What's New with the Hialeah Runoff Election. By Geniusofdespair

There were debates in Spanish this morning.

There is a rumor that a guy is impersonating a firefighter (they have endorsed Raul Martinez), picking up absentee ballots that were requested by voters through the Raul Martinez campaign.  That was done before -- the impersonating -- this happened when Raul was running against Lincoln Diaz Balart in 2008.  State Attorney Centorino did an investigation of this 2008 race.

Hialeah's runoff election is November 15th and early voting starts on the 10th. This must feel like deja vu for Raul since the same Sasha Tirador is working for the Hernandez campaign. Here is what they were doing in 2008 according to authorities I suspect it is no different today:

Abramoff on 60 Minutes: Occupy THAT ... by gimleteye

Here is a link to last night's astounding 60 Minutes interview with Jack Abramoff, once the most powerful lobbyist in Washington DC. Abramoff, recently released from prison, is now an office accountant for a pizza parlor. Since a lot of political insiders read this blog, I am hoping that those who missed the Abramoff report will listen for themselves, how easy it is to repent.

The United States is so desperately in need of reform of lobbying practices and campaign finance at all levels of government. Let Abramoff spread his new message of redemption far and wide. Even into the corner of the offices of Ron Book, Armando Guttierez, and Diaz Balart and the Diaz de la Portilla brothers. You don't have to do three and a half years in federal prison to acknowledge the ways that lobbying and fund raising for politicians has deformed democracy. In other words: come clean now. Support change.

Ron Book, you are wealthy enough. Help pass meaningful campaign finance reform. Step forward with new laws barring former elected officials from any kind of lobbying the government they once served. Period. Full stop. No more revolving door. No more "regulatory capture".

Abramoff tells 60 Minutes he justified his power and wealth by giving 80 percent of it away to charitable organizations. Our local version supports the homeless or the children. Abramoff now says he was totally blinded, the same way as our local yokels and their consigliere's. Hospitals and universities all bear the marks of "good works" that provide seeming excuse and cover for abuse of power. Think, US Century Bank that "named" the FIU arena.

Abramoff and then House majority leader Tom DeLay put into practice the K Street Project during the Bush White House terms, by which no lobbyists were permitted access to federal agencies unless they heavily supported Republican politicians. Abramoff, in his interview, notes how Bush White House staff crowded his restaurant looking for free handouts and entree to the next employment opportunity. 100 proof corruption.

Occupy, that.

Public Hearing on: Penalty Added to Absentee Voter Fraud. By Geniusofdespair

Okay it is time for the PUBLIC HEARING on the penalty for Picking up/Returning Absentee ballot illegally:

Miami-Dade Infrastructure and Land Use Committee Agenda

Wednesday, November 09, 2011 - County Hall, 111 NW 1st Street

2:00:00 PM

112169 Ordinance
Rebeca Sosa, Prime Sponsor

Other Sponsors: Lynda Bell, Co-Sponsor, Esteban L. Bovo, Jr., Co-Sponsor, Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Co-Sponsor, Audrey M. Edmonson, Co-Sponsor, Sally A. Heyman, Co-Sponsor, Barbara J. Jordan, Co-Sponsor, Dennis C. Moss, Co-Sponsor, Xavier L. Suarez, Co-Sponsor

ORDINANCE REGARDING ABSENTEE BALLOTS; AMENDING SECTION 12-14 OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, ADDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING LIMITS ON PICKING UP AND/OR RETURNING ABSENTEE BALLOTS; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE (SEE ORIGINAL ITEM UNDER FILE NO. 112056) 10/18/2011

The public hearing will be near 2pm as it is high on the agenda. I am hoping Judith Thompson (pictured above) comes to speak. She is actually a hero that cared enough to track down her missing absentee ballot.  Without her perseverance, this change wouldn't be taking place and we would not have a face on a stolen absentee ballot. Most people who have absentee ballot problems say to themselves "Oh, Well" and that is the end of it.  Not Judith, she went to vote when she didn't get hers and was denied the right to vote because her ballot was stolen from the assisted living facility she was living at and someone voted for her.

