Okay, This is just too weird even for me. By Geniusofdespair

Former Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. What next, Natacha Seijas in a bathing suit?

Mr. Mayor...doesn't quite fit the guy anymore.

This is not photoshop, it is real.

"It's Only A Game" on NPR makes light of Miami Marlins Stadium ... by gimleteye

Sports Welfare: Your Tax Dollars At Play

Geesh, how dumb do our elected officials think voters are?

REALLY DUMB. If you want to know the truth, in Miami, of this statement: just ask the folks living around the Miami Marlins stadium in Little Havana, how much they have benefited from the new stadium. It's a joke, to an exponential power.

BL: The argument in favor of public financing for ballparks and arenas is that the new venues create jobs. But you’ve presented the argument that having a stadium or a team in a particular area might actually reduce average incomes. How so?

PH: There’s a professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Dennis Coates, who has looked at that question. He’s just an economist looking at the figures, he found that what he calls the "sports environment," which is basically having teams and arenas in a certain area, it actually correlates with reduced incomes of about $40 per family. Study after study has been done that shows that the overall economic impact of building stadiums is almost always negligible. Every dollar that’s spent in an area, going to a game, or going to a restaurant in the area, it would have been spent somewhere else in the community. So, you’re just sort of shuffling money around, you’re not actually accumulating new wealth.

From Let's Eliminate Sports Welfare:

"In Miami, a local politician who supported public financing for the Marlins’ new stadium says that taxpayers fronting an estimated $220 million for renovations to Sun Life Stadium is not a matter of “if,” but rather “when” and “how” -- never mind that Miami-Dade County residents will be paying off Marlins Park until 2049. The reason? The NFL insists that a stadium that already underwent $300 million in sprucing up over the last decade needs additional work in order to host future Super Bowls, and since the Miami Dolphins remain $230 million in debt from previous fix-ups, well, hey, someone has to pick up the tab."

The Marlins might have a job for the X-Mayor. By Youbetcha'

Who should get the job, Mayor Carlito because he was THE Mayor or George Burgess since he was the de facto Mayor? George has the most operations experience by default.

Guess we will have to wait and see!

I remember you Jimmy! By Geniusofdespair

In an OpEd piece in the Miami Herald Sunday former County Commissioner Jimmy Morales asks if people remember him? I do, he was one of our better County Commissioners and he ran for Mayor against Carlos Alvarez, garnering 322,032 votes to Alvarez's 396,798. I voted for him. His look back over the Alvarez tenure is pretty good, he brings up the Marlin's Stadium (He was against it and Alvarez was for it) and about Burgess, he said:

Nonetheless, seven years ago, when I suggested the next mayor should hire a new county manager, this newspaper and particularly then-columnist Jim Defede blasted the idea as all-but-unhinged. No one at the paper or elsewhere even bothered to ask why I felt such a change was necessary. God forbid that a county mayor would want to name his administrative team! Political expediency trumped good policy and headlines trumped the truth.

Has it been seven years already? It turns out, Jimmy was right about a lot of things but we all remember in the end it came down to, "he just wasn't Cuban enough."

We did it! Natacha Seijas recalled by 88 percent of voters !!! by gimleteye

Eyeonmiami takes a measure of credit for that 88 percent. If our blog helped to inspire some of the volunteers who are substantially responsible for organizing for the recall of Natacha Seijas, all I can say is: at last. Where to begin? Perhaps 1993, when I began to have an inkling of the political order in Hialeah precincts that hold so much influence in state-wide elections. From that time-- as a citizen activist and environmentalist-- wherever there was a roadblock, Natacha Seijas was manning the barrier. No more.

I am certain commissioners who once quaked in fear of her power can't quite believe it. She is gone. Some will step forward to take the scepter from the builders, bankers, lobbyists and rock miners. They have a contingency plan (although none imagined this economic crisis would be such a lasting, deep fact. Not the board members of US Century Bank, or the South Florida Builders Assocation, or the Chamber of Commerce.) We'll get to that, soon enough. But first, a review of what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, the most powerful politician in Miami-Dade County, Natacha Seijas, was thrown from office in a special recall election by an astounding 88 percent majority. Certainly the outcome shows voters are furious. But do they know what Seijas really represented, never mind the issue of taxes?

