Conservatives declare war on Big Sugar, and the result might be different this time ... by gimleteye

Progressive critics of the conservative right have always found solid ground by calling out the hypocrisy of free-market zealots who nonetheless tolerate government subsidies for big campaign contributors like Big Sugar.

It is a peculiar characteristic of GOP voters that they support free market principles with religious ferocity yet elect politicians who prop up crony capitalism in its worst form: government subsidies for agricultural producers like Florida's sugar industry that raise consumer costs for food across the board.

For a very long time, Florida Republicans and Democrats have taken their cue from Big Sugar and campaign cash liberally sprinkled in their direction by the Fanjul billionaires and other Big Sugar players. Irrespective of which party controls Congress, the sugar subsidy has been sacrosanct. According to a recent report in the Washington Post, that may no longer be true.

Big Sugar built its impregnable political fortress and wealth by allying its price support with farm policy benefits afforded to corn farmers in the midwest. In doing so, Florida sugar growers benefited from a block in the House and Senate that could not be budged; neither by the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, nor by the Competitive Enterprise Institute nor even the ultra conservative Club for Growth.

While other crop subsidies have withered, Washington’s taste for sugar has been constant. The sugar program, which has existed in various forms since the 1930s, uses an elaborate system of import quotas, price floors and taxpayer-backed loans to prop up domestic growers, which number fewer than 4,500.

Sugar’s protected status is largely explained by the sophistication and clout of a small but wealthy interest group that includes beet farmers in the Upper Midwest, cane growers in the South and the politically connected Fanjul family of Florida, who control a substantial part of the world sugar market. That mix of factors has led to an eclectic coalition on sugar’s side, from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.).

The Post suggests that eliminating the hypocrisy embedded in GOP support for corporate welfare is now a high priority for powerful conservatives and political operatives.

“Defeating the sugar lobby is the next campaign after Ex-Im,” Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform said late Tuesday night. “Both are cronyism in its undiluted, inexcusable majesty. Both have survived because they perfected the skills to control Congress for their own profit. If they go down, no political subsidy will be safe. The implication of these wins is bigger than the ban on earmarks.”

It is not the first time that prominent conservatives have publicly railed against the sugar subsidy, but if midwestern corn growers are joining the fight to de-couple from other sugar growers -- to break up the Big Sugar cartel's privileges in federal farm policy -- that would be a novel turn of events.

Big Sugar is a key player in the shadow government that has turned both the GOP and Democrats into pawns for an industry that poisons people, through sugar's massive impacts on public health, poisons democracy, through sugar's phantom operations on elections, and poisons the Everglades.

On the Big Sugar front, Florida environmentalists welcome Grover Norquist and the Club for Growth: "Enough is Enough!" One would think this a story big enough to warrant just the smallest nod by the Miami Herald, by WLRN and WPBT, and television news in Florida.


Exclusive: Corn refiners declare war on sugar, conservative groups jump onboard
WASHINGTON POST
By Tom Hamburger and James Hohmann June 24 at 6:00 AM

For decades, it’s been an unspoken rule among Washington’s agricultural lobbyists: advocates for one crop do not attack other crops, so that everyone’s benefits can be protected.

But a leading member of the traditionally united community plans to do just that: the Corn Refiners Association is about to invest heavily in an effort to unwind the lucrative breaks afforded to sugar, which are among the most generous in U.S. agriculture.

The Corn Refiners, representing companies that produce high-fructose corn syrup, just hired 10 outside lobbyists for an aggressive, unorthodox attack on the federal sugar program just a year after a new farm bill was signed into law. Their first target is the agriculture appropriations bill, now moving through a House committee.

How Accurate is The Miami Herald's Lovefest with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. By Geniusofdespair

The Miami Herald Lovefest is about this accurate.

Let's ask Michael Schiavo of Clearwater about Jeb (Miami Herald Letter to the editor):

I was disappointed by Michael Putney’s Feb. 6 Other Views column about the legacy of Jeb Bush (First round goes to Jeb, Feb. 4). Putney writes that it was “doctrinaire liberals” who opposed Bush’s involvement in the tragic case of Terri Schiavo — my then-wife.