US Century Bank, the Everglades and Biscayne Bay: Another maddening day with The Miami Herald ... by gimleteye

Today's Miami Herald editorial, "Protect Biscayne Bay", boldly asserts: "Clear rules need to be hashed out on Port of Miami dredge project, tunnel -- pronto!" Pardon my skepticism at the belated attempt by Herald writers to act though they care long after the multi-million dollar boring equipment is all in place. In the early 1960's Juanita Greene-- now a retired Herald reporter-- confronted Herald publisher James Knight in the newsroom, soon to be a casino floor, and on the spot asked for time and space in the paper to detail the threats to Biscayne Bay from proposed industrial developments. Knight, who was one of Miami's finest growth-at-any cost'ers, nevertheless understood the principle of protecting the goose that lays the golden egg. He gave Ms. Greene the space and time and as a result, Biscayne National Park emerged to protect our natural heritage.

Boy, do goalposts change in Miami. To call the Herald editorial today a year too late is to understate the case. Ever since Martha Musgrove left the newspaper, almost a decade ago, the editorial board has had no compass when it comes to the Everglades and local environmental issues. The problem is not an absence of talent. The problem are Herald executives who fancy rubbing shoulders with the downtown elite; an elite that is driven by personal wealth with the same single-minded determination as the Wall Street bankers at the center of the film, "Margin Call".

That's why the US Century Bank story and its tendrils has never been covered by the Herald. The corruption story broke first in a national online journal, ProPublica, written by Jake Bernstein, a former Miami New Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize last year for reporting on the origins of the financial crisis. Regrettably, the ProPublica version of the US Century story (reprinted by the Herald in both the Spanish and English versions of the paper) only scratched the surface. Although it asked the right questions, it did not pierce the veil of money intertwined with Florida politics. A wall of silence surrounds the questions how a failing bank with deep political connections to both Democrats and Republicans obtained $50 million in taxpayer money. As a commenter on our blog recently noted, this year alone the bank lost more than $50 million already. A courageous newspaper supporting determined investigative journalists would have done more. Much more. It would have pulled off the veil and shown very clearly how Miami-Dade politics connects up to the banking and finance world that Occupy Miami and elsewhere are protesting, without really knowing.

There is, for example, the matter of lands at the edge of the Everglades purchased at speculative prices in the early 2000s by US Century Bank directors including the bank founder and originator of the Homestead Air Force Base fiasco, Ramon Rasco. (Who remembers that Port of Miami director Bill Johnson was in the middle of the fight to give Rasco and directors of the Latin Builders Association a 99 year no-bid lease for the air base, before it was even relinquished by the US Department of Defense?) Right now, the Herald should be looking at the issue of extending the major arterial highway, SR 836. The plan is to put it right alongside Krome Avenue in far west Dade, only a few miles from Everglades National Park. It doesn't take much looking to see who would become rich from the urbanization of Krome Avenue and whose political interests they represent.

The battles for Biscayne Bay and the Everglades have unfolded over decades. We can't be surprised at the results. Nor can we be surprised by the failure of Miami's main news sources to inform. It is baked into our culture. 

Miami Dade County Redistricting, Genius Style. By Geniusofdespair

Miami Dade County's Ethnic Makeup of population 2010 Census:
Hispanic 65%
Black 18.9%
White 15.4%

Population Miami Dade County (includes non voters) 2010 is 2,496,435

Registered Voters Makeup:
Hispanic 190,967 Dems, 177,431 NPA, 264,416 Pubs. Total 642,775 52.87%
Black 197,935 Dems, 26,860 NPA, 7,878 Pubs. Total 234,544 19.29%
White 114,387 Dems, 57,523 NPA, 82,258 Pubs. Total 260,196 21.4%

Total Registered voters: 1,215,660

So according to my numbers I think we should have 6 Hispanic County Commissioners, 3 Whites and 3 Blacks. What do you think? 12 is enough for me. This way the Mayor can break a tie vote.

We now have 7 Hispanics, 4 Blacks and 2 Whites. This is totally lopsided, even if you count people who don't vote like felons, illegals and children. We have to give the White population another district no matter how you figure it because they don't have fair representation. Even 3 Whites, 4 Blacks and 7 Hispanics works. Maybe that would be the best compromise. White people rise up and demand County Commissioner parity!! Forgo that wine and cheese for a month and send me the money and I will lead the charge. Fair is fair...I am laughing at myself right now.

