Although former county commissioner Miriam Alonso has been stealing most of the headlines of late, the Cuff Bowl Parade continues on its merry way. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI and Miami-Dade Police Department have announced that a collections officer with Team Metro, Katrina Hall, pleaded guilty to accepting bribe payments from an individual doing business with Team Metro, intending to be influenced and rewarded.

As often happens when one is nailed for violating the public trust, Hall cooperated in the prosecution of her co-conspirator, David King, which sentenced him to four months in the can and four months of home confinement. As with King, Hall has to pay $10,000 in restitution to Team Metro, but because she cooperated with authorities, Hall was only sentenced to six months home confinement to be followed by five years of supervised release.

Cool it or School it?

After it unanimously terminated negotiations with- the Related Group on its proposed development of the 72^nd Street Site, the Beach commission then agreed it would be preferable to just sit back and do nothing with that public land, other than perhaps using a portion for such recreational use as basketball or skateboarding. Well, that sitting back could be rather short-lived as the rumor mill around city hall is churning out what may the next proposed project for that site.

Surprise, surprise, proponents of the charter school business are now eying the 72^nd Street Site as a potential location to put up a building. At the April 10 meeting when the commission rejected Related and then agreed to “cool it” for six months to a year before considering any other development for the site, did that mean to “school it”? Let’s see if the rumor cranks itself up to reality via a discussion item at the commission level.

Dum da dum dum…

Speaking of rumors, there may be one or two “agencies” looking into some interesting Miami Beach “things” from the past two years. According to the scuttlebutt, one of those “things” may involve a particular credit card and a somewhat transparent paper trail that could take less than six months to line up those little duckies. Hey, if this rumor turns out to be true, the subpoena process could then begin quacking right after the first of the year.

…Dum

Back a year and a half ago, Murmurs told of a possible investigation stirring up on Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. Well, according to published reports; Cianci is now going to trial. The government prosecutors are charging Cianci with an ongoing criminal enterprise in which hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes were paid in exchange for city contracts and leases, among other stuff.

Bundle, bundle for my baby…

After months of debate, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners decided to reject a campaign finance reform proposal by Commissioner Jimmy Morales. If it had passed, Morales’ measure would have made it just a little bit more difficult for the special interests to bundle up those campaign checks during elections.

But these campaign reforms hardly ever make it through the elected bodies, simply because it’s the incumbents who generally benefit from the bundling. Why would any sitting elected official vote to lessen any of those campaign fundraising advantages of incumbency? It’s a catch-22 that continues to prevent any real campaign finance reform from moving forward at any level of government.

Even to place a cap on how much money a candidate can raise and spend to challenge or defend a seat is seen as unconstitutional. Elected and appointed judges are in universal agreement that to place any limitation on campaign spending is a violation of the First Amendment.

Say it ain’t so, Jimbo.

One of the few political writers with the courage to rattle the cage of the good-old-boys and their cronies, the talented Jim Defede, is leaving New Times and moving on to other opportunities in the world of publishing. For ten years, Jim’s hard- hitting political commentary has sent more than one public official scurrying for cover.

Jim’s success in exposing the scoundrels over the years could always be seen in the rash of responding letters to the editor attacking him, particularly after one of his more enlightening columns. No matter the pressure, Jim never backed down from writing about the clowns. Murmurs wishes Jim Defede the best in all of his future endeavors. He will be missed

District Champions

On its road toward the state playoffs, the Miami Beach High School baseball team captured the District 13-6A championship with an 11 to 2 thrashing of Miami Springs at Flamingo Park. The game also marked the 100^th career win for Hi-Tide Coach Lou Sanchez. Keep it going, guys.