commissioner and de facto chair Natacha Seijas, from recall and oblivion. Seijas is facing the second recall by petition in less that three years. The Hialeah commissioner-- it is well known-- has carved out a permanent incumbency in the most important electoral district in Florida. That gives her considerable power. Seijas wields a political battle axe in defense of her fiefdoms: mainly airport contracts and zoning for development in farmland and outside the urban development boundary.

But why, one wonders, would SEIU-- one of the most powerful unions in the nation-- allow itself to be joined at the hip to Seijas? Yes, Seijas defends the unions. But the unions attract considerable attention from any candidate running for an important office. For her part, Seijas understands pothole politics very well; she takes care of abuelas, offering free breakfasts and lunch at election time. Her three legged stool has two other parts: unions and developers. The developer issue is clear enough: they need an enforcer of a consistent, sustainable majority and Seijas does exactly what she is told. But why would SEIU bend over for Natacha Seijas? Does Seijas offer any protection-- other than her bulldog ferocity? No.

One of my favorite SEIU / Seijas stories goes back a few years, to 2003. As a founding member of the Hold The Line Coalition, I organized citizen advocates at public hearings before the county commission. At one hearing after another, we made the case for protecting the Urban Development Boundary from incursions by the greedy developers who chewed up Miami-Dade and turned the county into a warren of ghost suburbs and foreclosures, with poorly built platted subdivisions gradually going to ground in weedy spots.

Yes, we made arguments on environmental grounds: for example, that Lennar should not be allowed to exploit Biscayne Bay wetlands. The same could be said of Shoma Homes, or the Pino-Rasco cabal at US Century: all major donors who defend Seijas with big contributions. But the heart of the argument against Seijas was not environmental. The development pattern of ring suburbs without centers and disconnected from places of work or mass transit, imposed by Seijas' supporters was responsible, itself, for the poverty of political leadership that traps taxpayers and voters in Miami-Dade today. We made that case with union members and they understood.

When it comes to moving the Urban Development Boundary, the trap is on full display: developers ratcheting up the pressure binding land speculators, to mortgage brokers, and the whole supply chain feeding into financial derivatives raining billions in compensation to Wall Street executives. Sound community planning in Miami-Dade is a dartboard with the Big Cheeses who support Seijas and the unreformable majority throwing darts. At the county commission, their cheering section is fully staffed by lobbyists and rent-a-crowds, organized by up and coming young Republicans. The arguments we made in 2003 resonated with blue collar workers, bending under the costs of housing and distant commutes. Union members were subsidizing ill-advised housing developments by absorbing the costs of commuting to work from distant places in Kendall farmland and wetlands, far from the workplace. The union members understood: the time and money they spend stuck in cars and badly designed suburbs deprives their families. They also understood that these costs were the results of political corruption that benefit the kinds of campaign contributors Seijas represents so well. Union members get it: zoning and planning and transportation systems shift costs to lower middle class homeowners in the suburbs, and these costs are the result of bad public policy by the county commission.

Natacha Seijas is responsible in particular, for her role enforcing the unreformable majority with a mean demeanor dripping with sarcasm toward any who have a different opinion.

In one crucial 2003 public hearing, members of SEIU were with us, Holding The Line. We had educated union members about the need to protect the Urban Development Boundary. Many showed up at a county commission public hearing on the UDB applications. They came to the chambers, wearing SEIU T-shirts. Yes! Environmentalists and Union Members in solidarity! No sooner had the hearing started in the packed commission chambers, when the union members disappeared. I found out what happened later.

From the dais, Seijas had spotted SEIU members sitting with Hold The Line citizen advocates. She picked up the phone and called the SEIU top dog in a cold rage. Within minutes, the SEIU members in the audiences had been instructed to leave. And they did.

Now, SEIU is throwing $20,000 of union dues at a county commissioner who represents the worst of the unreformable majority. It doesn't make sense. Seijas doesn't offer any more or less protection to the union, than they would otherwise receive from willing commissioners. SEIU leadership is an enabler for a politician, Natacha Seijas, whose commitments otherwise harm so many union members. Too bad most union members don't have a clue.