Who is Putney referring to as the “doctrinaire liberals” who were horrified by the former governor’s intervention in my family’s trauma? The Republican Attorney General Charlie Crist, who refused to take up the governor’s crusade? Republican Senate President Jim King, who fought Bush on passage of “Terri’s Law?” Pinellas County Judge George Greer, a Republican and Southern Baptist, who looked at the evidence of my wife’s case before having his rulings tossed aside by a governor who never met her?

Does he mean me, a registered Republican?

The truth about Jeb Bush is that he used my wife for his own personal political gain. You don’t have to be a doctrinaire liberal to be angry about that. In fact many conservatives were also horrified by Bush’s zealous intervention.

What Bush did was disgraceful and hurtful. He abused the power of government to impose his personal religious beliefs on me and my family. He made life miserable for my family, the doctors and staff at the nursing home, the police — all because he wanted to involve himself in something that both the law and common human decency told him that no government official should have gotten involved in.

And every time he should have stopped, he went further: signing unconstitutional laws; sending state law enforcement to seize my wife; using his brother, the president, to get Congress involved; and making me out to be a monster.

When his own family came under scrutiny, when his daughter was charged with illegally purchasing Xanax, he pleaded for privacy for his family — privacy that he never considered my family to be worthy of.

Jeb Bush had no right to do what he did, and voters should consider what someone who used the power of government to hurt so many would do with the power of the presidency.

Not trusting an elected leader who behaved like Jeb Bush doesn’t make you a conservative or a “doctrinaire liberal.” It makes you a compassionate human being.

Believe it or Not! By Geniusofdespair

From the Miami Herald

Michael Putney asked Dolphins CEO Mike Dee to respond to criticism that the plan is “welfare for billionaires.” Dee answered: “Just because somebody is wealthy enough doesn’t mean he should invest money in a way that is unwise."

????? Okay to be unwise for us...not for him?

We almost made it to Number ONE! Maybe next year. By Geniusofdespair

Michael Putney said yesterday in the Miami Herald, "Whew, what a relief. When it comes to miserable places to live, Miami is not No. 1. Nope, we're No. 2." That is in Forbes Magazine's ranking of Miserable Cities. They looked at 200 large cities. The minimum population to be eligible is 249,000. They ranked on 10 factors. Miami is only behind Stockton, California which is the worst. Can you believe that Flint and Detroit Michigan ranked as BETTER cities? Putney said it was "Clearly, a race to the bottom between some dismal, hurtin’ places."

One of Forbes' reasons given for our ranking:

"Miami's corruption is off the charts with 404 government officials convicted of crimes this decade in South Florida."

Forbes said about Miami:

"The good weather and lack of a state income tax are the only things that kept Miami out of the top spot. In addition to housing problems (prices are down 50% over three years), corruption is off the charts, with 404 government officials convicted of crimes this decade in South Florida. Factor in violent crime rates among the worst in the country and long commutes, and it's easy to understand why Miami has steadily moved up our list, from No. 9 in 2009 to No. 6 last year to the runner-up spot this year."

City of Miami Mayor's Debate Tonight, Michael Putney Moderates. By Geniusofdespair

This one should be good, Putney does a great job at moderating.

TV Commentator Michael Putney on County Commissioner Discrectionary Funds. By Geniusofdespair

I hate to toot my own horn but I have been complaining about these funds since Nov. 18, 2006 and in multiple posts thereafter! Putney wrote about it today in an op ed (Get rid of officials' slush funds) almost 3 years later. And, I did call the Inspector General's office Michael Putney. They said they NEVER did an audit on any of these Discretionary Fund recipients. And, you miss one point: Why can't we give to most of the charities ourselves? Why do we need Commissioners to give OUR MONEY and get all the accolades? I am glad to see that Gimenez has softened his position and that Sorenson is open to change. According to Putney:

Katy Sorenson, who says she'd be willing to forgo the current discretionary spending arrangement in favor of a regular budget process in which the commission collectively allocated the money.