We have 341 posts on Eyeonmiami, on Seijas. No other source of information is as complete and thorough, and that includes the mainstream media that shied away from telling how the political order kept Miami a speculator's dream, ending in the worst real estate bust in its history.

Seijas adapted, quickly, to her role as enforcer on the 13 member, single district county commission. When Art Teele left the county commission in 1996, she didn't need to be pushed to the role. Where Teele played commissioner against commissioner and lobbyist against lobbyist, in the school of Machiavelli, Seijas preferred direct, brute force. She had the unions and the real estate developers/lobbyists who understood that the way to a gated estate in Coral Gables was through precinct politics in Hialeah. What counted was that key lobbyists got their piece of ka-ching at the airport and the seaport. Chris Korge. Rodney Barreto. Sergio Pino. Miguel De Grandy. It was at the airport where fortunes were made. Seijas played the key role for many years, until the lobbyists became developers and suburban sprawl took off like a bottle rocket on the Fourth of July. Seijas, then, used the airport to enforce the majority on the county commission, but even as the plan to convert Homestead Air Force Base to a money pit collapsed under its own weight, the real money had migrated to the conversion of farmland and wetlands to suburban sprawl. In Florida, political power blossomed under the fertilizer of insta-grow suburbs and strip malls. Today Seijas' political fortunes now mirror her chief supporter, Pino, who built wealth first at the airport then in platted subdivisions in the western suburbs pushing up against Miami Lakes and the real estate fortune of the Graham family. It has all turned to shit, now.

As lead organizer against the hijacking of the Homestead Air Force Base to be a private commercial airport, I learned their playbook and game plan. Art Teele helped me understand it. It didn't change over the years and involved, at its most simple level, commandeering billions of tax dollars to support infrastructure projects to benefit insiders, all of whom were either lobbyists or developers or some combination of the two. Seijas was their all-utility fullback; she could block and tackle and could scare the daylights out of anyone in her path, especially staff at the county terrorized by internal meddling. Where Carlos Alvarez took his job as a largely ceremonial function, with the county manager balancing in between, Seijas lorded it over the county with a mean streak a mile long.

Seijas faced a first attempt to recall her in 2006. Supporters from the Growth Machine raced to her defense. Those in favor of her recall were a small group of civic activists including Pat Wade from the Redland, Michael Pizzi, and Millie Herrera who had enough of Seijas' reign. The fumes of the housing boom were still getting most people, high. Voters gave Seijas, thumbs up.

Yesterday's thumbs down could not have happened without the support of Norman Braman, whose multi-million dollar investment brought the recall to voters. The result depended, too, on a dismal economy in Miami-Dade where the real rate of unemployment is close to 20 percent. Last but not least an intrepid group of recall activists, led by Vanessa Brito, took the campaign into the heart of Hialeah where Seijas believed she was invincible.

It is hard to say what happens, next, in Hialeah. The sharks are circling for a chance to influence both Seijas' district and Miami-Dade County. Will they allow Seijas to have a role in choosing the new political order, to include Julio Robaina? What would be more astounding than yesterday's result would be if a grass roots movement took hold in Hialeah and re-arranged the dysfunctional political order organized around land use zoning changes and airport contracts to deliver state and national elections. Perchance, to dream.

Today it is enough to say, Seijas is gone. As for Carlos Alvarez, the best that can be said is that he was not Alex Penelas, his predecessor who badly tarnished the office of mayor in Miami-Dade. Perhaps it is a harsh judgment of Alvarez; but he never grew into the job. Alvarez was static. Invisible. Alvarez was strong on the Urban Development Boundary, but that left the work to the unreformable majority to override his veto, throwing cost and trouble back onto poorly funded environmental groups. Alvarez did not build constituencies so much as avoid them. He did not surround himself with leaders or thinkers or advocates so much as to insulate himself with friends and associates he was comfortable with. He made less of the job and some historic blunders as a result-- like leading on the Marlins Stadium-- or flinching from ethical standards in the police department when it looted environmental funds collected and dispersed by the US Department of Justice.

