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Election
Novellas and
the Electronic Citizen
Linda La
Fea and Other Cinderella Tales from the Magic City
“One time, they had me as a bobblehead doll in an
FSU cheerleader’s outfit. And I’m a Gator!”
by
Rebecca Wakefield
Elections are little tragicomedies staged for our
benefit, while the real work of scrounging for absentee
ballots, making clever advertising spots and leveraging
favors is done. The debates, the media coverage, it
tends to run together in my mind until all I can
remember are cartoonish representations of the
characters involved.
As
dramatic archetypes go, Miami City Commissioner Linda
Haskins is a hard one to pin down. Is she the
sympathetic ugly duckling now emerging heroically from
the shadow of The Villain, as played by former boss Joe
Arriola? Or is she herself a double-dealing villainess
in league with the Forces of Evil, which, obviously,
seek to destroy all that is good in the world (or at
least, Coconut Grove).
And
what about the other six candidates running for the
District 2 seat this November? I’m just going to go
ahead and dismiss Betty Gutierrez, Placido Diaz, Seth
Sklarey and Michelet Philome because none of them has a
shot in this particular race. But the other two
front-runners, Coconut Grove attorney and activist Marc
Sarnoff, and former city bureaucrat Frank Rollason, are
worth exploring.
Is
Sarnoff a flawed good guy who’s been turned to the dark
side by a villainous advisor (that Arriola character
again)? Or is he the admirable Underdog, fighting the
good fight against the odds? Is square-jawed Rollason a
Dudley Do-Right character — a hapless man of honor who
tries to do the right thing, but never quite “gets it?”
Or is he the clear-eyed Man of Action, who can save the
day if only people listen to him? Read on and see what
you think.
Such
simplistic characterizations have been amplified by the
electronic Greek chorus that has popped up in the last
year or so. The chorus is composed of several groups of
activists who keep tabs on and obsess over local
politics, particularly in the city of Miami. They e-mail
news stories, commission agendas, blog postings and
outraged commentaries of all sorts to dozens, or
hundreds, or, in some cases, thousands of people.
Normally, this would be just the usual circle jerk of
e-mailers reaffirming each other’s opinions. But
sometimes the e-mails have broken news that media
outlets pick up on. And sometimes political candidates,
particularly in the District 2 race, have entered the
fray with their own e-mail responses. The Herald’s
Ana Menendez recently wrote a column about the flack
Haskins received after a fundraiser invitation that was
e-mailed around included the names of two Home Depot
attorneys and publicist Seth Gordon as hosts. Haskins
said she hadn’t authorized and didn’t want the support
of the three, which was news to them, according to
Menendez.
Before
that, the root of a major hate-fest between Haskins and
Sarnoff was sparked by former City Manager Arriola’s
vitriolic e-mail objection to Haskin’s response to
activist e-mails about the fire fee scandal. Even
Rollason had to contend with answering various questions
to an unknown number of faceless people via the
increasingly long chains of e-mail.
Don’t
get me wrong. I’m loving it. Even if the whole thing can
devolve into a meaningless political chat room at times,
it is often enlightening , and fun to watch. But I
wondered how the candidates felt about it. Is it having
an effect on their campaigns or how they define
themselves?
“I
don’t see there’s a real place for it,” Haskins says.
“It is destructive to people’s reputations. I’d rather
deal with issues face to face. But if people want to
hide behind e-mail, I refuse to respond to it. Some of
these Coconut grove blogs are just amazing. One time,
they had me as a bobblehead doll in an FSU cheerleader’s
outfit. And I’m a Gator!”
Haskins, who is the presumptive frontrunner because she
has the most name recognition and the support of the
Manny Diaz fundraising machine behind her, feels that
she was unfairly tarred by electronic critics who
consider her a mere tool of the Diaz administration. She
says that while Diaz is a supporter and friend, she
disagrees with him about the rapid pace of development
in Miami and thinks there should be a moratorium on
zoning changes until Miami 21 can be implemented.
“I’m
not a robot,” she explains. “I’m not lockstep with
anybody. Standing up to Joe Arriola is a lot tougher
than standing up to Manny and I’ve gone toe to toe with
him.”
The
Grove’s opposition to a Home Depot store has become a
big issue. Haskins was a leading member of the
bureaucracy when that deal was done, while Sarnoff has
made his reputation on leading the fight against it.
Haskins accuses Sarnoff of bungling the opposition by
not filing an appeal in 2005. “In June, I overheard a
conversation he had with Joe Arriola,” she says. “Marc
said, ‘Home Depot has done what they could and I want to
support them, but I can’t control the activists.’ Joe
advised him to hold on to the issue because it’s good
for the campaign.”
Haskins
adds that Arriola and political consultant Steve Marin
are secretly running Sarnoff’s campaign, or so she’s
heard from people who said they got calls from the big
guy. “I know Joe Arriola paid Steve Marin’s clients $35
million in no-bid contracts and now they’re asking for
$17 million in change orders,” she says. “My biggest
problem is I don’t trust Marc.”
Sarnoff
says that Haskins has no real platform, so she resorts
to attacking other candidates, himself in particular. He
doesn’t deny that he has worked with Arriola on issues
beneficial to the Grove, but notes that with a campaign
war chest of just $61,000, Arriola is clearly “not
helping that much.” (Rollason reported $105,000 as of
last week, while Haskins has collected $148,000.)
“Where‘s the sizzle?” he asks “Where‘s the steak? I wish
we had more money, but we aren’t taking it from
developers like they are.”
As to
Home Depot, he responds that Haskins doesn’t know what
she’s talking about. He claims that the activists
weren’t able to file an appeal because the city hadn’t
responded in writing to their questions about what the
zoning allowed.
And in
general, he portrays Haskins as a liar (because she had
publicly praised Arriola fairly recently) and a “very
unstable individual,” who “talks to herself in strange
ways,” at debates. “I’ll give you a quote from somebody
I asked why they were supporting her when they hate
Manny Diaz,” he says. “[The man] said ‘Linda’s going to
be Manny’s Waterloo and I can’t wait for that to
happen.’”
Ouch!
These two lovebirds sure are pecking at each other
something fierce. Funny enough, both describe Rollason
as a decent guy, although not the right man for the job.
“He calls her a liar and she’s on his ass for having
Arriola behind him,” Rollason notes, glad to be out of
the line of fire.
Oh
yeah, and the candidates said voters they talk to are
mostly concerned with the usual problems — taxes,
traffic, development. We’ll get to all that later.
For
now, sit back and enjoy the show.
Comments? E-mail
wakefield@miamisunpost.com.
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