Battle of the Soccer Moms... Again. By Geniusofdespair

Everyone Should Care About Our State Park

Those damn soccer moms on Key Biscayne are at it again. We need the rest of the county to respond. I fought this fight in 2001,  I was on some Management Plan Task Force fighting against the soccer moms (and a very few dads). The people were nasty then. I assume it is the same roles with different characters.

They want ball-fields in a State Park. If you build them in one State Park it sets a precedent. Bill Baggs is a passive nature park. Lets keep it that way. E-mail your comments to Amber V. Raynsford, Park Planner, Florida DEP: amber.raynsford@dep.state.fl.us

The truth is, Key Biscayne mothers are too lazy to drive to fields proposed on Virginia Key at the former landfill there. They should be leaning on the City of Miami to cap the landfill and support the fields there not in OUR State Park.  It is not JUST their State Park to take land from for their selfish purpose. They should have saved land on the Key for ballparks instead of developing every square inch. Right now here is what can be done in Bill Baggs: fishing, hunting, camping, bicycling, hiking, nature study, swimming, boating, canoeing, horseback riding, diving, model hobbyist activities, birding, sailing, jogging, and other related outdoor activities compatible with the purposes for which the lands were acquired.

I am including a sample letter for you to reword from Tropical Audubon Society:

In Spite of Japan's Nuke Disaster, U.S. Regulators Ease Safety/Evacuation Rules. By Geniusofdespair

From the Wall Street Journal

According to the Associated Press, the nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in 30 years, "requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away." Emergency-response plans call for only evacuating residents within a 10-mile radius of a nuclear disaster (that takes us to around Homestead, Florida City and Ocean Reef Club). However, last week, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that Americans within 50 miles of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant evacuate.  As you can see in the graphic 50 miles takes us all the way up the coast to Fort Lauderdale.

"A mandate that local responders always run practice exercises for a radiation release has been eliminated — a move viewed as downright bizarre by some emergency planners."

According to Penn Live:, "Eric Epstein, head of the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, called the new rules 'insane.'” I agree, Japan's nuclear disaster is still unfolding (you can read a weekly update) over 14 months later. Last week they had a miswired thermometer and a gate malfunction. Don't we ever learn from mistakes?

Taking A Trip To Spain: Gov. Rick Scott Squires Billionaire Fanjul Sugar Barons

File this under OUTRAGEOUS. Spain is an economy on the rocks, largely because of abuses in the mortgage sector that mirror South Florida-- and probably involve many of the same actors. Yet the Governor is taking to Spain on a business junket 69 members of "Enterprise Florida". No time like an economic crash to do a little prospecting.

Notable travelers who are being squired about Spain by Gov. Scott: the Fanjul billionaires who pollute the Everglades, deform democracy, and have gained vast wealth through a subsidized crop that puts public health at severe risk costing billions. (One of the points that Dr. David Servan-Schreiber notes, in his new book, "Anticancer: A New Way Of Life" -- see below -- is that cancer feeds on sugar.) At the very moment the Fanjuls and Governor Scott should be nailing down the details of the billion dollar water quality agreement with the US EPA, they're sailing off to Spain just like the former mayor of Miami-Dade County Alex Penelas vanished in Spain at the critical moment of the 2000 presidential recount. It's sickening.

The Florida Current:

Gov. Rick Scott will head for Spain on Sunday evening for a five-day trip designed to promote Florida as a destination for Spanish businesses, as well as the Viva Florida 500 celebrations for the quincentennial of Ponce de Leon’s landing on Florida’s east coast.

Joining him will be a retinue of 69 staff members, business executives, lobbyists, Enterprise Florida board members and the Spanish general consulate.

According to Enterprise Florida, the state’s private-public economic development arm will pay for the governor and its members and staffers out of its private sector funds. The cost for others will be $1,000, although some state employees, including Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, will be on the airplane, meaning some state money will be spent.

