During the County Commission meeting yesterday at County Hall I was disheartened. Some people, there for the first time, were forced to stay downstairs hanging around the escalator until their number was called. WRONG.
That is not democracy in action. There were empty seats. People were saving them and many were never filled. When Martinez was chair every seat was filled. Lobbyists couldn't save seats for their pals. And, once they got up and left for more than 10 minutes, the seat was gone. There should have been an officer going around accessing empty seats and filling them with the people waiting downstairs. Only bathroom breaks were permitted or your lost your seat.
The people came, let them see government working (or not working) but not from the bottom of an escalator.
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| Lobbyists at work in the lobby of the Commission Chambers |
5 comments:
Great post. I hope the chair does something about this!
You posted a pic of billboard lobbyist Francoise Illias. Carlos Gimenez once fired him for election fraud violations. Like cockroaches, lobbyists survive...
Francoise Illias represents out-of-town based billboard companies that want to trash Miami-Dade County with more billboards. In his free time Illias lobbies politicians to divert the taxpayers money to All Aboard Florida, owned by a private hedge fund. Creep.
The unfairness of this Lobbyist First attitude, and in-your-face abuse of access, is getting worse (or maybe just less subtle and more obnoxious.) No one really examines or reports this form of steam-rolling over the average person. The resident who takes off work, pays the parking fee, etc. gets slighted.
County Commissioners show little or no respect for citizens. Lobbyists like Ron Book get unlimited time at the microphone and Jean Monestime turns off the mic on citizens at 2:00. Plus all the action in the smoke filled back rooms...
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