US Century Bank: why would anyone invest now? by gimleteye

U.S. Century Bank ‘undercapitalized’ after $28M loss

South Florida Business Journal by Brian Bandell, Senior Reporter

Date: Monday, October 31, 2011, 11:55am EDT

Enlarge Image

U.S. Century Bank CEO Octavio Hernandez is talking to three groups about raising capital to help is "undercapitalzied" bank.

U.S. Century Bank    fell to “undercapitalized” status after losing $28.3 million in the third quarter.

Not only is the Doral-based bank the largest “undercapitalized” bank in Florida, it is the state's largest recipient of federal Troubled Asset Relief Funds. It the bank cannot raise capital, then $50.2 million in taxpayer dollars could be in jeopardy.

U.S. Century Bank had a total risk-based capital ratio of 6.8 percent on Sept. 30, down from 8.08 percent on June 30. Anything below 8 percent is considered “undercapitalized” and means that a bank must boost that capital ratio or it could face regulatory action.

Federal regulators issued a tough consent order in July against U.S. Century Bank that gave it until early October to boost that capital ratio to 12 percent in order to regain “well capitalized” status. The bank was also told to improve its asset quality, management and anti-money laundering compliance.

U.S. Century Bank CEO Octavio Hernandezsaid the bank did not meet that regulatory deadline, and it submitted a revised capital plan to regulators that detailed its plan for boosting its $71.1 million in Tier 1 capital. Hernandez said he is talking to three groups about raising capital, and he is hopeful that he can work something out soon. The groups include both banks and investors, he added.

Norman Braman on Gambling in Miami. By Geniusofdespair

Issues: Braman on Gambling - uVuSouthFlorida Video

Norman Braman calls gambling in Miami a "Cancer that is going to spread." He is afraid that once the Legislature approves it for a few, they will then open it up to even more casinos later...camel's nose under the tent.

Janis Joplin Interview. By Geniusofdespair

Dick Cavett and Janis Joplin. She talks about being treated badly in high school.

Video of Joplin singing...

Proposed Home Rule Charter Changes Yesterday. by Geniusofdespair

Truthfully it was hard to figure out what they were and were not passing by watching the proceedings. Truthfully it was hard to figure out what they were and were not passing by watching the proceedings. The Miami Herald has a report today and here is what they claim:

The county panel voted 10-3 Thursday to put on the ballot a single, multi-pronged question: Should commissioners be allowed to serve only two, four-year terms instead of the unlimited tenure that exists now, be banned from all outside employment, and be paid $92,097 a year instead of their current $6,000?

They get to finish their current term...so that means someone like Lynda Bell could have 11 years in office. On the salary change, Mayor Carlos Gimenez was a voice of reason reminding Commissioners how much the people they serve make. (Read my posts yesterday on Charter Change).  I would probably vote for the above, would have to see the details. Not happy about the 8 years on their current term.

The petition changes for recalls I cited yesterday was not withdrawn it was REWORKED under a different resolution. We DO NOT want recall petitions only during GENERAL ELECTIONS. Charter petitions are okay during General Elections. This isn't clear to me. As it stands now, an election had to be scheduled for a recall within 60 and 120 days. They did in fact pass this under a different resolution (hit read more). Do not vote for this change until it is clear what the ramifications will be!!!


Here is the language I DO NOT LIKE unless it only refers to charter changes and not recall petitions but it sounds like it refers to both:

County Commission: Adopted and Passed 12 - 0. By Geniusofdespair

It is official, it is going up to Tallahassee. Don't get too excited it is an "urging." That means the Legislature has to act on it to make it more than a slap on the wrist to collect absentee ballots illegally.

RESOLUTION URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO ENACT LEGISLATION MAKING IT A THIRD-DEGREE FELONY TO RETRIEVE OR RETURN MORE THAN ONE ABSENTEE BALLOT FROM A NON-RELATIVE; ALTERNATIVELY URGING THE LEGISLATURE TO MAKE IT A THIRD DEGREE FELONY TO VIOLATE ANY LOCAL ELECTION LAW

Foreclosures, Margin Call, and US Century Bank ... by gimleteye

Too bad free tickets to "Margin Call", the Wall Street movie by first-time film maker JC Chandor, aren't offered to protesters at Occupy Miami and everywhere else. I watched it last night at the Coral Gables Cinema. The movie mysteriously misses the big theater chains here. Hmmm. Wonder why.