Other notables on the trip include: Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad; Secretary of State Ken Detzner; Florida Chamber of Commerce executive vice president David Hart; Florida Crystals Corp. president and vice chairman Jose Fanjul (and his son, Jose Fanjul Jr., another Crystals executive); Hayden Dempsey, Enterprise Florida board member and lobbyist for the Tallahassee Greenberg Traurig firm; Dosal Tobacco Corp. CEO Yolanda Nader; Eric Silagy, Florida Power & Light CEO and Enterprise Florida board member.

Related research: Access the Team Florida Mission to Spain agenda and list of participants. Enterprise Florida, which will take eight board members and six staffers on the trip, describes the journey as a business development mission, not a trade mission, since Scott will be focusing on promoting Florida as a destination for business, not its exports. Florida did $846.7 million in trade with Spain in 2011, the 33rd-most among countries.

The trip marks the fifth overseas trip for Scott since taking office in January 2011. He led missions to boost Florida’s overseas trade and economy on trips to Panama, Canada, Brazil and Israel last year. Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has gone on similar ventures to the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Reporter Gray Rohrer can be reached at grohrer@thefloridacurrent.com.

Thank You Dennis Moss. By Geniusofdespair

Dennis Moss the only Commissioner to honor a covenant. Please call or email Miami Dade County Commissioner Moss and thank him:

DennisMoss@miamidade.gov

305-375-4832

Salaries: County Commission Staff Big Shots. By Geniusofdespair

The more you make, the bigger you are. I decided to take a look at the salaries of some the staff of the worst County Commissioners. Bruno tops the list with the highest salaries - Totaling $422,085. Pepe pays the best (He has the least employees). Bovo pays the least at $231,519. Bovo has a guy working for him making $15,532 a year ($310 a week). This analysis does not include perks.

Bruno Barreiro:
Marlelne Avalo - Comm Legislative Asst. $71,000
Maria Beatrix - Comm Legislative Asst. $71,000
Loreta Sanchez - Chief of Staff $107,120
He has 7 on his staff: Salary Total $422,085

Lynda Bell:
Sandra Silvestre - Executive Asst. $51,500
Johanna Faddis - Senior Comm Legislative Analyst $66,950
Edward Borrego - Chief of Staff $87,550
She has 8 on her staff: Salary Total $376,996

Estaban Steve Bovo:
Cirenia Andino - Legislative Director $49,000
Gisette Bolt - Executive Asst $56,686
Bovo doesn't have a Chief of Staff (Gisette closest thing to one)
He has 7 people on his staff: Salary Total $231,519

Pepe Le Pew Diaz:
Belkys Romay - Executive Asst. $75,000
Maria Lievano-Cruz - Chief of Staff $116,584
Doesn't have a Legislative Analyst??
He has 6 on his staff - Salary Total $408,729

Barbara Jordan:
Ryan Hawkins - Senior Comm Legislative Analyst $57,749
Floyd Trenae - Public Affairs Coordinator $66,300
Andre Ragin - Chief of Staff $128,258
She has 7 on her staff: Salary Total $404,147

Joe Martinez:
Manuel Orbis - BCC Legislative Asst. $36,299 (others on staff make more)
Maittee Manoah - Exec Secretary $56,299
Esther Abolila - Chief of Staff $97,999
He has 6 on his Commission Staff: Salary Total $288,645

See salaries for all aides of these County Commissioners:

Why care about the environment? Cancer. ... by gimleteye

In an OPED this week, Florida writer Cynthia Barnett offers: "Nature slip-siding away for Suwannee River, Florida". As a mother who can no longer show her children the natural heritage that shaped her own values, Barnett despairs at water management practices in the northern tier of the state that are quickly wrecking Florida's streams, rivers and bays. It is the same here, in southeast Florida. In Naples and Tampa Bay. "... when we separate children from their natural waters, we undermine not only their individual healthy development -- but the adaptability and resilience of an entire generation."

And this is where cancer, comes in.

On local public radio the other day, I listened to Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, author of "Anticancer, A New Way Of life" and bought the book. Diet is the main feature of anticancer preventatives and protocols for taking charge of one's disease. Environmental pollution is a primary culprit.

