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| See No Evil State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman |
Why?
Because of you the voters. Over and over you put the worst possible candidates in office: "The candidate is cute, the candidate is from my ethnic/racial background, the candidate sent around some slick post cards I believed, the candidate visited me and promised me help with my problem..." the list goes on. You don't do your homework. The worst offense of all: "I don't vote in local elections." Why the hell not?
When I look at the candidates in Homestead it make me want to puke. The Sweetwater election last week had me shaking my head. They elected the Mayor's mother to the Council. I look at some candidates running and KNOW they don't even live in the district because they claim homestead exemptions in other areas but that doesn't stop them. They start their political career with a lie. It is all so corrupt that the collective thought of bloggers is that it can't end. It is too deep, the absentee ballot fraud is too entrenched and the unethical campaign behavior too ingrained. Our chipping away is driving us crazy and not worth our considerable effort. Change is not at hand.
Many bloggers have stopped blogging and many bloggers are headed in that direction. It is just not worth our time and trouble. If you guys out there cannot influence your friends and neighbors to vote right, what hope can we have? I can't even get my friggin' friends to read my blogs on THEIR own Commissioner.
Too few of you part with a few dollars for a good candidate. Have you ever given to a candidate that you liked? Most of our readers are county political wonks. But we need more and we aren't getting them. We need to get regular folks to understand the underbelly of politics. Homestead candidates are denied access to the gated communities so they can't go door to door. That is the only way to win against massive funds. Newbies can't get into assisted living facilities. What can be done? This should be a topic for Katy Sorenson's Good Government Initiative. She is always saying get good candidates. Well once you get them, what do you do with them? Without money they don't even have a fighting chance. The money comes from Lobbyists and they all have an agenda. The political party money raisers are all lobbyists. So where is the fucking hope? I need to find the hope to continue.
Also read what The Straw Buyer wrote about blogging.
28 comments:
It's because the amount of effort required to change is just too enormous. Nothing will be done as long as most people are getting by, getting what they need day to day, with no thought as to the future until the salt water laps at their front door on a high tide or their house disappears in a hurricane-driven storm surge. Good candidates could change the system over time, but who wants to subject themselves to the process? Look at Ross Hancock, a sincere, intelligent man running on ideas without the support of the machine. What did he get? Nothing: For his door-to-door days of labor in the hot sun he got ignored. The smallest office you can run for--say a city council--still takes a lot of effort and exposes one to opprobrium. This is a deplorable situation that cannot go on. I am comforted by what Maurice Stans, Nixon Secretary of Commerce said: "If something can't go on, it won't."
Agree with anon.
Genius: You are so RIGHT! This is your finest piece of work. Thank You for all that you do.
We must not stop blogging because then they win. Sooner and very soon we may not stop everything but we will surely slow this corruptness down. The weak leak is the help needs to come from the federal government and recent event are saying the jails and orisons are opening to corrupt elected officials.
We are not lighting up we are going to tighten up.
Broward & Palm Beach both got a lot of help from the Fed's which is why they can literally hold County meetings in jails full of ex politicians!!! Additionally, everyone reading these blogs needs to be vigilant and spread the word about our horrendous state of Miami Dade County. A short White Paper filtered to County Voters in each commission district about how each commissioner is selling out the voters to the highest bidder for their own pockets, not for the community. How about starting with the water/sewer & traffic issues, the votes of approved development where no infrastructure exists, especially in the CDD's where the home buyers are paying, not the developers, which should be outlawed all together. No more Wetland mitigation would also be a good start. No more Wetland destruction allowed in Miami Dade.
Many, if not most of the politicians representing us in local, county, state, and the federal government, pass laws and rules that help connected businesses, lobbyists, and fundraisers, at the expense of the electorate.
This practice hurts the quality of life for the majority, while allowing a few to profit; insurance companies, builders, rock miners, banks, oil companies, etc.
As long as money rules, the public gets second class treatment.
Hi there -- I get the despair. Between campaign finance issues and weak media, fighthing for the right thing is getting harder and harder to do. You are doing the constant work of digging and discovering and letting the rest of us know about the bad things going on. I can see how that can get to you. But - hang in there. Have some fun -- get out and enjoy the bay and the everglades and the parks that we are fighting for. They are worth fighting for -- and you are too. Take care of yourself first, then keep up the work that so many of us cherish.
You don't get it last anon. I don't need a pep talk and a change of scenery. I needed voters to NOT put the Mayor's mother on the Sweetwater Council. That is as hopeless as it gets.
We should all put a link to this column on our Facebook page.
Positive trends: Commissioner Jean Monestime is a breath of fresh air. He beat an incumbent and is one of the most sincere individuals ever elected to the County Commission. He is up for election and deserves our support.
Your constant blogging about Lynda Bell has the entire community searching for a viable candidate to unseat her...expect an announcement later this summer.
Xavier Suarez probably pays too much attention to your views...be careful about your advice to him.
Rebeca Sosa has transformed into a reasonably effective Commissioner in response to your constant praise and admiration. Consider her principled voting a product of your blogging.
Bottom line: you underestimate the power of your Blog. While the voters certainly need to do a better job of making informed decisions, your writing (not so much your colleague's) is very strong medicine for our elected leaders.
Keep on writing...
