Blackballed MasTec still does plenty of business with county
Al’s Loupe
Blackballed MasTec still does plenty of business with county
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progreso-weekly.com
Oh how soon we forget. At least some politicians in Miami-Dade have shown they have a short memory. I suppose this amnesia occurs when it’s convenient – for them.
I just read a wonderful piece of journalism that appeared in The Miami New Times titled “Six lies about the Marlins stadium” written by Tim Elfrink. “Like a festering, silver-plated pustule, a grotesquely huge can opener, or just an obscene ode to wasted cash, the new Florida Marlins stadium is rising above Miami’s skyline,” writes Elfrink, in reference to possibly the worst deal ever made by Miami politicians with taxpayer dollars. My column is not about the stadium, but I refer to the New Times piece to demonstrate what comes of these deals. In other words, who reaps the benefits.
One can become very wealthy serving as vendor to government. U.S. military adventures around the world are a case in point. The Defense Department will have spent more than $130 BILLION by the end of this year procuring aircrafts, weapons, ammunition, missiles and who knows what else to keep our expensive defense (or is it offense?) program running. That does not include the food, clothing and so much more that a well-equipped U.S. soldier requires.
Locally, the numbers may not be as big. But there is still the possibility of millions from a government the size of Miami-Dade with a budget of over $7 billion annually.
LOOKING BACK – NOT SO LONG AGO
At the end of the decade of the 1990s, Miami-Dade blackballed a well-connected firm by the name of MasTec. The exclusion from participating in county business had to do with their contractors, who were accused of stealing $17 million from the county. The fraud, as Elfrink tells us, “dates back to 1996, when Church & Tower – the company name at the time – won a $58 million road-paving bid. Subcontractors inflated invoices and charged millions for work they never finished…”
In 2003, a grand jury concluded that MasTec executives should have been punished. They never were, except for paying a $4.7 million fine. MasTec was founded by “Cuban exile hero” Jorge Mas Canosa – to this day, the most influential and politically connected U.S. Cuban of the past 50 years.
FAST FORWARD
It’s a new day in Miami. Past transgressions seem to have been forgotten, or excused or maybe just greased over with that green stuff that seems to work so well in the political arena. You know, the kind with pictures of dead presidents.
I have not checked, but since 1999 I’ve never stopped seeing MasTec trucks working on Miami streets. They’re still there and procuring juicy contracts, I guess, from our – no, their – good friends at county hall. From what I understand they’ve reaped benefits from our half-cent sales tax, which was supposed to better our transit situation in Miami-Dade. Yeah, the same department now mired in such an internal mess that the federal government refuses to release almost $200 million of subsidies aimed for our buses and rapid rail. In other words, the well connected have done well with the tax; those who were supposed to benefit have reaped a decline in bus service and a still lousy rapid rail system.
Deposed mayor Carlos Alvarez once said: “We are not building a stadium for the Marlins. We are building a stadium for the enjoyment of Miami-Dade County residents.” Well, at least those who will be able to afford going to the ballgames in a ballpark they helped to build.
One of those groups who will be able to afford watching the Marlins in person will be the MasTec brass who has benefitted from the stadium deal: a $1.1 million contract for electrical ductwork.
REALITY CHECK
OK, I’ll admit that Mas Canosa was not one of my favorites. But it’s not why I write this. It’s what reality looks like in Miami. MasTec, like other politically-correct and well connected companies, are treated differently here.
For example, Marazul. Yes, the charter company that flies to Cuba and operates out of Miami International Airport (MIA). Imagine if Marazul refused to pay Miami-Dade County, the airport, whatever is required of them to operate at MIA. Let’s say they were to routinely do this (something, by the way, they’d never get away with). And then one day, company president Armando Garcia announced Marazul was sick and tired of MIA’s high fees and that they would suspend payments for a few months.
Armando and Marazul would be thrown out of MIA faster than you can read this column. And, you know what, they’d never be allowed back in. And, in my opinion, if all things were fair, if such were the case, I would support the decision by the county.
Which brings me to my question: Why is MasTec, after their record with Miami-Dade, still allowed to do business with the county?
You see folks it’s not about my politics. It’s about a system that offers benefits to those who least need and deserve them. Usually at the expense of those most in need. Gosh, this sounds like the federal government…