The problem with cancer is that its cause can't be assigned to tap water you may have used, fields you may have played in, or air you may have breathed at one point in your life. The fact that we can't provide 100 percent certainty is what industry exploits to claim that we have learned to mitigate pollution through effective regulation and laws. Industry ferociously lobbies to obscure the truth.

If you think your government is out to protect your environment and you from cancer, you are wrong.

Adrienne Arsht Center: Lang Lang. By Geniusofdespair

The Concert Begins...

Waiting for the concert to start. Wish you were here...lol...not really. Had a good dinner at Barton G, sat at a table next to Sanford Ziff (sporting a toupee) and his new wife, is it Bernice? Lang Lang is ready to go on, have to go. The flounder was good.

First half was excellent (thinking about the Heat Game - half, get it?). Chopin is coming after intermission. Taping the game so no scores please.

The Concert Ends

Heard the score. Bummer.

Lang Lang did two encores in response to curtain calls. I have no idea what I was listening to as I know nothing about classical music. I assume they were both by a an old-time composer, I would guess it was more Chopin...maybe Bach.

Covenant With The People Broken by County Commissioners. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald wrote: "Miami-Dade Commission changes stance, approves potential housing outside UDB - Four years after moving the Urban Development Boundary and approving commercial development on a parcel off Kendall Drive on the condition that no housing be built on the site, the Miami-Dade Commission reversed itself."

Read our response, written by Gimleteye below.

The Urban Development Boundary: When is a legal covenant, a promise to be broken at will? by gimleteye

The promise of the Urban Development Boundary is that it would provide some friction slowing the spread of cancerous suburban sprawl to the edge of the beleaguered Everglades. I don't use the term "cancerous", lightly. Sprawl and the devastation of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression go hand-in-hand. The one could not have occurred without the other.

Local land use policies incorporating the Urban Development Boundary at the fringe of Miami-Dade were created decades ago to protect farmland, open space and the Everglades. A generation of leaders, including then county commissioner Harvey Ruvin, embraced the notion that government can balance economic development with a sustainable environment. It was a high principle that was chipped away, year after year, by low politics and greed.

Until the Republican-led Florida legislature gutted the Growth Management Act this spring, approved by incurious, indifferent Gov. Rick Scott, the Florida Department of Community Affairs provided pressure against local county government from doing what powerful lobbyist/law firms and their speculator clients wanted: strip malls, commercial centers, and platted subdivisions wherever and whenever they could find bank financing.

Judging from the Florida landscape, they got what they wanted. But in Miami-Dade County, for civic activists the presence of the Urban Development Boundary and the fact of the friction against stupid growth it provided was like the tattered flag above Fort Sumter in 1814: "O say can you see, by the dawn's early light ..."

Yesterday's vote by the unreformable majority of the Miami Dade County Commission fulfilled what we predicted here at Eyeonmiami for years: that once state authority for land use policy was removed, the friction inhibiting cancerous sprawl would dissolve like a cube of sugar in a silver pot of hot coffee.

Yesterday's event was monumental. It sent a signal to the speculators that anything goes. Make a covenant, break a covenant.

Mark Woerner, planning chief for Miami Dade County, shrugged to The Miami Herald, "Things change." He meant that statistics used by staff showed a future deficit of housing stock in the specific area of Kendall that includes the Brown property. But everyone knows the county real estate market is a full bore disaster; if there was ever a moment to take a policy position on the the low density scatter sprawl that wrecked the quality of life of Miami Dade County and much of Florida, this was it.

The immediate result of yesterday's vote is "to transmit" the application by the developer to what remains of the DCA: an office in a broom closet at the end of some hallway in Tallahassee. The application will be returned with a stamp of approval: a big smiley face.

To say that things change is disingenuous. The county commission has always been about removing the friction that inhibits big campaign contributors from the speculator community. Nevertheless, things do change. Because the legislature and Gov. Rick Scott used "jobs" as a rationale, growth management is finished. And for county commissioners -- except for Dennis Moss -- the logic goes something like this: if you are going to be in a race to the bottom, you might as well win.

