Gaming the Miami political system
Al’s Loupe
Gaming the Miami political system
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net
If Lewis Carroll had been around today and living in Miami, and he had yet to write his Alice in Wonderland, his resulting story, if based on our city, may have been even stranger and more nonsensical than it already is. Alice and her white rabbit, Mad Hatter and Cheshire cat would have had little over some of our zany politicians — and their crazy stories.
You want bizarre? Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, 42-years-old, last week was arrested on one count of second-degree grand theft. She is accused of stealing $22,000 in county grant money. By the time she bonded out of jail, Gov. Charlie Crist had suspended her from the commission post she had won by an 80 percent majority one week prior. A special election to replace her was called this past week by new Mayor Tomas Regalado. It will be held in January. Ms. Spence-Jones has announced she intends to run for the seat she was removed from by the governor. Chances are that she will win.
This, by the way, would not be a first for Miami. In 1998, Miami Commissioner Humberto Hernandez was suspended by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles. Hernandez had been indicted for money laundering and bank fraud. He bailed out of jail and ran for his own seat — and won overwhelmingly. Hernandez eventually served time in jail and was replaced by Joe Sanchez, the man who recently ran and lost to Regalado.
I hate to declare anyone guilty before she is tried, but evidence against Spence-Jones does not favor her. The saddest part may be that in her defense, Spence-Jones has taken out the race card. She called her indictment a “public lynching.”
Gifted with the oratory cadence of a black preacher possessed by the Holy Spirit, Spence-Jones will use her gift of gab to convince voters in her district to vote for her, again. And in her predominantly black district, her between the lines message will let voters know that their vote will help her “stick it to the man,” while evidence actually points to the commissioner sticking it to her own constituents — money stolen which was meant for one of the poorest neighborhoods in Miami.
There is more to this sad and bizarre tale. Local bloggers, led by Alan Farago of Eye on Miami, now wonder why State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle did not arrest Spence-Jones before her most recent election. The information was old news before Miami’s November election. It may have made gaming the system a little more difficult for Spence-Jones. When asked, Fernandez-Rundle referred to the “sanctity” of electoral process or something of that nature. Yeah, sure, less than 20 percent of voters show up to an important election in Florida’s most important city and end up electing, who appears to be a crooked politician, and Fernandez-Rundle becomes sanctimonious.
This is the same Fernandez-Rundle who more than a decade ago let slide a company by the name of MasTec, owned by a Miamian by the name of Jorge Mas-Canosa, who did business with the county, and who was charging the county for street striping work not being done. In other words, charging for 10 miles of work while only one mile had been done. This is no allegation, by the way; it was shown to be true. And to this day, nobody really knows what, if any, price MasTec paid for their, shall we call it, “indiscretion.”
This is the same Fernandez-Rundle who recently came to an agreement with another Miami commissioner, Angel Gonzalez, who was found guilty of trading his influence on the dais with a Miami construction company in exchange for a no-show, no-work “job” for his daughter. She had been receiving $500 per week for more than two years and all she had to do was not bother anyone — including the people she was supposed to be working for. Gonzalez paid handily for his sin. He simply agreed to vacate his elected position. Wow! Poor fellow.
Oh, Miami is such a wonderful place. Politicians break the law, steal our money and do as they wish with our tax dollars and… they usually get away with it. Compare that to the poverty-stricken kid, stuck in the ghetto (maintained and created by these same politicians) caught selling crack (or even pot) or trying to buy it. The police comes around, cracks them in the head with a baton (that’s if they’re lucky — there are guns and stun guns to deal with too) and take them to jail. And that 20-year-old kid with little chance of anything is then thrown in a system, run by the likes of the Fernandez-Rundles, where they serve years of hard time and come out even more hardened criminals.
Like I said at the beginning, I have a feeling Miami may have been fertile ground for the likes of Lewis Carroll. If we’d met, he may have traded me for his Alice and called this story, Alvaro In This Not So Wonderful Land.