Gimenez says that he would consider it, too. They're on the right track.

Putney says:

Altogether, Miami-Dade commissioners give away almost $9.5 million annually, according to Miami Herald reporters Matt Haggman and Jack Dolan. The money comes from a variety of sources -- the majority from federal Community Development Block Grants -- but in the end it all comes from taxpayers. Most winds up in the pockets of small business people who need a little financial boost or with nonprofit, charitable and community-based organizations that provide generally worthwhile programs and services.

But some unknown part of the money winds up in the hands of people whose principal qualification is simply knowing their county commissioner. Or perhaps it's the commissioner who wants to get to know his constituents and throws a little party for them, courtesy of his District Discretionary Fund. For example, ''Pepe's Summer Blast,'' thrown by Commissioner Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz at the bargain price of $10,850.

Developers Win This Round: Parkland Video With Michael Putney. By Geniusofdespair

Send this link to all your friends: http://www.local10.com/video/18019482/index.html
Watch it yourself by hitting here! Above is an aerial photo of the Parkland area.

Miami Chamber: Here are their "Confidential" questions for the U.S. House Candidates. By SunshineUnderground

Here are the questions for the candidates in the congressional forum being held Wednesday at 12 p.m. by The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. All six candidates in South Florida’s contested congressional races are expected to attend, and it seemed like it would be an interesting free-for-all, until it was revealed that the candidates had been given the questions beforehand, and ABC’s local political reporter Michael Putney dropped out of moderating the event, telling the Herald that it was a “farce”

So the Chamber wanted to hold the event, use it as a fundraiser (non-members now have to pay $75 to get in) and then pretend that the questions and answers were all spontaneous? You’ll notice that the document given to the candidates with the questions appears to have been marked “Confidential Not For Distribution.”

It seems like Putney was right on. The questions prepared for the forum are substantive, as far as that goes, but it would have been better to see the candidates think on their feet, rather than hear a bunch of canned speeches.

The event is to take place at 1111 Jungle Trail, Treetop Ballroom, and theater lovers, you can still register to attend online at the Chamber’s website.
Jared Goyette - SunshineUndergroundFL@gmail.com

Following is the text of the questions, marked "Confidential" by the chamber:

ECONOMY/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

What is your position on the so-called "bailout" legislation proposed by the President? If we
are in the kind of economic crisis he says we're in, what should the federal government be doing
to help?

South Florida is facing many challenges including congested road ways, a poor urban population
that is comparatively less well educated, a large immigrant population without health care, and
an overbuilt housing market that is unaffordable to many who live and work here. How would
you prioritize these issues and what would you do to alleviate them?

What is the role of the federal government in stabilizing the economy?

As the gateway to Latin America, Miami-Dade is a key hub for international commerce. What
can you do in Congress to support our transportation infrastructure: our roads, bridges, airport
and seaport?

What is your position on creating private accounts for Social Security?

HEALTHCARE

In Miami-Dade County approximately 600,000 Miami-Dade residents, or about 29 percent of
those under 65, are without health insurance.
Do you support universal healthcare? Do you support efforts by some in Congress for employer
paid healthcare. If so, how do you justify it? If not what are your ideas for solving the U.S.
healthcare crisis and guaranteeing affordable, quality health care to all?

Should Medicare have the right to negotiate directly with prescription drug companies to get the
lowest possible price of drugs for Florida’s seniors?

TAXES

The economy is the No. 1 issue on Americans' minds right now. Many middle class families are
suffering from increased energy and food costs, and some are losing their homes. Could you
share with us your thoughts on federal tax policy and what tax policy you would support to
stimulate the economy and provide some relief to middle class families? What is your position
on tax increases of any kind for the middle class? And if the economy continues to weaken, will
you maintain your position?

We've heard a lot about taxes this year. Can we have it both ways -low taxes and governmental
services?
In your view, are businesses and wealthy people paying their fair share?