County Commissioners Better Not Lift the Covenant. By Geniusofdespair

This issue is being heard today at 9:30 am in County Commission chambers. Turn on your TV. Read the article.
UPDATE: Except for Moss, the Brown application to lift the covenant was approved by all the others commissioners to be sent to the State Dept. of Community Affairs. LOSERS!! Suarez: Why would you vote for this? Why? Why?

Erik Fresen's Loosey Goosey Campaign Report. By Geniusofdespair

I always enjoy looking at campaign reports and Rep. Erik's Fresen's report did not disappoint. He has a line $419.45 to Millie Fresen (5/10) and another for $509.04 (9/7) for "Various Expenses" and one to himself (6/27) for $447.34 - again various expenses. Like what are these "various expenses"? On 9/30 she got another reimbursement for expenses in the amount of $318.47. He had an expense for his cell phone for 5 months for $920.96. He also includes his wife's cell phone for $690.38. Didn't he ever hear of a family plan? Three weeks later his wife had another cell phone bill for $492.12 and on 9/20 her bill was $798.00. There also were separate campaign cell phones charges. Why is the campaign paying for their personal cell phones?

Fresen actually had a $459.41 Wynn Las Vegas Hotel expense for "fundraising". Was he playing poker to raise funds in Las Vegas? He charged his account $2,726.70 travel expenses and he had thousands of dollars of meals on his account at many high end restaurants. He also gave a hell of a lot of donations (a few thousand to the Republican Party), at least $5,000. People are not giving to a candidate to give donations. They would do that themselves. Why do they need him? In total he spent a whopping $48,139.52, about 50% of what he raised as of March 30th. How odd are Erik Fresen's expenses?

Well I compared his expenses to Ana Rivas Logan's (I don't like her either). She spent $11,821.72 during the same period and most of her expenses were actually for campaign related material, postage, printing, etc. There were hardly any meal expenses and no giant cell phone bills or travel expenses. She raised $119,445 and spent about 10% of her money as of the 30th of March.

Who would you want managing your tax money?

Can Government Do Anything Right? ... by gimleteye

Yesterday, the county environmental regulatory agency, DERM, was folded deep into a managerial reorganization recommended by Mayor Carlos Gimenez and approved by the county commission. The Miami Herald lamented, "Don't abandon the environment", on its editorial page. The agency "already is a shadow of its former self". DERM was created to protect Miami-Dade's unique natural resources, including proximity to two national parks and a national marine sanctuary. Its exile begs the question: Can government do anything right?

In the same editorial, the Herald offered support for one-stop shop permitting and Mayor Gimenez intent to streamline county government, "You have to jump through 17 hoops for somebody to replace a sea wall."

The mayor may be right, but he is focusing on the wrong phenomenon. Regulators can be their own worst enemies, especially when budgets are under fire and managers are under political pressure to eliminate the regulatory role of government. This is the question that needs answering: why have regulators and enforcement been pushed to extremes?

It is not a matter of environmental protection being "too costly" and "killing jobs". The attractions of Florida to economic interests are exactly the communities and natural resources that DERM was meant to protect. But as economic opportunities withered (whether by overdevelopment, market cycles, or the dismal consequences of a bubble-like atmosphere at County Hall) environmental regulation became the convenient "bogeyman" for special interests who threaten county government. The Latin Builders Association. The rock miners. The South Florida Builders.

The building and housing market boom (we know now was built on the crack cocaine and fraudulent arguments by special interests and Wall Street, for the simple purpose of providing more and more derivatives based on housing mortgages) crippled environmental regulation in Miami-Dade.

The pressure was on full-steam to rezone and permit new subdivisions in wetlands or mangroves or at the shoreline. The political appointees who survived to run DERM like John Renfrow (now the head of WASD), learned that the tightrope they balanced on was more like a razor edge. Who was on the county commission or in the mayor's office to defend the environmental mission of DERM? Katy Sorenson. Who was there to lead the attack? Natacha Seijas.

