Sunday, January 19, 2014

Lobbyist Mitchell Bierman and His Campaign Contributions. By Geniusofdespair

I suppose you could call Mitchell Bierman an attorney as well.
CH2M Hill, with a big bid for over a billion dollars, has Mitchell Bierman as a lobbyist. He is with Weiss Serota Helfman (bla bla) lawfirm.  He is also on the Board of the Miami Foundation and a Trustee of PAMM. So he has Social creds as well. They don't want you on their board only these types. Anyway he has work pending before the County Commission but he is giving campaign contributions.  It is my understanding, if memory serves me, that in Miami Beach you cannot give campaign contributions if you have work coming up before the board of City Commissioners...not so in the County.

Mitchell Bierman has donated to Lynda Bell ($500) and Miguel De Grandy has donated to her. He represents the other firm. Pepe Diaz, Sally Heyman  ($1,000) also got Bierman donations (Weiss Serota has donated to Monestime not Bierman directly), Rebeca Sosa has Miguel De Grandy for $1,000. So all the commissioners that are running have financial ties in their campaign reports to stuff they are voting on in the near future, including that $1.6 Billion dollar contract.

Looks bad to me.
From Pepe Diaz's campaign report. I think the first 5 are all from the same lawfirm (don't make me check)
Same goes for Mitchell Burnstein (pictured above) and Michael Popok also with Weiss Serota. Although not registered lobbyists, their giving is tied to the clients of the firm (you can see their names above on Pepe Diaz's financial disclosure) and the Commissioners know it. Or are they lobbying without registering? Don't know.
There are MANY other lobbyists representing both CH2M Hill and AECOM and also their many, many team members who are making lots of campaign contributions also.
 
Here is what Miami Beach has to say about Miami Dade County's policy....

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shorty oughtta know better.

Hangin' out with Bell will do that.

Anonymous said...

I think Palmetto Bay used to have a law that if you contribute a campaign, you can't lobby the board.

I have no idea if it still exists or not. It was a great concept. Tough on fund raising though.

Anonymous said...

Bierman has provided legal services through Weiss Serota to both Cutler Bay and Homestead. I think he's actually lobbied the County Commission on behalf of Homestead, not sure about Cutler Bay.

Anonymous said...

Pay to play.

Anonymous said...

Bierman was heavily involved in Miami Art Museum scamming money from the County AND the City. That scam will cost the taxpayers over $500 Mil when you add in the interest on the debt sold to finance the fees and construction costs. Miami Art Museum internally projects to lose $12 Mil per year in OPERATING LOSSES. That is per year.

Anonymous said...

It is not clear if Mitchell Bierman ever does any legal work.

Dr. Jivahgo said...

The Miami Beach ordinance merely drove the money underground via soft money.

So instead of transparency they have slush funds. Good luck trying to follow the money!

Miami Beach also had an absurdly strict cone of silence, before it was loosened to match the county's.

This gave the city manager near absolute control over contracts since no one is allowed to talk to commissioners until the actual meeting when they vote.

How'd that work out?

Anonymous said...

C2M Hill is also doing work on the Turnpike.

The limitations on giving are pointless in that it is easy enough to get someone else to make the contribution for you. 3% degrees of crony capitalism anyone?

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