IMMIGRATION

According to the census bureau immigration was the largest factor in population increases for
Miami Dade County. Miami Dade County’s population consists of over 50% foreign born.
Other studies indicate that of the over 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.,
approximately 9% of those reside in the state of Florida.

What is your position with regard to the creation of a temporary guest worker program for
essential workers which creates paths to permanent residence whenever appropriate, provides a
way to earn legal status to those that qualify, addresses the millions of undocumented workers
already in the United States, and creates a national strategy for border security and intelligence?

Immigration issues affect our business community here in South Florida on a daily basis. Do you
support needed immigration reforms such as an increase in H1-B professional work visas for
high skilled immigrants that allow our country to stay competitive in a global marketplace?

What are the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform being passed in 2009?

Incumbents:
Will you continue to support the proposed Dream Act allowing certain undocumented students
to remain in the U.S. and attend college?
Candidates:
Would you support the Dream Act?

FUNDING

With Florida being a donor state, do you feel that Florida, specifically, South Florida receives its
appropriate share funding from Congress?

Incumbents – what specific projects have you worked on which successfully brought funding
South Florida?
Challengers – what would you do to improve our prospects?


NATURAL RESOURCES & ENERGY

What are your plans to protect our fragile South Florida environment while promoting economic
development?

Mario, a major portion of the Everglades ecosystem is in your Congressional District. Is enough
being done to protect the Everglades? What have you done? What will you do?

Florida is reliant on a 65 billion annual tourism industry. Are you aware that despite published
government reports, Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than 100 and caused substantial oil
spillage?

What is your position with regard to off shore oil drilling?

Do you support funding for alternative energy sources?


If off-shore drilling is passed, would you support legislation providing revenue sharing to Florida
- revenue that could be used to prepare our residents, business and property and help mitigate
the costly affects of hurricanes and natural disasters?

Would you support legislation that places full responsibility on the oil companies and federal
government for the inevitable clean up or any other related damage to our coast line, wildlife or
natural resources?

Would you support putting environmental programs in place to better understand
environmental impacts of Gulf drilling and protect the Florida straits before they deteriorate
from an oil spill in the Gulf or new drilling close to Cuba?

Congress has left in place the 2006 agreement limiting off-shore oil drilling close to Florida's
Gulf Coast, yet drilling could occur in the Straits of Florida and Florida Bay. What
environmental protections are in place to protect Florida's tourism industry and our coastal
lifestyles?

Florida is continually at risk of hurricanes. What can be done to better protect South Floridians
against these predictable storms?

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Would you comment on the war in Iraq and your thoughts on the future of American
involvement there?

Some say that India and China are outpacing us in their preparation for work in the 21st
Century. What will you do to restore American competitiveness in the global market place?

No matter what, we will have a new President with many serious issues: wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, a global war on terrorism; a dependence on foreign oil, concerns about global
warming that could dramatically and literally affect the landscape of South Florida, inadequate
health care coverage. Could you share your thoughts on these issues?

Given the importance of trade with Latin America to our community and specifically our
relationship with Colombia what is your position on the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia?

CONGRESS

In your view, list the three biggest issues facing Congress right now and how would you address
them?
What are your top priorities in Congress?

Which U.S. Supreme Court decision of the past 40 years you feel were the most important and
why? Which of the recent Supreme Court appointments would you have not approved, and why.

What is the role of government or government responsibility in the event of a natural disaster?

Question for incumbents:
Many people view or perceive you as President Bush’s and now Senator McCain's reliable
supporters. How would you respond to those who feel this way? With both Presidential
candidates campaigning on a platform of change, what changes do you expect to support?

Question for challengers:
What major issues that have affected your respective districts would you have voted on or
addressed differently than the incumbents?
Are you prepared to reach across party lines to solve our problems?

Give It Up Folks: The Dream of a “World Class City” By Geniusofdespair

I read two columns in the Miami Herald:
Michael Putney’s Editorial on the MEGAPLAN: Why give $395 million to a private enterprise? and Dade schools superintendent facing a sharp divide.