Who can forget how, Katy Sorenson resigned from office and that voters replaced her with Lynda Bell. Bell's very first jihad-style attack was against DERM (quietly supported in the background by ex-commissioner Seijas). Who can forget how, under Mayor Carlos Alvarez, the environmental trust fund was looted by close friends and colleagues of his, at the Miami-Dade Police Department? The fund-- totaling millions-- was meant to build the capacity for enforcing against environmental crimes. Instead, it was used to feather the police department quality of life. And who can forget not only was there minimal consequence; either by the federal Department of Justice, the state attorney's office, or state law enforcement but the money was never repaid that was "stolen" by the police.

What the building boom failed to do -- kill off environmental regulatory capacity -- the housing market crash accomplished. Lobbyists for special interests -- with no demand for rezoning or permitting -- also need to justify their existence to clients. They are the ones with free time to help their elected proxies "reassess" the appropriate role of government in environmental regulation.

Yesterday, a well-regarded attorney in growth management commented on the "reassignment" of the Florida Department of Community Affairs by Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led legislature: the most important agency to communities and to natural resources in the state of Florida, he said, now "is staffed by a few people in a broom closet at the end of the hall in the office of economic opportunity."
It appears a parallel effort is underway in county government. The problem with judging the results of this experiment is that, other than blogs, there is no mainstream media to unleash on outcomes. Who would pay for it? Who will pay for it, indeed.

Florida City's Convoluted or Crooked Deal. By Geniusofdespair

I suspect kickbacks are in the works for someone in Government or is this just a very bad deal?  The property appraiser estimated the worth of this property in 2010 as $601,440.  Florida City paid $3,000,000 for it 10/2010.

It sold for $3,000,000 in August 2005 to Geo Group (they manage correctional facilities) -- that is the TOP of the market.  So why did Florida City pay so much 5 years later?  Did the owner pave it with gold? The previous owner submitted all the plans. I guess they will manage it. So what does the Geo Group do, buy expensive land and then sell it to a municipality for more than it is worth? What is going on? This appears to have been 5 years in the works. They are so sneaky and under-handed don't you think?

Florida City wants to built a detention facility here.  It just happens to be where Florida City recently did an annexation.

I wondered in my article on the annexation, why? Why now?  What is Otis Wallace up to? Now we know.  Someone should investigate this over payment. Or is this some sort of convoluted deal we will never understand?

There is so much wrong here: The jail would require a excavation and fill permit from the Army Corps as it would be filling in freshwater wetlands. It is also less than five miles to the eastern border of Everglades National Park. Wrong number 3, the property is outside the UDB.

Annexation area same as Army Corp's Application map area.

Floating in a sea of sewage ... by gimleteye

The news that the federal government is in intensive settlement discussions with Miami-Dade County over a sewage system prone to multi-million gallon leaks is no surprise to the bloggers at Eyeonmiami. We've been tracking the smell of politics ruined by sewage for years and years.

Where to begin? How about with discredited former county commissioner Natacha Seijas and the propensity of county commissioners to give each other high-fives for shifting the costs of needed infrastructure to future generations of taxpayers? Nearly a decade ago, Miami-Dade County was seeking a consumptive use permit from the water district for new water. The result, a consent decree with the district requiring $3 billion in upgrades, has been gradually whittled down far from the sight of the Miami Herald or clueless voters and taxpayers.

Seijas was the key plumber for the special interests -- the builders and developer lobby, including the Latin Builders Association, the South Florida Builders, etc. etc. -- whose brilliant idea was to keep Miami "cheap" for growth, by refusing to invest and denying the need to invest in wastewater infrastructure. That is one reason it is laughable to me that Tea Party infused politicians are now insisting that government must "pay as you go". These are the same politicians who lived and breathed by cutting deals allowing infrastructure deficits to soar. In Miami-Dade, those deficits still total billions of dollars.

Seijas and her unreformable majority screwed the well field, where more than 2 million people get their drinking water every day. They screwed the bay, and they screwed the Everglades. Joe Martinez, Pepe Diaz, Bruno Barreiro: stand up and be counted.

