Stupidity — and gluttony for money
Stupidity — and gluttony for money
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progresoweekly.com
Thinking back on the dozens of elections I’ve lived through here in Miami leads me to believe that voters are the problem with our politics, not necessarily the politicians. Surely, there are very few elected officials in this town I would venture to brag about – favorably. But who put them there?
A great number of Miami voters are either stupid or simply don’t care. How else do you explain voting against one’s own interests? For example, can anyone explain how we managed to elect a new governor, Rick Scott, who founded and headed a company, Columbia/HCA, which in 2000 and 2002 pleaded guilty to 14 felonies and agreed to a $600+ million fine in what the Justice department then called the largest fraud case settled in the history of the Justice department?
Bad elected officials: Dime a dozen in South Florida
The top story in Sunday’s Miami Herald was about County Commissioner Jose ‘Pepe’ Diaz. Their lead headline explained: “Contractor hires Diaz, flourishes at airport.”
The story develops this way: About two years ago Commissioner Diaz was hired as a director of U.S. Construction, a Coral Gables-based general contractor. Since his hiring, Diaz has served as chair or vice chair of the county commission committee charged with overseeing work at Miami International Airport.
Before Diaz’ hiring by U.S. Construction, the company had done zero work at the airport. But suddenly, in no time at all, “U.S. Construction has pulled nearly three dozen permits at the airport…” “Thus far,” a Miami Herald article tells us, “in the massive new North Terminal, U.S. Construction is responsible for building more than one-third of the restaurants and shops…
“More than three times as many jobs as any other contractor doing similar work in the 1.4 mile terminal,” the Herald article reveals.
It’s not an unusual Miami story. And as for Pepe Diaz, it’s business as usual.
For those of us who live here and take the time to follow these things, Diaz is one of those characters who we’ve always heard is being investigated, but who seems to grow as a politician into bigger and better things.
For example, the former mayor is a hefty fellow. During his days as mayor of Sweetwater, word is he finagled a deal to get one of those now popular operations where they reduce one’s stomach, which later facilitates weight loss. No cost to him. I am told that the health insurance company that facilitated his operation became the health provider of record for Sweetwater.
This is the same Pepe Diaz who between 2003 and 2005, by then a county commissioner, was investigated because of allegations that a “construction magnate,” as The Miami Herald describes Sergio Pino, “played host to… Diaz on a weekend jaunt to Cancun in exchange for his support of a large-scale project in Doral…” Along on that trip, Carlos and Jorge De Cespedes, owners of Pharmed, a medical supply giant, and at the time Diaz’s bosses. Interestingly, one of Pharmed’s major clients was Jackson Memorial Hospital. Also of interest, the De Cespedes brothers landed in prison in 2009 for fraud.
A glutton for money
No doubt that Diaz is a colorful fellow. I am sure there are more stories like these in his resume. But I would hope these are enough to draw you a picture.
Here’s another one. The county commission has tried to boost commissioner’s salaries for years now. Something I have favored, with conditions. One of those conditions being that if salaries are raised, to say $92,000 a year, commissioners would be restricted from holding another job.
Diaz was violently opposed to the limits on his outside work. As The Miami Herald reports, the commissioner stated that $92,000 “is not a true salary.”
Really commissioner? Tell that to the almost one out of every five persons without a job here in Miami-Dade…
The saddest part of this tale, though, is that unless Diaz is indicted and removed from office, and in spite all that we know about Commissioner Diaz, chances are he will be reelected again and again here in Miami-Dade County. And financing his campaign will be some of our most respected community and business leaders.
Like I said, stupid or don’t care. There’s one last explanation for the likes of commissioners like Pepe Diaz. But who better to explain that than Sergio Pino, or the De Cespedes’ brothers, or even the commissioner’s bosses at U.S. Construction.
