Rubio and Diaz-Balart have ($$) ties to Miami’s collapsed-bridge builders

Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart are beholden to their political benefactors first and foremost. And people are dying because of it.

For example, they’d rather protect the gun industry at the expense of… even children. It is a known fact both Rubio and Diaz-Balart are major supporters of the National Rifle Association. Some say they are owned by the NRA, who over the years has showered them both with money. Nobody in Florida has received more money than these two from this gun lobby that believes the 2nd Amendment and the right to shoot people carries more weight than the life of a 14-year-old in Miami or for that matter a six-year-old in Sandy Hook Elementary.

But it’s not the NRA that has me up in arms today!

By now most everyone around the country and other parts of the world know that a 950-ton pedestrian bridge collapsed over Tamiami Trail on Thursday afternoon in southwest Miami-Dade killing at least six people. More dead are expected. As of Friday (March 16), workers were still digging out the site of the tragedy looking for bodies.

My first reaction was sadness. Then there they were. Marco and Mario on television promising help from the federal government. Whatever was needed… they’d get it. Liars!

These two men, and there were others like them there, by the way, are suddenly using a tragedy to try to appear moved by the horrific incident. But it seems that they’ve run into a bit of excellent and quick reporting produced by Miami New Times reporters Tim Elfrink and Brittany Shamas. These two are reporting that together with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who is off in communist China doing business for the county, yes the same county that refuses anything from Cuba because they’re communists… all may soon have to answer difficult questions.

In their Friday afternoon post, the New Times reports that “to Miami-Dade County insiders, it was no shock when Munilla Construction Management (MCM) beat out three other competitors to win a $14.2 million bid to build a high-tech pedestrian bridge at Florida International University. That’s because Munilla is not only one of the biggest contractors in South Florida but also one of the most politically connected thanks to years of shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaigns.”

Skipping to the third paragraph, Elfrink and Shamas continue: “But questions are bound to be raised about Munilla’s deep ties to local politicians, including U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez — especially because the firm has never been shy about turning its political generosity into favorable decision-making.”

Hmm, deep ties to local politicians and Diaz-Balart’s and Mayor Gimenez’ name figure prominently.

They continue: “Just take a look at the last election cycle, when Munilla executives and entities dropped an eye-opening $25,000 into local campaign coffers, according to a Miami Herald analysis at the time. In fact, the firm was the only company the Herald found that had given generously to all six county commissioners running for reelection.

“Not coincidentally, the county commission has steadfastly voted to back Munilla’s ongoing legal protest that has held up an $800 million federal project to build a new I-395 bridge downtown.”

Now it’s at least six commissioners that should worry. And how about that juicy federal project… But read on, it gets better, or worse really:

“Sometimes their patronage was a little too obvious, even in Miami-Dade. In 2011, the county’s ethics director forced Gimenez to recuse himself from a $50 million contract vote that went to Munilla because the firm employed one of his sons, Julio, and paid another son, Carlos Jr., as its lobbyist.

“The next year, the company’s clubby political ties landed another patron in hot water. County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who is running for the GOP nomination for retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s seat — voted to award Munilla a $25 million deal to build a test track for Metrorail cars.

“The problem? Barreiro not only received max donations from four Munilla family members in the last election but also rented office space from the family and acknowledged he was ‘close friends’ with them. But all of that didn’t stop him from voting for the Metrorail deal, not to mention two earlier multimillion-dollar deals, according to the Herald.

“The Munillas’ political donations aren’t limited to local races, though. They are especially heavy hitters in federal elections, supporting mostly Republicans. Jorge, Juan, Pedro, Raul, and Fernando have spent at least $420,400 among them on party-affiliated candidates and PACs since 1995, according to federal records. The biggest spender is Pedro, who has doled out at least $209,000.

“The family has invested heavily in Diaz-Balart; they’ve given the Republican congressman at least $63,400.

“And Diaz-Balart, who is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, was instrumental in building support for the bridge’s creation. Last weekend, FIU praised the congressman, along with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for making the project a reality.”

So it looks like Debbie’s in on the action too. Remember in the ‘money talks’ world in which we live in, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, if it’s green and has the approved watermark, for a few thousand bucks you’ve bought yourself a member of Congress.

But continue reading:

“When the bridge swung into place Saturday, Diaz-Balart was quoted as calling the project a ‘true collaboration’ among partners at the local, state, and federal levels and in the public and private sectors. […]

“I believe this is what creative solutions to transportation challenges look like, and I will continue to support and incentivize these new ideas.”

Mario’s creativity is something to behold. Isn’t it?

But then comes Marco Rubio to give the New Times story the ending it deserves:

“Reporters asked Sen. Marco Rubio, who visited the site of the bridge collapse and spoke to the Munillas, if he had pushed them on what went wrong. ‘Those guys were shaken over there,’ said the senator, who has taken tens of thousands of dollars in donations from the family. ‘There was not an opportunity to get into that.’”

Deaths are piling up and politicians, like Marco and Mario, will blame things on others but themselves and their benefactors, because poor them (the Munillas) they seem “shaken.” Marco thinks shaken is bad? What about the families of the dead who had 950 tons of concrete land on their heads?

Seriously… I think it’s time voters in Miami-Dade woke up to the facts, and threw these bums out of office.