The mayor's mother is on the council? That is wrong on so many levels it has to be illegal what does ethics say? How can they vote fairly?
I can see how the thought of supporting Steve Bateman over Lynda Bell's husband has you rattled. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.
Have you ever met Mayor Marono's mother? The guy is a genius. He can now invoke the Florida Sunshine Law as an excuse to quit listening to his mother's views and opinions.
Our efforts should be toward campaign finance reform. If we can cut off the money train then other candidates will have a chance. Vote for candidates that advocate finance reform and speak to your elected officials about introducing such legislation. Supreme Court be damned.
It is not rocket science, those who don't vote are either stupid or apathetic, those who vote are only getting the chance to win in a two horse race, the two horses are owned by the same folk, money talks and bullshit walks. Get the money out of politics or execute convicted corrupt politicians like China does.
You nailed it Genius.
Apathetic voters electing stupid and corrupt politicians with donor cash from taxpayer financed schemes forced me to stop blogging.
The political process is broke, voters do not care or are too dumb to care.
Why provide provide background and an education of what is really going on to those who would elect someone based in false perception and not reality?
There was little to no point of proceeding further.
15% of voters control 100% of the process which means 85% of the voters control 0. They do not want to help themselves and try other candidates and are content with the way things are. Six to one are those odds against candidate reform. So why bother?
Sweetwater has the strongest absentee ballot operation in the county run by their city hall. I don't know what is going on but it seems that some private interests have taken over in order to gain access to government power to access land they can't access through the private sector.
Sweetwater voter type breakdown
Ballots cast: 1,531
Turnout: 17.78% (out of 8,614 registered voters)
Early voting: 34
Election day: 385
Absentee: 1,111 (make up 72.57% of ballots cast)
City of Sweetwater Commissioner Marono is the well-known Queen of Absentee Ballots in Sweetwater.
Funny you mention Sweetwater they are trying to annex thousands of acres.
Love this blog. Don't ever stop questioning. What you do is amazing and much, much appreciated.
Miami is a great city and can be a greater place with greater accountability from our politicians.
How about the City of Miami? The City's 400,000 residents vote have voted in 5 ethically challenged commissioners because NO ONE BETTER QUALIFIED ran.
The poor voters get either ignored or abused on every vote as elected officials make decisions based on which campaign contributor stands to benefit. Sleazy lobbyists make sure only sleazy politicians get elected.
Move to a normal part of the state. Nothing spreading the word can do this late in the game.
Genius of Despair, you ask where is the hope. That is the #1 question of course.
There is no hope in the system if those charged with enforcing the system won't do their jobs, that failure destroys the hope.
Al Crespo and Homestead Is Home had it right when they said the State Attorney's Office is the problem with Miami Dade's corrupt politics.
There in your provided image is the hope personified in Katherine Fernandez Rundle with Steve Bateman, a man she has had investigated multiple times, smiling as the photographer snaps their picture.
It is crystal clear that if they would both take a photo with each other after the adversarial positions of multiple investigations, hope has no place in the county.
Does that answer your question?
G-O-D, can we agree that no matter who runs against KFR (even if Bozo the Clown), we all agree to vote against her? No one can be worse or more ethically challenged. And it would be a biggest step in the right direction made in recent history.
Genius,
We get the government we deserve. I believe there's never a "right" candidate only ones that do right thing most of the time. @HomesteadisHome we've been an advocacy blog for ethical governance, government accountability and transparency. Homestead is not perfect and good candidates are hard to come by for many reasons. One of them being, politics takes lots of time and the salary paid is not commensurate with the work the officials perform. You can't have good hardworking people in office with a stipend for compensation. We're getting what we paid for, good, bad or otherwise.
The photo is worth a thousand words. This is no different than the cop who socializes with a known lawbreaker. Although there has been no action ever taken against Bateman, we all know that the SAO goes out of its way to avoid prosecuting and can do a superficial investigation and let the politico go scott free. That does not mean though that KFR does not know things about the target and if she had a shred of ethics would avoid social contact with Bateman, much less having a photo with him. This shows me that the rumor about a certain Homestead developer having KFR's cell number on his speed dial might have a shred of truth behind it.
Al Crespo and his crespogramreport.com did a great job uncovering dozens (hundreds) of corrupt schemes at the City of Miami. Where was Katherine Rundle? Why didn't her office investigate? Was it because she hired and/or or was friends with the sleazy campaign managers i.e. lobbyists involved? Even when Al Crespo had piles of documents and E-mails Rundle failed to act. Does she have any investigators willing to fight corruption in Miami and Miami-Dade County?
We don't have the government we deserve. We deserve much worse because most people don't pay attention, don't read local news, don't vote in local elections, don't expect much of their elected officials. Don't demand better for their tax money. Don't even know they are supposed to participate or think they deserve a good government that is responsive and responsible for the public good.
To the ANOM who mentioned City of Miami commissioners. There actually is believe it or not a candidate this year who is not accepting a single contribution fom lobbyists or anyone with a financial interest with city contracts. I don't know if he will win or not, but it certainly is refreshing too see. His name is Alex Dominguez and I sent him a check for $100 just because he seems sincere and no nonsense type of person. I hope he can win his race.
Get them all out this time. Spence jones,,carollo,,and Suarez. We will get rid of Regalado in 4 years. Miami needs change badly.
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