If "Margin Call" were at the multiplexes here, one would be tempted to offer free transportation and tickets to the demonstrators so that they might know the barely legal, and often illegal behavior, that inflated the US economy through the housing bubble and then crashed to cinders. "Margin Call" captures the rotten core of Wall Street. It misses, however, the tendrils that spread straight into places like Miami, where zoning and permitting of platted subdivisions and strip malls were the small gears and corruption-- destroying the Everglades, for example-- feeding into the big gears that propelled the greatest wealth transfer in US economic history.

It is a good thing that "Margin Call" is told with no hint of that underlying morality tale. Instead the characters reveal with their silence and their words, that stealing vast sums of money has always been the driver of the financial sector. It goes without saying, too, that once the US surrendered its manufacturing capacity that the driver of last resort would become mass produced housing tied to a blinded, mass consumer market. Florida is where all these tawdry pieces of the current economic disaster come together. And it's not over by a long shot. That is another story.

The focus of "Margin Call" is an investment bank, based on Lehman Brothers, that failed in 2008. (Lehman, by the way, was the largest supplier of derivative mortgage "investments" into Florida state pension fund pools. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, when he left office, took his first sinecure with Lehman, happy to reward one of key advocates for the housing boom that Bush had turned into a massive campaign fundraising spigot through top lieutenants like Al Hoffman and Rodney Barreto, a director of US Century Bank.)

In the movie version, it is only the mortgage backed securities side of the business that collapses in a 24 hour period. Not the whole enchilada. Not the trillions of dollars in vanished equity and taxpayer bailouts. Actors Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons, and Kevin Spacey give star turns and terrific performances as characters they can sink their teeth into. They are manifestations of pure greed with no regrets so long as they can take the money and run. In the movie version, they live to see another day after the crap they spawned is pawned off to unwitting, equally greedy counter-parties like UBS, Merrill Lynch and Citibank. The crap they sold, for eighty, seventy or sixty five cents on the dollar is now worth fifty, forty or thirty cents-- if anything at all.

In real life, the failed investment bankers got off scott-free and are now living off the fat of the land, behind gated walls, monitored by video cameras. And we have locals doing the same.

In real life, mortgage backed securities were fictive investment vehicles cobbled together from housing units. The OWS'ers want to be recognized as people with needs, not demographics. But Wall Street, and Main Street, depends on selling the illusion of caring about customers while really just plowing them into statistics that can sliced and diced a thousand ways to create equity that benefits only insiders.

Mortgage backed securities offered better risk and return than government securities, so long as the risk parameters conformed to historical averages. The central discovery that animates "Margin Call" is that these masters of the universe had no idea how to measure risk. But risk never matters to Wall Street, so long as laws and legal barriers protect the junkies.

The same way so many ordinary homeowners legally used their homes as ATM's for personal lines of credit to fund lifestyles, children's braces tuitions and God knows what else, the masters of the Lehman and Goldman Sachs universe used debt made from assortments of mortgages into opportunities to multiply leverage 1000 fold. It was alchemy verified by phD math wizards whose algorithms simply failed to account for what would happen when the underlying crap was exposed for what it was. (I know, because I watched this as a registered investment advisor at the same time I was trying/helping to save the Everglades from one incursion after another. No more.)

It is something of a mystery (not really) why that underlying crap has never been exposed. For example, US Century Bank sponsored developments and strip malls in West Dade, around Tamiami Airport or Krome Avenue, in Florida City and Homestead. The entire Miami-based homebuilding apparatus, including LBA lobbyists and downtown law firms, that let the little guys front for the big boyz.

The same agnostic greed at the heart of "Margin Call", adopted as unblinking virtue, permeates County Hall. Even back in the day, it was promoted under the banner of "jobs, jobs, jobs". How many times did we hear that, from the dais of the county commission; from the Latin Builders or Natacha Seijas or Joe Martinez or Pepe Diaz, Javier Souto, Alex Penelas?

That movie ought to be made by JC Chandor or another enterprising film maker. A Pulitzer Prize or Oscar, awaits.

Miami Dade Charter: F--ked Up Change Proposed. By Geniusofdespair

What does this mean?  Next "General Election" could be almost a year. Yet it also says 60 to 120 days. Which is it?  I hope this doesn't happen.  Don't f--k with our petition drives. We want to be able to recall some of you Commissioners and we don't want to wait for a General Election.  Are they referring to ALL petitions or just charter change petitions?

