The SunPost columnist, Rebecca Wakefield, targets the "Ramblin' Man", Commissioner Javier Souto in Mental Midgets: How stupid do we have to be to keep electing these county commissioners? She said:
One last line from Souto’s press release: “It is obvious that there is disinformation and misinformation and political agendas. What’s important is that there has to be good planning and a constant watch.”
Great advice. We’ve got decent planning within the county bureaucracy, but long-term plans are routinely ignored by the majority of the short-term-minded commission. Let’s take Souto at his word and watch for the soonest opportunity to vote the bums out.
And, I don't know how I missed this one from the The Biscayne Times by Jack King: More Corrupt Than Ever:
It took the (County) commission a few years to figure out there is so much money in Miami-Dade County that they didn’t have to fight over it – they just needed to divvy it up. And not long after that, they figured out that the mayor at the time, Alex Penelas, had exactly zero power over county government. So the 13 commissioners were off to the races, making decisions that affected the entire county, operating like dictators in their own districts.
They meet only to set their budgets, do minimal policy work, and suck up to developers. The county mayor runs around flailing his arms and telling us what bad people the commissioners are, yet his veto power is useless because the commission’s back-room deals have given them a super majority. Imagine having a U.S. president with no real power and 50 governors who actually ran the country, deciding whether there should be a Wal-Mart in Boise, Idaho. After meeting, the governors return to their states and ignore the country. That’s exactly what we have in Miami-Dade County.
King has a solution on how "we keep our elected officials in line:"
The best way is a partnership between the average voter and the media. Unfortunately in this town the partnership is nonexistent because voters have no interest in political candidates until they are indicted, and the news media are only interested in softball issues. Why? Because investigative reporting is time-consuming and expensive.
The partnership must be revived and both partners must question everything politicians say. You, the voter, start doing your part, and we in the media will start doing ours.(Go to his article for more of this, it is interesting).
5 comments:
Since incumbents usually have mountains of campaign cash supplied by lobbyists, developers, etc. it is almost impossible to unseat them.
The local media is not interested in in depth reporting due to budget cuts and loss of readership. In addition, possible loss of advertising seems to preclude going after certain stories.
perhaps then the newspapers will stop hemorraging subscriptions and reporting on celebrity gossip. Earth to Miami Herald - Jennifer Aniston's life is not NEWS
But Brittney Spears...that is news!!
And, what about "Dancing with the Stars"?
The South Dade News Leader (Homestead) actually printed Souto's whole press release. What a waste of print. He should be called the dimentia man.
Regarding an association between the public and media, the Herald can print more letters that criticize county (or any) government. Try printing some op-ed pieces from regular residents with a brain (we have lots of them).More investigative reports might actually sell more papers. Hell, just watch the commission meetings and report on the highjinks there. Commission meetings are always entertaining.
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