The West Dade well field is directly threatened by rock mining, but the small amount of money rock miners were compelled to pay into a fund to remediate water supply infrastructure for taxpayers went this year -- thanks to the Florida legislature -- into an underground cement wall in northwest Dade to protect against "flooding". Not the new water treatment plant we need. God help us all, in the meantime, and the water managers know exactly what the prayer is for.

A related observation: the legal settlement described in the Miami Herald has occurred without the intervention of environmental groups in South Florida. Back in the 1980's, environmental groups lead the battle to protect Biscayne Bay leading to a similar consent decree with the feds. Environmental groups lead the battle to require FPL, even earlier, to use cooling canals at Turkey Point Nuclear instead of dumping hot water into the bay. Where are the environmental groups (and the young leaders of the environmental movement) today? I ask the question, as president of Friends of the Everglades.

Maybe the Miami Herald or Miami Today in its "Newmaker" section ought to feature some of the environmental leaders in South Florida, just to show young readers and students that there are examples of people who have fought and continue to fight for our natural resources.

(Jim Kunstler has an eye-popping OPED on his blog this week: reprinted, below.)

Alison Austin Running Against Audrey Edmonson In County Commission District 3. By Geniusofdespair

Audrey Edmonson is now facing 3 challengers, Keon Hardemon, Eddie Lewis and now Alison Austin.

A little about Alison: She has over 20 years experience specializing in sustainable tourism development in rural communities as a tourism communication specialist with the Organization of American States (OAS) and as Vice President of Rainforest Media and Tourism Consulting Inc. During her career, she has lived and worked extensively throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, where she is best known for designing and implementing national environmental and tourism awareness programs. Her work with rural under-developed communities and non-governmental organizations was to create community development action plans, assist with institutional strengthening, promoting ecotourism and integrating community activities with tourism development projects.

I knew Alison when she worked for Audubon of Florida. Nice lady. Xavier Suarez, in District 7, is the only County Commissioner without a challenger.

Picture of the Day: Marco Rubio's Comb-Over. By Geniusofdespair

Premier League finishes with an amazing result ... by gimleteye

If you are a fan of British soccer -- there must be some, here! -- yesterday's finale was historic. I've watched soccer matches for 50 years and never seen anything like it.

Is Palmetto Bay Taking the Flake Title from Homestead? by Geniusofdespair

It should come as no surprise that I am disappointed at the power struggle going on in Palmetto Bay. There are mean-spirited people living in Palmetto Bay trashing out the government. They are making Homestead look good lately...and that is not easy.

Names that have surfaced: Fiore, England, David, DuBois (there are others). Gossipy men, pretty embarrassing. Just stop already. Palmetto Bay is becoming a shitty place to live, I wince at the mention of Palmetto Bay these days. Do you really want to model yourselves after Homestead Palmetto Bay? Put your candidates up guys, and hope you win. That would be the manly thing to do at this point instead of all these mean-spirited unending swipes. In a Village (Palmetto Bay is about 25,000) this kind of behavior doesn't work. This is your home and your neighbors you are swiping at. Make it a pleasant place to live not a battle zone.

If that friggin' Palmer Trinity school had any guts it would stop the stream of vitriol going on in its defense. I hate Palmer Trinity School for what it has done in this community.

If you are going to trash each other, you can't do it in comments on this post, so don't try. I am not trying to fuel a fire, I am trying to extinguish it by pointing to the elephant in the room. If you have suggestions on how to extinguish the fire, by all means comment. Remember: Even I know enough not to shit in my own backyard. You have to be at peace somewhere, and it should be at home in your own hood.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez: Why he is running for Mayor. By Geniusofdespair

Video On YouTube of Carlos Gimenez speaking May 9th.

Dog Etiquette: Drool ... by gimleteye

Cassius does have flaws. (Cassius is a 90 lb. male Chesapeake Bay retriever.) One of them is an overactive salivary gland. Let's deal with the drool question head-on.