One was about the Marlins Stadium and how Mayor Alvarez and others think that the baseball team will make Miami a world class city, Michael Putney says:

“Alvarez's videotaped deposition was introduced, and in it the mayor showed a willful disregard for the team's finances. And also an inflated regard for the value of a Major League Baseball franchise. He and other defense witnesses talked about MLB being an important sign that Miami is a 'world class city.’ “

The other was about Rudy Crew vs. the School Board’s vocal minority. Crew has received national recognition for his work here:

“Crew was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators. And the district is a finalist for the prestigious Broad Prize in Urban Education.”

Yet, he is the target on radio talk shows. We all remember Rep. Ralph Arza (Hialeah) slur, using the “N” word when talking of Crew.

Rich people, Adrienne Arsht and Paul Cejas have come to his defense. Cejas, a former school board member, even kicked in $240,000 to lure Crew here.

So what do these two article have in common? “World Class City” of course. Wasn't the American Airlines Arena suppose to make Miami a "World Class City"? And the Arsht Center, wasn't that also a "World Class City" maker? And the museums in Bicentennial Park, they are going to make this a "World Class City" too.

You can build a hundred stadiums but as long as you don’t fund our schools and take politics out of them, Miami will remain a little-shit town. You are dressing up the pig, Mayor Alvarez. Look deeper. Ridding Miami of poverty, having good transit and schools is what makes a city world class. A stadium doesn’t cut it. Just say you want baseball, don't include the "World Class City" bull, no one is buying it.

Will everyone please remove this phrase from their vocabulary until they are ready to get serious?

Michael Putney’s column about the Poinciana Bio Park debacle by Geniusofdespair.

Putney wrote in the Miami Herald today that Miami-Dade must clean house -- now.

I usually agree with him and I do today. He said of Miami Dade Government's support for a Bio Park scam presented by developer Dennis Stackhouse:

“...they were eager to sign on, it appears, mainly because the project was supported by former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, a revered figure in South Florida politics. Supported also by her son and successor, Kendrick...”

Putney described the semi-apology of Useless County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle (who got a $10,000 check from Biotech/Stackhouse for the troubled social service agency he runs and $8,000 in campaign contributions):

“While admitting that ''mistakes'' had been made in vetting Stackhouse, Rolle declared he wouldn't apologize for backing a bio-tech park that would bring jobs and money to Liberty City. Then he said that the fact that nothing has been built, despite millions of dollars in loans and grants, was no worse than cost over-runs and other screw-ups at the county's performing arts center, Miami International Airport or the Water and Sewer Department. The subtext of his argument was obvious and ugly: The big-ticket projects, you white commissioners support have had their problems, and we black commissioners went along; now you want to hold us accountable for one of our projects that went haywire.”

Former Congresswoman Meek told Putney:

''Mr. Stackhouse took me in...''

Maybe it is time to retire like you said you would Carrie!

Show us the Money! By Geniusofdespair

Michael Putney asked yesterday: Where did the Miami Dade tax money go during the boom?

For starters: The terminal at Miami Dade Airport is now $1,000,000,000 over budget. That is great management don’t you think? The Performing Arts Center just got $4,000,000 more to add to their $217,000,000 over budget. County is spending $130 million for furniture. The county wasted at least $12,000,000 on affordable housing (House of Lies). The police are $7,000,000 over budget. That is $1,370,000,000 with just these few things. I didn’t even touch on the seaport.

The county still needs a few billion to build the water and sewer infrastructure (desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants included) in the near future or development stops cold, thus, you know it will happen. And these big ticket items are unbudgeted.

The County signed a consent order with the department of Environmental Protection to get them off their back. In the agreement the Commission has to build a treatment plant in South Dade where they are injecting millions of gallons per day of partially treated wastewater underground in (documented) leaking wells. The wastewater plant: has it even been started yet? It was suppose to go online in 2008. Right, that’s going to happen!

So Michael Putney, that is where some of our hard earned money is being wasted. And these commissioners have the nerve to threaten us with cuts to essential services? They should all hang their heads in shame over all this waste. And, how does County Manager Burgess escape it all?