Alvarez' recall will make national news, but the more interesting event is Hialeah rejecting Seijas. The devastating avalanche-- 88 percent in favor of recall-- speaks volumes to those on the county commissioner who would be the next mayor, or, imagine that they can fill Seijas' double wide shoes. I doubt there is a single one who could survive a recall election. And if Joe Martinez or Pepe Diaz or Bruno Barreiro get it in their heads that they can commandeer the Urban Development Boundary arbitrage like Seijas did, think again.

Seijas once threatened a fellow commissioner, that she would be taken out of the commission chamber in a body bag. Citizens who testify at public hearings are now free from the receiving end of her rude comments and asides. (I was accustomed, when testifying, to her rising from her seat and disappearing from the dais to do something more important in the back hallway.) Yes, Seijas reserved special scorn for environmentalists, reminding them on behalf of her benefactors that she didn't represent the birds and the bees. Former Commissioner Katy Sorenson who Seijas spent years teasing and insulting should derive a measure of satisfaction from last night's result. To the citizens who mobilized two recall efforts, who were threatened, sued and intimidated by Seijas and the Hialeah police, thank you. If you listen very closely, you can hear the muffled applause of manatees floating beneath the calm waters of Biscayne Bay. Seijas didn't like manatees or their protections and never stopped enjoying, saying so. Don't think of what the manatees do, as squirting and farting. For now think of those watery noises, as the last word.

Change? by gimleteye

Voters are aching to hold someone accountable for the economic disaster. On a balanced playing field, both Alvarez and Seijas would be recalled. But the playing field is never balanced because of the nuclear arms race in political money. I'm concerned about the influence of unions in these elections. I'm also concerned about the churches. Seijas promised hundreds of thousands of her public stash to churches in return for "getting out the vote". She has out-raised her opponent, Miami Voices, by 10 to 1 according to the Herald. I worry that neither the unions nor the churches show up in public opinion polls. The churches delivered Linda Bell to the county commission, through a stealth effort in South Dade by Seijas to defeat Eugene Flynn. I have a lot more to say on Alvarez, that will wait for the days to come. So far as Seijas is concerned, Eye On Miami has written the book. Her political career couldn't come to an end fast enough, but I am not a voter in Hialeah or Miami Lakes. It is up to them, now.

Poll says Seijas and Alvarez will go down in flames. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald's top story is the Bendixen Poll which finds 66% of those polled thinks Norman Braman is a principled activist and 67% said they would vote yes to recall Mayor Alvarez and 60% said they would recall Vile Natacha Seijas. I thought it funny that 21% thought her combative and rude. Curiously Whites prefer her over Hispanics. For Alvarez, he had more support among Whites and Blacks than with Hispanics. Blacks were the most undecided among the three racial groups. The poll said 31% were undecided at this late date. But, that is only 1/3 of 23% of 400 people polled and there is a 4.9% margin of error.


There are 24 pages of poll data on Natacha and 31 pages on Alvarez in the Miami Herald PDF, you get much more information online than in the paper Herald.

On Democrats supporting Seijas in larger numbers...lets look at the poll. 400 people were polled in District 13. of that about 100 were Democrats. The poll said about 47% support recall, 28% are against and 25% are undecided among Democrats. That is about 28 people polled that support her. I would suppose many of these people are in unions. Among Republicans her support is at 21%. Blacks were 7% of the poll in Natacha's district, or about 28 people polled so they were pretty much left out of the data analysis for Natacha.

