Rebecca Wakefield

Here’s to the Bitches and Snitches
The Committee Against Useless Self-serving Efforts Has the Best Name of a PAC I’ve Seen So Far, Even Though It Has Little to Do With This Column

The actions of certain county commissioners make Carlos Alvarez’s strong-mayor initiative look awfully appealing.

“I’m watching. I’m watching everything and everybody.…”

By Rebecca Wakefield

I was ambivalent about the strong mayor referendum pushed by county Mayor Carlos Alvarez. But any questions I had about the details, or the potential for creating a monster, were erased by the antics of the proposal’s biggest critics – the County Commission.

OK, they’re not all bad. Two or three are pretty good, considering. Maybe another couple could be considered passable. But the little devils who concern me most are named Natacha, Dorrin, Pepe, Javier, Dennis, Audrey and Bruno. These are the main forces behind the fight to continue running county government like a feudal system, where rule is by divine right.

Alvarez’s proposed change to the county charter would give the county mayor more control over awarding contracts, and allow him to hire and fire department heads and the county manager. The potential pitfalls of such a change are obvious. But those who advocate for this idea point out that, what with all the corruption, waste and mismanagement going on at the county, having one person accountable is way more efficient than not holding any one of 15 people culpable.

The reason I will vote for a strong mayor is that, whether it turns out to be a better form of government or not, the sudden shift in power will at least break the cycle of payola and obligation that currently reigns. That’s what we need, a major paradigm shift. Reset the counter to zero and let the games begin anew.

The bogeywoman-in-chief is Natacha Seijas, whose attempt to derail a recall campaign against her ended last week, with a commission vote to hold a special election on Dec. 19. The players involved in the anti-recall effort bear a striking resemblance to the players donating large sums to defeat the strong-mayor initiative.

Citizens For Open Government, a political action committee, raised $136,000 as of Oct. 13 to fight the strong-mayor referendum. Who are these concerned citizens? They include the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff ($2000); FIH, LLC, a management company whose contribution address is on Fisher Island and only listed officer is based in Belleville, Mich. ($10,000); and Deerfield-based Globetec Construction ($10,000), whose corporate officers include Miami lobbyist Sylvester Lukis and Jose Mas and Austin Shanfelter of various Mas family construction companies.

Gift Scenario, a flower shop whose president is lobbyist Ron Book’s wife, gave a whopping $20,000. Grand Lakes Development, Lajo Construction, Shoma Development, Adrian Real Estate, South General Contractors, and Inkredible Printing rounded out the bulk of the contributors, with checks ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 each.

Another group, Citizens to Protect the People’s Choice, raised another $114,000 from many of the same people.

Most of the money went to hire attorney Stephen Cody, who got about $124,000 from the first PAC and $77,500 from the other. They should merge and be renamed Citizens For Open Coffers.

Cody filed a lawsuit for CFOG trying to kick a bunch of signatures off the referendum’s qualifying petition. He failed, and when county attorneys opined that the petition was legal, the commission voted, 7-5, to use many, many taxpayer dollars to hire a Tallahassee attorney to challenge the wording of the petition. If all that fails, voters will have a chance to weigh in sometime prior to Jan. 25.

Seijas fought the efforts of the Committee for Recall of Miami-Dade County Commissioners with the help of Cody (and still another PAC), by challenging the recall petition on a transparent technicality. She lost.

On the other side, Citizens For Reform, the PAC run by Alvarez ally Jose Riesco, raised roughly $773,000 by Oct. 13. Most came from $100-$500 checks, although there were a few standouts, such as the $50,000 healthcare magnate Miguel B. Fernandez dropped, plus the many thousands from other healthcare industry companies, which dominated the group of big spenders (followed by lawyers and the real estate industry).

C.A.U.S.E. (Committee Against Useless Self-serving Efforts) has raised $6,500 – for what, I don’t know. I mention it only because the name is so good.

But seriously, some of our commissioners need a reality check. Commissioner Javier Souto, for instance. Monday, the Miami Herald reported that he recently “wondered aloud whether international left-wing agitators [such as Castro or Chavez supporters] could be gaining influence in South Florida” by possibly donating money to the strong mayor campaign. “I’m watching. I’m watching everything and everybody, and let me tell you I don’t like what I’m seeing,” Souto said at a public meeting.

Souto also revealed in another meeting that the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts needed more security to prevent “terrorism” or “sabotage.” This was reported by Dan Ricker, publisher of the e-mail newsletter Watchdog Report. That a much bigger threat to one of the county’s biggest construction boondoggles probably hinges more on whether local residents can sustain attention to culture once the new car smell wears off was not mentioned. OK, so I want this guy deciding county funding priorities?

But what offends me more is the attitude of much of the commission toward any criticism not politically expedient to its members. These are just people, supposedly public servants, who won a popularity contest. Yet, to hear them talk at far too many meetings, you’d think citizen critiques were anathema to the very foundations of our system.

Last week was a good week for democracy, besides the decision to allow a Seijas recall vote. Kudos to state Rep. Gus Barreiro for being a snitching bitch by exposing the alleged racism of state Rep. Ralph Arza. On Halloween, I poured an ironic shot of rum on the ground for Arza, whose political career I hope will now rest in pieces.

That he was stupid enough to give his enemies the ammunition with which they’re killing him (a very stupid case of drunk-dialing) is testament to Arza’s arrogance. He thought he’d mastered the game, until the rules were suddenly changed by a colleague with nothing to lose. Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving fellow, who wielded his power in Tallahassee in ways not generally beneficial to the local school district.

Then there was the final grace note. Former county Commissioner Miriam Alonso pled guilty to a bunch of felonies, including grand theft and money-laundering for stealing from her own campaign. Took long enough (four years since the indictment), but a beautiful thing, nonetheless.

Comments? E-mail wakefield@miamisunpost.com.