Monday, June 17, 2013

Kathy Fernandez Rundle on absentee ballot fraud: an air ball ... by gimleteye

The Miami Herald is soft on Miami-Dade state attorney who penned a Sunday OPED, "Restore voters' trust, legislators". That editorial had the feeling of an air ball thrown up by the Miami Heat; somewhere towards the basket without much conviction.

Ms. Rundle first thanks the Herald for investigating IP addresses, providing the information the state attorney's office needed to "develop the final IP address and search warrant" for absentee ballot fraudsters.

Why didn't the state attorney's office do this investigative legwork, in the first place? No answer, there.

She then skips to the "tedious work" of reviewing all the electronic data for the "previously unknown general election attempt". And, "there are no easy public corruption investigations".

With all the corruption in Miami-Dade -- the former FBI Director Louis Freh called Miami the "fraud capital of the United States" -- how hard could it be to find fraud, unless it is so atmospheric that even the state attorney is protected against making the cases?

Elected officials rub shoulders every day with the fraudsters: insiders who became powerful and wealthy navigating the ample grey zone between illegal and legal activities. How many respected registered lobbyists roll up their sleeves and dig into the business of electoral fraud, after hours?

What has been missing in Miami-Dade is the energy and determination of the state attorney to mount undercover, sting operations that run straight at the core of the problem. Why should it fall to the Herald or to citizens to come forward to provide evidence that makes the case?

Citizens harbor deep mistrust of public institutions. The reason can be traced straight back to the failure of law enforcement to prosecute public corruption. We know there are no easy public corruption investigations. Public officials inclined to fraud know that the screws never get tightened down hard (cf. former county commissioner James Burke, to name one) when it comes time to cut deals with prosecutors.

We also know -- as Al Crespo demonstrated on his blog just the other day -- there are so many foxes in the Miami henhouse, we lost the purpose of protecting the henhouse in the first place.

4 comments:

Gifted said...

"thanks the Herald for investigating IP addresses, providing the information the state attorney's office needed"

Don't give the Herald too much credit. Many times "sources" spoon feed the info to the Herald.
Bringing them case law, evidence, and even tips on other sources for follow up.

Is it simply a sign of the times because of budget cuts?
Or it is a malaise?

Either way it's the people behind the scenes that have to dig and dig and dig.

Jim Tracton said...

North Miami politicians are completly crooked, but Kathy would never bother them because it might lose her votes.

Anonymous said...

Little Francis Suarez and his merry band of novices. It is no surprise one or more of those novices would get caught.

Anonymous said...

Yet another reason why States Attorneys should be appointed by governors (even evil hairless governors) rather than elected.

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Winston Churchill