Norman Braman's OTHER PAC Report and Mayor Alvarez's PAC Report. By Geniusofdespair

Yesterday I reported that Norman Braman put $300,000 into his PAC "Yes to Recall". Well his PAC, "People Who Want Honest Government" collected $258,500 since January 1st, most of it was from Norman Braman. absentee ballot maven David Custin is making a fortune on the recall. This PAC has collected three quarters of a million dollars since October.

It costs a lot of money to do a petition drive and mount a campaign for an election. The Hometown Democracy Group did a great job with the petition drive but they didn't have the money to mount the statewide campaign during the election. Too bad they didn't have a Norman Braman.

Citizens for Truth, Mayor Alvarez's PAC also raised a lot of dough this reporting period, $46,050. Some donors were: Dade County Fire Fighters Local 1403 gave $10,000, Clilnton, Boggio, Inc. (developers) gave $10,000, FPL gave $5,000 and Schuff Steel Co. out of Phoenix, Arizona gave $5,000 (why?).

Much of the Mayor's PAC money went out to people under the purpose of "Clerical". There were about 200 "Clerical" disbursements. Here is the meaning of clerical:

"Of or relating to clerks or office workers or their work."

I am sorry Mr. Mayor, that is not an okay 'purpose' in my book. Are they doing telephone banking? GOTV? Absentee ballot collection? Examining petitions? What the hell are all these people doing? Your use of "Clerical" is a cop-out. It makes it look like you have something to hide. I will be glad when this election is over.

Distractions threaten campaign to oust Seijas ... by gimleteye

It has been clear for some time that the best chance to remove Natacha Seijas from office will be under the condition in which her recall election is scheduled on the same ballot as the recall against Miami Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez. Seijas and Alvarez are certainly not natural allies. Alvarez has been on the receiving end of Seijas' scorn for many years. But on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the Seijas and Alvarez camps could be pushed closer together. For Seijas, it is a delicate balancing act. She knows that Miami-Dade voters are likely to make Alvarez a scapegoat for higher taxes and inefficient government and that, also, her campaign financiers (from the land speculators, developers of platted subdivisions, and interests in erasing land use planning and the Urban Development Boundary) will not rush to Alvarez' defense as they will, to hers. Alvarez is at greater risk of recall, of course, in a county wide election. Over many years, Seijas has carefully cultivated the unions. (The unions are largely uninformed how their leaders support of her is to their own detriment.) If Seijas is able to de-couple her recall from the same date and ballot as Alvarez, she may be able to summon union political voters, like SEIU to the rescue. In that event, the Seijas recall could be a replay of Florida Hometown Democracy: the citizen movement to return control of big zoning decisions to local voters. Its fervent supporters had enough strength, motivation and money to bring the matter to the state-wide ballot last November, but were too ragged, exhausted, and poorly funded to make their case to the wider public by election time. If Miami Voice defeat Seijas, it will be a momentous event not just for Miami-Dade but for Florida politics. Between here and there is a very long distance. In the context of what it takes to traverse that distance, the lawsuit by Seijas to stop the recall is a tactical distraction.

As The Stomach Turns in Miami Dade County: Alvarez Filed Suit to Stop His Recall. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald reported a suit was filed by Mayor Carlos Alvarez:

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez filed suit in Circuit Court Friday seeking to block his March 15 recall election, alleging numerous petitions gathered to seek his ouster should be tossed out because of various technical flaws.

The suit asks the court to declare that not enough valid petitions were filed to warrant a recall election. It asks the judge to order the mayor's name be stricken from March 15 ballot.

One of the allegations: "Among other things, the latest suit alleges 104,280 petitions are invalid because of a failure to print, type or stamp notaries' names below their signatures." Give me a break, talk about grasping for straws. Is this about the notary or about the voter's wishes? I think requiring notarized petitions in the first place is an outrage. Where is that conspicuously absent ACLU when you need them? Are they off helping skin heads instead of us regular folks whose right to petition our government is made an impossibility.