This is still in circulation:

  112108 Resolution     Esteban L. Bovo, Jr.        
  RESOLUTION CALLING A COUNTYWIDE SPECIAL ELECTION IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, [ ], 2012, FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING TO THE ELECTORS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY THE QUESTION OF WHETHER TO AMEND THE CHARTER TO INCREASE FROM 60 TO 120 DAYS THE TIME ALLOWED TO CIRCULATE INITIATORY PETITIONS, AND TO PROVIDE THAT ELECTIONS TO AMEND THE CHARTER, EITHER THROUGH INITIATORY PETITIONS OR BY BOARD ACTION, BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NEXT SCHEDULED GENERAL ELECTION RATHER THAN WITHIN 60 TO 120 DAYS, AS CURRENTLY REQUIRED Amended
  REPORT: It was moved by Commissioner Bovo that the foregoing proposed resolution be adopted as amended. This motion was seconded by Commissioner Sosa, and upon being put to a vote, passed by a vote of 12-1, (Commissioner Jordan voted "no").

The amended version was assigned Resolution No. R-941-11
  10/18/2011 4 Day Rule Invoked by the Board of County Commissioners
11A15

Jean Monestime and Barbara Jordan: What the hell were you talking about? By geniusofdespair

During the charter debates in the afternoon session today, County Commissioner Jean Monestime did not want to be banned from outside employment because he reflected on that he could make $200,000 in his business and it wasn't fair to be expected to give that up.

The Reality: Jean Monestime's net worth is $79,500.

He has two sources of income. On one he lost $14,000 and on the other he made $3,900 according to his Jan. 5th financial report.

Why the hell is he worried about being banned from outside employment? With perks, the county salary that was being considered would give him between $125,000 to $140,000 a year. Does he have a promise of a cushy job from some lobbyist?

And, greedy Barbara Jordan said that $92,097 plus perks wasn't enough. That they could make more privately. Barbara you don't have to give up that rental income or that pension you already have, what the hell are you talking about? Hey, County Commissioners I looked at all your financial reports. Only one of you is making more but with perks from the county, such as car allowances, health insurance and pensions, it is more than any of them earn now.

I had to stop watching the meeting I was ready to vomit at the greedy behavior.

See post below on the morning session.

Miami Dade County Charter Review Discussion Today: Murray Greenberg Gets Tough! By Geniusofdespair

Hey County, the quality of this computer streaming-video sucks as you can see, that being said...

Murray Greenberg - First Assistant County Attorney (1980 – 2005 and  Miami-Dade County Attorney 2005 – 2007). He was also a member of the Charter Review Task Force and Greenberg also drafted many provisions of the current County Charter. He spoke his mind about NOON today to the County Commissioners. He is a tough guy and he is RIGHT, listen to him especially at 1:40 on, on the counter! He sets the Commission straight...well he tries to. Thanks Murray! We would have never been able to address the Commission like this.


Link to video
Carlos Gimenez also was a member of the Charter Review Task Force, is a bit more diplomatic in his remarks:



This issue puts the pedal to the metal. Expect Norman Braman to announce recalls on the Commissioners who waiver on key provisions (saw a lot of that already). They had that dunce Miguel DeGrandy speaking, Natacha Seijas's appointment to the Charter Review Task Force.

To his credit, Dennis Moss put Greenberg on the Task Force. Katy Sorenson, I thought, had a weak appointment (absent a few times) on the 2007-2008 Task Force. The discussion will continue this afternoon.

What's the matter with Texas? by gimleteye

Paternalism, Texas-style.

Warning: some viewers may find the graphic content in the video distressing

The nearly eight-minute video, which has been viewed more than one million times since it was uploaded last week, shows County Court Judge William Adams lashing his then-16-year-old daughter Hillary in the legs more than a dozen times and growing increasingly irate while she screams and refuses to turn over on a bed to be beaten.

"Lay down or I'll spank you in your (expletive) face," Adams screams. His daughter, Hillary, who suffers from ataxic cerebral palsy, wails and pleads for him to stop.

(Click read more for the full story reprinted from the UK Telegraph. But you might first want to watch this parody from youtube.)

