Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Majority Of Miami-Dade County Commission Fails To Do Its Job On Campaign Finance Reform ... by gimleteye

Chairman Jean Monestine can argue -- honestly -- that many more voters and taxpayers are harmed by a rigged campaign finance system than by Zika. That's reason enough to call a special session of the county commission to qualify this measure for the November ballot.

To make the November ballot, a citizens initiative proposing a sharp curtailment of campaign contributions in local races by corporations required approval by the county commission yesterday. According to its website, An Accountable Miami-Dade: The initiative would:
Increase accountability by strengthening enforcement of existing campaign finance laws and increasing penalties for violations.
Limit the power of big-money interests in county policymaking by banning large contractors from making political donations to county candidates and by closing loopholes that allow lobbyists to wield influence through gifts to officials and their staff.
Set strict limits on big-money contributions by reducing the maximum contribution to $250 per election ($500 for the cycle) for mayoral and county commission candidates.
Give ordinary people a stronger voice in government and give community-oriented candidates more opportunity to run for office by updating Miami-Dade County’s small-donor system to replace the large donations from wealthy contributors with small donations from ordinary people matched by limited public funds.

"Deciding not to show up" shows the Miami-Dade County Commission at its worst. Here are commissioners who failed to turn up at the county commission meeting. Remember them:

Barbara Jordan
Audrey Edmunson
Rebeca Sosa
Pepe Diaz
Estaban Bovo
Juan Zapata
Bruno Barreiro

The County Attorney told the commission that the Supervisor of Election cannot start to review the 125,000 petitions until a majority of commissioners vote. According to the Charter, the BCC must vote within 30 days of the submittal of the petitions but with summer recess, the commissioners will not meet again unless ordered to a special meeting by Chairman Jean Monestine.

The petitions were submitted on August 2nd. The next scheduled meeting of the commission is Sept. 7th.


A special meeting had been called for the Zika battle yesterday. Commissioners who absented themselves for whatever reason should be called back to a special meeting as soon as possible. Chairman Jean Monestine can argue -- honestly -- that many more voters and taxpayers are harmed by a rigged campaign finance system than by Zika. That's reason enough to call a special session of the county commission to qualify this measure for the November ballot.

5 comments:

Geniusofdespair said...

I am really disappointed with Juan Zapata. He is not even up for reelection. He should have been there, it would have screwed with Joe Martinez.

Also, Rebeca, where were you? This is why I get depressed.

Juan you leave and screw us too?

Anonymous said...

Thank you Commissioner Cava Levine for starting this uphill battle that makes you unpopular amongst your fellow Commissioners. You are my hero.

Anonymous said...

There was a special meeting called for both zika and the petitions.

There weren't enough signatures for either one, but with zika 6 showed up to hear from the mosquito staff and health people and the CDC on how things are going in containing the issue in Wynwood. there wasn't a quorum but they didn't need to vote on anything.

same can't be said for the petition. they have to vote on that to move it forward. a quorum was needed and they were one short.

Anonymous said...

Dumb to call meetings during the period that the commission is not is session. Most use the month off to go on vacation. These issues are important and they should be handled correctly. Also, I would like us also to bar union contribution also. The unions don't represent the public and are normally working to get more pay and benefits. Just as bad as lobbyist and companies.

Anonymous said...

Bearded millennials screw up again.