Miami-Dade police won't repay "stolen" environmental funds and Mayor Alvarez will pay the price ... by gimleteye

It's only $6 million, according to the Miami Herald, "misspent" by the Miami-Dade police department but it is the brazen culture of snatch and grab politics that will speed Mayor Carlos Alvarez out of office in the general recall election scheduled for March 15.

We are used to the bad cop narrative. A lone policeman goes rogue. This is a different story. The crime begins with the diversion of funds collected as a result of successful environmental prosecutions-- including the U.S. EPA-- to feather the beds of police captains with connections to an official elevated out of the police ranks to Miami-Dade mayor for his reputation for integrity and honesty: Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez.

Mayor Alvarez and the police department allowed the top cop responsible for the fiasco to retire without consequence except for a severe bruising in the press. According to comments on this blog, he retired with full benefits. (I have not investigated this assertion.) Now the police department has responded to a recommendation by the Office of the Inspector General: no, we will not replenish the "misspent" funds. In the recent Herald report, the Police Director James Loftus says, "... that over the life of the trust funds, the department paid some $27 million out of its general fund for the salaries and benefits of officers and directors working environmental investigations -- that, in sum, the contribution of personnel costs far offset the questioned expenses."

I have a couple of follow up comments to this sad story, that will certainly contribute to recalling Mayor Alvarez. First of all, what was the return on investment of that $27 million spent by Miami-Dade police to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes. In other words, what did the public get for that money spent? Were all those high tech cameras used to stake out "drum dumpers" and how many drums were stopped and how many criminals prosecuted? Did any of those police funds result in prosecutions against developers who have failed to pay either citations or permit fees? I'd like to know. Or, was our drinking water protected from criminals who pollute our drinking water wells in West Dade?

This raises another very serious issue: the US Department of Justice is responsible for prosecutions resulting in fines by the U.S. EPA. Environmental crimes are extraordinarily difficult to prosecute. The $6 million contributed to the Miami Dade Police environmental crimes unit was, in my opinion, token "blood money" for the massive criminal enterprise that government permits to promote economic activity at the expense of our environment. In other words, a successful environmental prosecution is like manna falling from heaven. For the police department to have allowed this money to be squandered is unconscionable.

Years ago, I asked on behalf of local environmental groups, whether they could have access to the funds collected by the U.S. Department of Justice through prosecutions of environmental crimes. It made sense. Why not use fines collected from criminals to help fund chronically under-funded environmental groups? Wouldn't this be fair? Call it a "Robin Hood Fund". Well, DOJ was very uncomfortable with the idea. What they worried about most were the political atmospherics. Environmental groups, the reasoning goes, are too partisan and "too political". So what did DOJ do? They turned the money over to the police. After all, what are the police going to do, steal it?

It is extraordinarily disappointing that Mayor Carlos Alvarez and his administration have brushed off the complaints as though they were lint on a sweater. Perhaps Mayor Alvarez feels aggrieved: that in the public eye he can do nothing right. Why, under this circumstance, even try? But this particular bit of idiocy is just so easy to fix. Make the police department pay the damn money back. Let Maimi-Dade environmental groups chartered as non-profits with environmental missions have access to those funds. But so far, Mayor Alvarez hasn't lifted a finger. I hope that the U.S. Department of Justice sues Miami-Dade County over this mess. I really do.


Posted on Thu, Jan. 13, 2011
Miami-Dade police won't repay misspent environmental funds

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com

The Miami-Dade Police Department is acknowledging it misspent funds meant to fight environmental crime on flat-screen TVs, SUVs and firearms.
``Clearly inappropriate,'' Police Director James Loftus says.

But putting the money back into the green funds, as the county's inspector general has requested? Not so fast.

``No, we are not,'' county police spokeswoman Nancy Perez said.

Miami-Dade Inspector General Christopher Mazzella said in a recent memo to Mayor Carlos Alvarez that the police have adopted many of his recommended fixes, following a scathing IG audit that found the police used two environmental trust funds as a kitty for pricey purchases with little connection to environmental crime-fighting.