Socialized Pollution ... by Linda Young

How would you like your government to tell all of the major polluters in your community (sewage plants, paper mills, phosphate facilities, chemical plants, etc.) that they can dump their pollution in your local waters forever and never have to account for what comes out of their pipes? 

Rebeca Sosa Sponsors Resolution to Make Absentee Ballot Fraud a Felony. By Geniusofdespair

This resolution will be heard tomorrow. I requested a 3rd degree felony in my blog September 13th,  but only the legislature can impose a felony. Sosa previously put in motion a resolution that makes picking up absentee ballots illegally a misdemeanor.  Here is the request made by County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa to the legislature to make it a felony:

TITLE (Resolution - 112236)
 
RESOLUTION URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO ENACT LEGISLATION MAKING IT A THIRD-DEGREE FELONY TO RETRIEVE OR RETURN MORE THAN ONE ABSENTEE BALLOT FROM A NON-RELATIVE; ALTERNATIVELY URGING THE LEGISLATURE TO MAKE IT A THIRD DEGREE FELONY TO VIOLATE ANY LOCAL ELECTION LAW

BODY

WHEREAS, section 12-14,of the Code of Miami-Dade County provides that a person may retrieve no more than two absentee ballots other than his or her own per election, only one of which may be for an elector not of the designee’s immediate family; and
WHEREAS, section 12-14 has the effect of prohibiting any person from retrieving more than one absentee ballot from a non-relative; and
WHEREAS, this Board currently has under consideration an ordinance that would amend section 12-14 to expressly impose a penalty of up to 60 days in jail and up to a $1,000 fine for violating the provisions of the section; and
WHEREAS, while this penalty is only a misdemeanor, state law does not allow counties to impose felony penalties for county ordinance violations without express statutory authorization; and
WHEREAS, violations of state elections laws related to absentee ballots are punishable as a third degree felony pursuant to sections 104.047 and 104.0616, Florida Statutes; and
WHEREAS, absentee ballot fraud is a serious offense that goes to the root of our democracy; and
WHEREAS, this Board desires that the Florida Legislature make it a third degree felony for any person to retrieve or return more than one absentee ballot from a non-relative; and
WHEREAS, alternatively, this Board would ask the Florida Legislature to make it a third degree felony to violate any local election law regarding absentee ballots,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, that this Board:
Section 1. Urges the Florida Legislature to enact legislation making it a third-degree felony to retrieve or return more than one absentee ballot from a non-relative; alternatively urges the Legislature to make it a third degree felony to violate any local election law regarding absentee ballots.

Section 2. Directs the Clerk of the Board to transmit certified copies of this resolution to the Governor, the Senate President, the House Speaker, and the Chair and Members of the Miami-Dade State Legislative Delegation.

Section 3. Directs the County’s state lobbyists to advocate for the issue identified in Section 1 above, and authorizes and directs the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to amend the 2012 State legislative package to include this item in the 2013 state legislative package.

Call your County Commissioner and ask them to support this!!

Eye on Miami Anniversary is Election Day. By Geniusofdespair

We started this blog Nov. 6th on election day in 2006 out of frustration. In my first blog I urged everyone to vote.  We have been blogging 5 years now and are nearing 6,000 post entries. Every election day I reminisce, looking back on the years before.

Are elections these days any better? My opinion, NO. Pretty much money rules. They might be worse because the Political Action Committee's are on the rise as are other entities funneling money to campaigns with contributions that are hard to trace through a maze of multiple corporations. Additionally, we have about the same percentage of registered voters voting as we did in 2006 - about 15% - so Absentee Ballot Fraud can easily change an election.  The growing use of absentee ballots disturbs me greatly.  I don't think the signatures are scrutinized and there is no way I can prove it because I can't look at the signatures in the Elections Department database.

Still a lot of despair here.

Will Big Sugar derail the Congressional Super Committee ... by gimleteye

In a September 23, 2011 letter to the Congressional Super Committee, the Coalition for Sugar Reform pointedly noted, "We are writing because Congress needs to debate sugar policy in a fair and open way. The logical place for this debate to occur is during consideration of the 2012 farm bill." What concerns commerce (including the US Chamber of Commerce) and environmentalists (Everglades Trust) is that Big Sugar, willing to extract the last penny out of the Everglades by shifting the costs of pollution to the backs of taxpayers, is swamping the hallways of Congress again. This time, Big Sugar is lobbying for the farm bill-- reauthorized every five years-- to be pushed into the Congressional Super Committee where an up-or-down vote on measures to reduce the federal deficit by the end of the year could extend their riches. The Coalition calls the sugar subsidy "an implicit food tax" costing consumers at least $4 billion a year and "makes Everglades restoration much more difficult."

