There’s talk of reforming the way Miami-Dade operates
Al’s Loupe
There’s talk of reforming the way Miami-Dade operates
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progreso-weekly.com
If you live in Miami-Dade County: pay attention!
Change may be coming to how county government operates. But, and this is important, there will be interests attempting to sidetrack us by employing the hot air ‘paid consultants’ who will try to distract us from what might be the best thing to happen here since… I suppose, since county government was established more than 50 years ago.
Yes, what some are calling “Covenant With The People” can easily disappear as quickly as it has recently surfaced. We cannot allow that to happen. Don’t let yourselves be fooled. Opponents of this ‘covenant’ will probably include most every county commissioner. And since Norman Braman is spearheading the reform movement, don’t be surprised to hear Mayor Carlos Alvarez oppose it too.
Here’s what the Covenant With The People stakes out to do in no specific order:
- Impose term limits on commissioners. Two terms of four years each. Hallelujah! Haven’t you noticed that too many of our commissioners have been there for decades? I think at least a couple want to be buried under the dais. Seriously, among the many positive things term limits produce are a constant change in political leadership while also helping to minimize the influence of money on elections. Sure, money will still fill incumbents’ coffers, but after your second term… you better be looking elsewhere if you want to be elected.
- Increase the pay of commissioners. A six-figure salary, or close to it, is fair. No outside employment, though: elected officials become full-time commissioners while in office. This fact, together with the term limit, should produce new prospects to what has become a stale and recycled field of candidates.
- Another terribly important move: hold local elections on the same date as state and national elections. Why hold elections in September, for example, when two months later you may have the presidential elections taking place that guarantees a higher turnout? And if that doesn’t convince you… one election instead of the two we now hold in a span of a few months saves the taxpayers money. Millions of dollars, by the way.
- Create two at-large seats. In other words, two commissioners who would run not in districts, but be elected by voters countywide – like the mayor does. This would downplay the feudal mentality commissioners bring to the current system – oft times at the expense and detriment of other districts.
- The last measure I’ll mention would change the way voter petition drives are now handled. Not surprisingly the county commission itself, inspired by Commissioner Natacha Seija, created the system we now have. It makes the process terribly demanding (for the voter) by making it costly and logically difficult.
There are still other measures being bandied about, but I wanted to mention the ones I find most exciting.
In the coming weeks you may hear much talk about recalling Mayor Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas; I plan to vote yes (to recall). I believe they (along with a majority of the other commissioners) deserve to be tossed in the political trash pile. But in the end the most important thing the recall may accomplish is to show the electorate the path for it to start flexing its muscle. If successful, the recall effort might convince many in Miami-Dade that the voter still holds great power in county government – if he or she takes the time to participate.
This Covenant With The People, in my opinion, is the way to go. It will inject new lifeblood into our system. And along the way, it might not eliminate money from our politics, but it will diminish the power of the dollar, which the Supreme Court seems bent on promoting – to the detriment of this country.