But the police department is flatly rebuffing two IG recommendations: that it stop using green-fund money to pay expenses such as monthly cellphone and aircard bills, and that it repay the misused public dollars.

``We continue to stand by our original recommendations that the Trust Funds be reimbursed,'' Mazzella said in a Dec. 21 memo to Alvarez.

The police department isn't obligated to follow the IG's recommendations, unless the mayor or the county commission act. And there's little push coming from the county executive's office.

Mayoral spokeswoman Victoria Mallette would only say in a statement that ``administrative procedures have been strengthened.'' When pressed whether the mayor thinks county police should pay up, she referred questions to Loftus and hung up.

The standoff is the latest chapter in a scandal that erupted last year over county stewardship of funds that were meant to combat polluters. Instead, amid ``overall chaotic administration,'' the funds were steered to ``excessive, unreasonable, or unnecessary'' purchases, the IG audit found.

The IG's inquiry, following a Miami Herald series last year that detailed dubious spending, focused on nearly $6 million spent from 2000 to 2009 from two funds: the South Florida Environmental Task Force Trust Fund and Florida Environmental Task Force Trust Fund.

More than $1.1 million was spent on vehicle-related expenses, including the purchase of 23 SUVs and trucks that went to top brass rather than environmental investigators working in remote areas. Another $1.1 million went for cellphones used, in many cases, by officials in non-environmental departments.

Three Sharp 52-inch flat screen TVs were snapped up for about $6,000. Nearly $35,000 was spent on 30 Smith & Wesson M&P-15 rifles and holographic sights. Police justified the firearms on the grounds that an environmental investigator might encounter ``a wildlife poacher armed with a high-powered rifle.''

Three Segways were bought for $25,000. One was used periodically to patrol MDPD's suburban headquarters, and two were found ``sitting unused in a warehouse,'' auditors found.

The episode served as an embarrassment for embattled Mayor Alvarez, who is facing a recall vote on March 15.

Division Chief Frank Vecin, a close ally and supporter of Mayor Alvarez, was in charge of fund spending. At one point, Alvarez was ferried around in a Chevy Tahoe purchased with green-fund money. The county mayor later returned the automobile, saying he didn't know it was bought with funds meant to fight polluters.

The revelations of fund mismanagement prompted the retirement of Vecin.

``The IG believes the funds were managed improperly,'' said C. Michael Cornely, Vecin's attorney. ``It was their opinion. To me, the IG justifies its existence by looking for things and making issues out of things that are not really an issue.''

The two environmental funds, created in 2000 by the county commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, were established to help fight polluters in South Florida, which the county has called a ``drum dump capital.'' Funding sources included fines and court judgments.

Police director Loftus -- named to the top job in February, after spending questions were already being raised -- now says new money will not be accepted into the two funds. The remaining balance in the accounts is $1.5 million.

In defending his position that the police department need not repay the misspent dollars, Loftus contends that over the life of the trust funds, the department paid some $27 million out of its general fund for the salaries and benefits of officers and directors working environmental investigations -- that, in sum, the contribution of personnel costs far offset the questioned expenses.

Mazzella responded that the trust fund money was ``to augment, not replace'' general funds.

If they police were to repay for misspending, the precise amount isn't clear, though the August audit provides a road map.

``We left it to the police to determine what was justified, and repay what was not,'' said Mazzella.

Miami Herald staff writer Martha Brannigan contributed to this report.

Alvarez-Seijas Recall a Citizen Revolution? By Geniusofdespair

An El Nuevo Herald reporter thinks charter changes will be coming, not just the recall. Hope so but I am not holding my breath for REAL change. In any event, I like Daniel Shoer's Roth's prediction on the outcome of the "Ides of March" election that County Commissioners have set. (You do remember "Beware of the Ides of March"? If not read the article):

"Just as Caesar's death unleashed two civil wars that marked the end of the Roman Republic, the referendum against Alvarez and Seijas will unleash other citizen movements."