What they mean is that Big Sugar, whose most infamous component are the billionaire Fanjuls, spread their sweet campaign contributions across the political landscape, pitting power against common sense and turning a highly managed water supply system into a political ATM machine.

Big Sugar is no ordinary political ATM. For paltry millions a year of political fertilizer, Big Sugar gets whatever it wants, whenever it wants. During the historic drought of last winter -- broken only by unusual rain events this fall-- sugar production was scarcely touched compared to water restrictions endured by millions of South Floridian businesses and residents. In a Palm Beach Post report, "Combined, U.S. Sugar, Florida Crystals Corp., headquartered in West Palm Beach, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative, Belle Glade, are forecast to produce 1.63 million tons of sugar, up from 1.43 million tons last season, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said."

Although Big Sugar's political influence wraps up Florida's GOP and Democrats, from lowly county commissioners to Congress and the White House, it is a nagging irritation for conservatives whose political gains are undermined by elected officials they supported yet regularly betray conservative values by voting farm bill after farm bill to maintain systematic, entrenched prerogatives. The sugar subsidy in the US farm bill is the clearest example how conservatives talk-the-talk but can't walk-the-walk.

This year, though, it is not just the Cato Institute and Wall Street Journal who are opposing the continued sugar subsidy that makes billionaires even richer, at the expense of American jobs and the Everglades. Tea Party supporters, too, are rattling the comfortable relationship between Congress and an abusive form of corporate welfare.

On October 27, Americans for Prosperity (funded by the Koch Brothers) wrote the Joint Select Committee, "The powerful agricultural lobby has held the US Congress hostage for too long." One example of its hostage taking: the billionaire Fanjuls were among the biggest financial supporters of the Marco Rubio campaign for US Senate. They were furious with Rubio's opponent, former Florida governor Charlie Crist, who tampered with their well-oiled political machinery through a deal he never passed by them; for the state to acquire significant historic Everglades lands in sugar production owned by their chief competitor, US Sugar. Taking out Crist also joined the Fanjuls to the biggest Rubio supporter: Karl Rove's American Crossroads that "invested $1.9 million in ads (attacking Crist)."

Running at cross-currents to conservative political purposes hasn't failed Big Sugar so far. That is why Fanjul lobbyists are calculating to bump the farm bill into the Congressional Super Committee. There, an up-or-down vote could bury their taxpayer supported riches in a feathered federal budget deal: better odds than to subjecting subsidies to scrutiny in a presidential election year where their exquisite protection racquet could be damaged.

The Coalition writes, "... unless you are confident that the Joint Committee will thoroughly and completely overhaul sugar subsidies, we strongly urge you to defer any action on sugar policy to the 2012 farm bill, and resist any efforts by the sugar lobby to extend their program through your committee's work product." But according to the trade journal AgWeek, "Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., recently spoke to the the American Sugar Alliance via video teleconference and offered an assurance that the debt cieling-reduction bill wouldn’t cut farm subsidies in the short term. If the “Super Committee” doesn’t come up with a deficit reduction proposal by December, however, farm programs will be affected."

Miami-Dade Election Results 11/1/11. By Geniusofdespair

Hialeah Update:
RUNOFF BETWEEN CARLOS HERNANDEZ 39.53% AND RAUL MARTINEZ 34.36%
Carlos Hernandez 5,570 absentee - looks like a runoff 8:20. Still a runoff between Raul and Carlos 9:29pm. Carlos Hernandez has 39.84% and Raul has 33.95% with 40 out of 52 precincts in.
Raul Martinez 4,236 absentee
Rudy Garcia 3,721 absentee - runoff

Hialeah Council
GROUP 1 RUNOFF LOZANO AND MORALES
GROUP 2 CARAGOL
GROUP 3 RUNOFF BOLANOS AND CASALS-MUNOZ
GROUP 4 GARCIA-MARTINEZ
GROUP 6 RUNOFF HERNANDEZ AND LAGO
CHARTER AMENDMENT YES BY 60.83%

Miami Beach Update:
MATTI BOWER MAYOR WITH 59.47%
Steve Berke 358 absentee
Matti Bower 1,584 absentee - looks like she will win 8:30 Ok 32 of 36 precincts in and Matti has 59.72%. She will win, I am not staying up all night to report.
Dave Crystal 216 absentee
Laura Levey 108 absentee

Deede Weithorn 64.78%

Homestead Update:
Steve Bateman Mayor 57.22% - 1,221
Steve Losner 42.78% - 913

Judy Waldman  49.24% - 1,037
Jon Burgess got 50.76% - 1,069  HE IS VICE MAYOR.