Now, there is a bright spot:
Commissioners Rebecca Sosa and Carlos Gimenez voted in Committee not to award an Opa Locka Airport contract (no bid) to the Carrie Meek Foundation. Get a grip you other Commissioners that voted on it. We need to bid this very large contract out TO PROFESSIONALS. Stop giving lucrative contracts as perks (Willie Logan had the contract prior). Carrie Meek is a very nice lady born in 1926 – what is she 81? Come on! Besides, Rick Glasgow, on the Meek Corporate papers, is (or was) Assistant to the Director, Office of Community and Economic Development, of Miami-Dade. This deal smells of cronyism and thank God that two commissioners, at least, have noses.

What happened to you Barbara Jordan? You make Rolle look good, almost. At least he is up front with the crap he pulls. You play the innocent. It doesn’t suit you. You are too smart. Do the best for your district, not for selective powerhouses in your community.

Why oh why does lining the pockets of friends keep happening over and over at County Hall?

Putney dissn' Miami-Dade by Geniusofdespair

Reporter Michael Putney chastises our County Commission, the Mayor and the County Manager in the Miami Herald, PROPERTY TAXES: County too slow in sounding the alarm. However, Putney gives high marks to City Mayor, Manny Diaz, for staying on top of the issue.

Discussing County tax dollars Putney said:
“Tax revenues soared as well as real estate boomed, although it's hard to pinpoint where all that tax money went.”

I will tell you where it went Michael:
A lot of it went out the window. ("House of Lie's" for instance, the affordable housing scandal outlined in the Miami Herald).

I have found one place where we can trim the fat budget and make elections more fair to non-incumbents at the same time: Get rid of those commissioner slush funds. We have 14 (including the Mayor) getting $350,000 a year to dole out to Community Based Organizations. It is a good idea gone bad.

Almost 5 million of your tax dollars goes into this program. What this fund essentially does is: buy favoritism. Some commissioners carry over their funds until election time and distribute it wisely to garner votes and support in the district. For instance, if the Commissioner gives to all the PTA’s in his or her district...that can be very powerful as a vote getter. PTA members are likely voters. The commissioners are usually pictured in either local neighbors section of the Herald or local newsletters, handing a blow up of the check to the PTA president (free press to boot!).

The money in these funds goes to such things as marching bands at high schools, chambers of commerce (Camacol got $45,000 in 2006), various schools (the troubled JESCA got $25,000). Miami Springs Optimist Club got $15,000. Kinad, Inc. got $26,000 (touring African American traveling Museum). I checked on Kinad’s events on their website — to see where they are bringing their traveling museum. That page is not working – no event dates available. Hmmm.

I don’t want to say that these listed Community Based Organizations are not important or needy. Some are. Let the expenses come out of the budget if they are worthy. However, many of these expenses should be absorbed by city budgets, not County. Only the unincorporated area should be hitting up the County for money in my view. If parks need money, they should come first because they serve the entire community not just one segment.

Let's stop giving the sitting Commissioners an edge in their reelection campaigns with strategic use of these “charitable” funds.

Getting back to Michael Putney: He projects the county will lose between $400 million and $500 million. I just saved them $5 million. Anyone else have any ideas?

On Mayor Carlos Alvarez by gimleteye

Michael Putney is one of the brightest observers of Miami Dade County politics: he’s seen and heard it all.

In his column today, "Strong Mayor, weak politician", he expresses frustration with Mayor Carlos Alvarez. “The fact is, Alvarez has not only failed to acquire any political skills in the two-plus years he has been mayor; he seems to have gone out of his way to not acquire them,” Putney writes.

That’s not quite fair.

The truth is closer to what follows in Putney's words: that Alvarez abhors the example set by Alex Penelas—his predecessor—who never found an issue that he couldn’t milk for political advantage, private profit, and fostered the corruption that pervaded County Hall when Alvarez arrived.

As a result, Mayor Alvarez set out a pragmatic and limited course based on accountability of county department managers.