RECALL: Petition Gatherers Are Being Harassed. By Geniusofdespair

Both Alvarez and Seijas are harassing petition gatherers, having investigators visiting them at their home and doing background checks on them according to a story in the Miami Herald today.

Don't expect to ever find people to gather signatures again for anything. So much for being able to petition your government in Miami Dade County. Take a look at a Miami Dade Petition next to a State of Florida Petition (hit to enlarge them). Look at the difference of what is required of a petition gatherer.

One thing I want to know from the Miami Herald article today, why are the petitions in a warehouse owned by someone in the Alvarez camp? They can be tampered with now. To Lester Sola's credit: He would never release the petitions if they were at Elections. It sounds like Harvey Ruvin has released the Alvarez petitions, according to the Miami Herald:

"His (Alvarez) team, led by political consultant Ivy Korman, has been meeting at a Doral warehouse in recent weeks and scrutinizing recall petitions for flaws. The warehouse is owned by Ralph Gazitua, an Alvarez supporter and father of mayoral aide Luis Andres Gazitua."

Resign to Run Law Will Have An Impact on Miami Dade Political Landscape...I hope. By Geniusofdespair

A bonus for us, 3 County Commissioners threatening to run (Joe Martinez, Rebeca Sosa, Carlos Gimenez) and Hialeah Julio have to resign to run for County Mayor. Before they qualify, which is down the road a bit, they must resign in writing 10 days prior to the qualification date. They could drop out before the qualifying date and retain their seat. I would expect they will poll before they write that resignation letter. The rub, if there is a hasty election, as there could be in this case if Mayor Alvarez is recalled, they wouldn't have time for an accurate poll, thus, we could get rid of at least 4 elected politicians, and we would need even more elections. The downside, in some cases we could possibly get worse people in office. (This post gave me an opportunity to show you Rebeca Sosa's new glam shot...I need that photographer! Rebeca have you given up on your festive color palette in favor of a more sedate mayoral look?)

Here is an explanation of the resign-to-run law:

The “resign-to-run law” essentially prohibits an elected or appointed “officer” from qualifying as a candidate for another state, district, county or municipal public office if the terms or any part of the terms overlap with each other if the person did not resign from the office the person presently holds. (Section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes.)

1. If an officer must resign under the “resign-to-run” law, when must the officer resign and when must the resignation take effect?

The resignation must be submitted in writing at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office the person intends to seek. (Section 99.012(3)(c), Florida Statutes.) (The qualifying dates for elections to particular offices can be obtained from the county supervisor of elections office.)

The resignation must take effect no later than the earlier of the following dates:
1. The date the officer would take office, if elected; or
2. The date the officer’s successor is required to take office.

(Section 99.012(3)(d), Florida Statutes.)

Some of you thought it couldn't get any worse than Carlos Alvarez...How about Hialeah Julio? By Geniusofdespair

Real Estate Developer/Mayor of Hialeah, "Julio Robaina takes initial steps to run for Mayor of Miami-Dade County announces the first in a series of ideas to restore trust in county government."

Is 'Hialeah Julio' for real? Like any of us trust Hialeah's government. Here are his 3 ideas -- which are good -- but why didn't he use the first 2 in Hialeah where they are REALLY needed?

* term limits for both the Mayor (mayor has term limits in County not in Hialeah) and the County Commissioners;
* salary conditions prohibiting outside income for the Mayor as well as the County Commissioners; and
* a totally independent Office of the Inspector General.

Miami Voice asks that you....by Geniusofdespair

...urge County Commissioners to put Seijas' recall on the same ballot as Mayor Alvarez's recall.



Make a contribution for legal fees...

Time for Mayor Alvarez to Act on Looting of Environmental Task Force Trust Funds ... by gimleteye

Now that the final report of the Inspector General is out, what will Mayor Alvarez do to fix the looting of the Environmental Trust Funds by the Miami Dade Police Department? The Police Department has decided to wash its hands, completely, of the deeply embarrassing mis-administration of Florida Environmental Task Force (FETF) and South Florida Environmental Task Force (SFTETF) Trust Funds. "The MDPD does not intend to continue accepting new/incoming funds."