City of Miami Update:
GORT WON 68.27%
Gort 1,548 absentee - will win 8:30. Now 9:24 with 29 of 30 he has 68.29%.
Seleck 591 absentee

SARNOFF WON WITH 52.79%
Armbrister 58 absentee
Sarnoff 1,222 absentee - at 52% now still a lot of precincts to go 8:30. Now 9:26 looks like Sarnoff might win without a runoff 29 of 37 precincts in and he has 53%
Callahan 403 absentee - might be in runoff
Milo 367 absentee
Niemeyer 96 absentee

Voting Today in Hialeah and City of Miami. By Geniusofdespair

Voting at Victor Wilde Park Precinct 321 at 3pm, 353 voters and there were 319 in precinct 319.


At the Victor Wilde Park voting precinct in Hialeah, campaign workers make fun of Mayor Carlos Hernandez having been accused of not declaring interest he was paid to Hialeah Ponzi scammer. That is suppose to be Ponzi schemer Luis Felipe Perez on the left and Uncle Sam on the right.


Only in Hialeah would they drive these billboards RIGHT in front of polling place. I was standing at the front door of polling location.

Meanwhile, at the Legion Park Precinct it was subdued. About 50 people voted by 1pm.

Elvis Cruz, Sarnoff supporter, was busy eating.

Kate Callahan was holding her sign.

Don't know what to make of this sign...at all. Sarnoff is the only one who supports the Park?

Traffic gridlock, the Genting plan and the Miami Heat arena ... by gimleteye

You have to shake your head. Micky Arison, Miami Heat owner, made the Miami Herald for warning about traffic gridlock in downtown Miami if the Genting and Sands casinos ever get permitted. "The most prominent critic to speak against the casinos." A question: how did the Miami Heat Arena (or the Performing Arsht Center, for that matter) get permitted for an arena with the traffic nightmare they caused? Any sentient being would have taken a look at the single lane Biscayne Boulevard exit from 395 East and the towering condos planning to accommodate thousands of new residents and have reached an obvious conclusion: this (traffic pattern) ain't ever gonna work. Now we have museums under construction served by the same transit point. If you have ever tried to use that 395 exit, when both the PAC and the Heat are playing, you know the failure of planners and government officials to blink at the mess they unleashed is one of Miami's leading indicators. Sea levels are rising, government committees have met and disbanded, and the Herald gives a front page story to Micky Arison's concern about downtown traffic. Wow.

Vote Today...or die. By Geniusofdespair

If you live in Homestead, Hialeah, Miami Beach or parts of the City of Miami -- it is your duty to vote today. So do it. If you want to tell us who you are voting for, go ahead but then actually go vote. I am going to try to hit some voting precincts later today.

Another reader left a link to a noteworthy (funny) video on the importance of voting.

Property Appraiser Election for Miami Dade County is Coming Up. By Geniusofdespair

Ernesto Castellanos is running for Miami Dade County Property Appraiser. He worked for the property appraiser office for 24 years and is now retired (in 2010).

On the phone Ernesto Castellanos was very short with me which was a turnoff. He didn't say he would call me back when he had more time...that was a turnoff too. I wouldn't support him if this is how he treats people: Blowing them off: Rude. Somehow I got the feeling that not being Hispanic was part of the reason for the don't give a shit about you attitude.

Pedro J. Garcia the incumbent has my vote thus far out of the two running. Although I do remember him saying something about one term when he ran the first time. I have a call into Garcia but I think his daughter gave me a non-working number...anxious to hear his phone demeanor. Pedro has collected $35,350. I think someone else entering this race would have a chance against Pedro, he is not a good campaigner, but Ernesto-- it won't happen for you. Don't discount people who take the time to call you, we are the ones voting.