No one likes to be drooled upon. Cassius's flaw is connected to an exceptional sense of smell. Although he may not have seen one of my sons' friends for years -- if he smelled them as a puppy he never forgets. (It is possible Proust was reincarnated as my dog.)

The drool is mostly connected to the presence of food. It is worst in the car if I am sharing breakfast and he is perched behind over my right shoulder. I should wear a drool guard, or, he should wear a droop cup. I tell him: stop drooling, Cassius! Useless as trying to persuade a county commissioner to give more weight to an environmentalist than a rock miner eyeing new wetlands to dig.

With our dogs, we all have crosses to bear. Mine is drool. (Advice: don't wear black.) But after raising three children to grown men and fighting County Hall for decades you just pick yourself back up. And try not to slip.

Can Government Do Anything Right? ... by gimleteye

This question, "can government do anything right", is at the heart of polarization between the GOP and Democrats. For 99 percent of polluters and speculators  who are Republican, the short answer is no. There is nothing government does that business cannot do better.

The polluters and speculators either shrug off the damages their profitable activities cause, expecting gullible voters and taxpayers to pick up the costs in the name of progress or whatever other justification they can invent, or, insist that every regulation that needs to be is already in place.

This is how Florida Gov. Jeb Bush once came up with the motto for the state department of environmental protection, "less process, more protection". The devil is in the details and the details stink.

The problem for the Democrats is more nuanced, and because it is more nuanced it has been badly addressed. Nuance suggests complexity and complexity is the enemy of communication in this age of twenty second campaign commercials.

In the enormous gap between "government can't do anything right" and "government can do some things right if efficiency is demanded of bureaucratic systems", the Democrats have disappeared. A friend of mine who is a leader in the venture capital industry says, "All large systems fail." He is right. Democrats ought to insist on innovation in government infrastructure and far higher standards -- like barring lobbyist infection, the revolving door between industry and government, and "regulatory capture".

Republicans are wrong: as wrong as Jamie Dimon's two billion dollar loss for JP Morgan Chase that underscores the imaginative poverty encapsulated in the anti-regulatory jihad by the GOP. But Democrats are wrong, too, for failing to build the confidence of business by embracing bureaucratic reforms.

The irony is that the Obama administration demonstrated the capacity for bureaucratic reform: its amazing and unparalleled job of moving nearly 900 million dollars into the economy through the 2010 fiscal stimulus (that the GOP hindered to the bitter end and without which our economy would likely have fallen into a depression). Obama demanded that the money move fast and efficiently and without corruption. The White House made efficiency in administering the stimulus a mantra; something that the previous Bush administration had absolutely failed to do with its trillions invested in privatization of the military.

Yes there were some errors in the Obama stimulus investments, but the errors were minor in comparison to the unprecedented whole. So why isn't this news, heralded?

For the Democrats, part of the problem is that Obama was uncomfortable in the bully pulpit. Part of the problem is that Obama and the Democrats generally have never strategized reform with key coalition members: the unions. But here too there has been inevitable progress, as a consequence of the hemorrhaging of US jobs to low cost labor nations.

25 million Americans are still without jobs or under-employed. There are no silver bullets for the economic calamity that took decades and wrapped up several presidents. But it doesn't do any good to imagine that the US economy will return any time soon to boom times based on housing. And it also doesn't do any good to imagine that the same economic advisors and special interests who crashed the economy onto the reef should be trusted to get the economy, off the reef.

Right now, we are in the hands of the reef wreckers: the scavengers who in times of Florida's old past used lights to lure treasure-laden ships to destruction, then off-loaded the cargo and sold it themselves on the "free market". The Tea Party refuses to acknowledge or even understand how the forces who fund their efforts are the same that put them in such financial peril. That is the way it is with complexity.

Democrats have a lot of work to do. The party has to embrace government reform even when it means challenging the unions. Even here, the nuances need to be understood. Compared to the power of polluters and speculators, the unions have been a piñata. They are vastly reduced in the US economy but still used as "bogeymen". Democrats need to find their voices and soon, that is clear enough to understand.