Why not? Because it doesn't trust itself to use the funds for the directed purpose instead of buying fancy SUV's or cell phones, DirecTV subscriptions, boats, laptops and video cameras? The Miami Herald broke the story in early February, 2010. The release of the Dec 21 audit report dryly notes; "we consider this audit closed with exceptions." What are those exceptions?

In its report to the OIG, the Miami Dade Police Department explains why it cannot reimburse the Trust Fund that was looted for inappropriate purposes: "Over an eight year period, from the inception of the Environmental Trust Funds in 2002 through 2009, the MDPD paid the salaries plus fringe benefits and overtime expenses for multiple sworn officers and supervisors conducting environmental investigations at a cost of approximately $27 million."

In the Herald report, Alvarez long-time friend and division chief Frank Vecsin was singled out for criticism. "Vecin had asked the Chevy Tahoes be purchased for environmental investigators to respond to crimes in rural areas. But after giving those SUVs to top brass instead, he told The Herald in an earlier interview that the cars weren't given to ``little investigators'' because command staff is integral to fighting environmental crimes."

Unfortunately, the Inspector General did not close the loop. The final audit should include what cases were investigated, and the results of those cases including the number of cases resulting in prosecutions with fines, and the percentage of those fines that were finally collected. Why stop being embarrassed, now?

Will Miami Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas maneuver her recall election date to a different one than Mayor Alvarez? by gimleteye

Natacha Seijas, facing another recall election, is once again buried in her own grievances. On Wednesday, the county commission is meeting to discuss authorizing upcoming recall elections certified by the Clerk of the Court, Harvey Ruvin. Mayor Carlos Alvarez who will face a county-wide recall and Seijas, a recall in the district encompassing Hialeah, should be on the same ballot. Combining the two recall elections will save taxpayers at a time of severe municipal budget woes. But Seijas doesn't want to be lumped together with Alvarez. If that happens, she is worried that voters will be inclined to throw all the bums out and she could be swept out on her witches' broom.

So what will the county commission do on Wednesday? Save taxpayers money, or, schedule a separate and costly recall election for Seijas and save one of their own? It escapes no one's attention that Seijas has been, for many years, the de facto chair; organizing votes to service lobbyists, insiders, and the land speculators. In the last recall in 2006, they kept her broom from catching fire. The economic crash has not dimmed their enthusiasm to command and control of the county commission. They did everything in their power-- including thwarting Charter Reform which would have let some daylight into the closed, warped world of county politics-- to save Seijas from an angry electorate. Miguel DeGrandy, Stephen Cody, the board of US Century Bank: why would they stop now?

There Are Enough Signatures to Recall Mayor Alvarez. By Geniusofdespair

County Clerk Harvey Ruvin has announced there are enough signatures to recall Miami Mayor Alvarez according to the Miami Herald.

Mayor Alvarez on Michael Putney Show. By Geniusofdespair

You all know I like the Mayor. He did too many things I like for me to ever support the recall against him. He is his own worst enemy sometimes. I don't think he did himself justice on the Michael Putney show. He started out strong when talking about the budget but he lost me when he went overboard defending overtime. It got a little ridiculous when he started getting into the enormous amount of hours some folks work. I personally wouldn't want an emergency worker working on me after 18 hours on the job. It is too much time at work. I think 24 hours was even mentioned, but I am not sure.

I kept thinking as the Mayor spoke, why not just hire another person and spread the wealth? Why not put someone new to work at a lower salary, when people need jobs, rather than giving overtime at a higher rate to a higher salaried employee? I will never get this overtime stuff, sorry Mr. Mayor: Does not compute especially if overtime adds to pension costs like it does in the city of Miami. I still like you though and thank you for the veto on the petition gathering legislation (which was overridden) and the multiple vetoes on moving the UDB line (which also were overridden). It is the over-riding Commissioners who need to be recalled.