The column takes Mayor Alvarez to task over his lack of sensitivity in the recent firing of the transit chief, Roosevelt Bradley. Why didn’t Mayor Alvarez reach out to the African American county commissioners who, everyone knew, would be angered by Alvarez’ actions?

We’d ask another question. Why hasn’t the mainstream media ever criticized the leadership in the African American community for trading unassailable incumbencies so long as they play the game of the dominant Cuban American majority on the county commission, controlled by lobbyists and developers? (The last African American leader to try to resist was Art Teele in the 1996 mayoral election, and the Miami Herald never once acknowledged what he was trying to do...)

As we have noted in this blog, African American county commissioners stood by while the Housing Agency was being pilfered under the supervision of individuals they trusted and who owed them loyalty. Instead of paying attention to the needs of their own disadvantaged constituents, these commissioners lead the charge to assist zoning and permitting changes sought by big production home builders in places like Florida City.

It is a shame that the mainstream media wasn’t vigilant to reporting the set of alliances that defined an unmovable political reality at County Hall.

These are not Mayor Alvarez’ supporters, and that is putting it politely.

It is a tough road that Mayor Alvarez is following.

In the absence of any model of governance that he can trust—because the county commission is so dysfunctional—Alvarez is relying on the skill set that served his career in the police department and the people of Miami-Dade County: he is straight and to the point.

The biggest change, since he became strong mayor, is that county department chiefs no longer have to listen to the shrill and insistent commands emanating from the offices of county commissioners like Natacha Seijas, who ran rough-shod and unchallenged over professional managers like Bill Brandt, Miami Dade Water and Sewer chief who took the fall when the State of Florida called out the county for avoiding any significant improvements to its water management programs.

Mr. Putney’s concludes: “Mr. Mayor, stop issuing orders like you’re still the police chief, stand in front of the commissioners—and the people of the county—and explain what you’re doing and why. Yes, you’d look like a politician. But, like it or not, that’s what you are.”

For the time being and until proven wrong, he is trusting the chain of command, lead by county manager George Burgess, to provide professional government services. Is he being too quiet, in terms of media exposure?

Perhaps. But how does Mayor Alvarez advance his leadership by crashing into that wall of indifference?

Mayor Alvarez does not have a history in which to trust the Miami Herald or the Miami business elite which stood by and cheered while Alex Penelas and his predecessors turned Miami Dade County into an indescribable mess.

And, in the first part of his political life, Hispanic TV news ignored Mayor Alvarez, as did bought-and-paid-for Spanish language “commentators”.

So we are sure that Mayor Alvarez and his staff ask the question, daily, what is to be gained by exposures to battles in the media, where the portrayal of a contest between opposing political forces is not going to improve the situation?

Mayor Alvarez is governing, by reinforcing professionalism in the ranks of one of the largest county governments in the United States. That message does need to be reinforced, with the public, at every opportunity.

Comment on: A superb column by Michael Putney today.

Who’s Minding The Store at County Hall by Michael Putney
I only wish the Herald didn’t remove these columns after a week. This column rocks!

What is going on with Burgess anyway? I like him...he is very nice to me. I think he is between a rock and hard place: trying to make all these commissioners happy. But all this crap at the county, what gives? The two million we pay to Japan to exercise a train we have no tracks for --- how do these kinds of things happen?

DISTRICTS!!!!!!!!

I blame districts. As long as they keep their little fiefdom's happy, the whole of the County be damned. Did you know that the vile Natacha got elected with 12,989 votes? Mayor Alvarez got 396,798 votes in the election. Who has more power: Yes the vile, boxy, fireplug (Natacha Seijas). In 2004 there were about a million registered voters in Miami Dade County, yet someone with 13,000 votes runs the County but hides along with the other 12 when things go wrong -- and that is often!

To quote liberally from Michael Putney’s column today:
"The buck never seems to stop with anyone. This huge and sluggish bureaucracy just churns along, propelled by a very few competent people who have a sense of urgency about their responsibilities and oversee the monies entrusted to them as if they were their own. But their dedication is dragged down by the many others who don't care if money is misspent or, worse, stolen."