FYI: Haiti debacle meets self-promotion: CBS4's Stephen Stock on Wyclef Jean's Foundation's Questionable Spending, Top-heavy with personnel/PR costs

In case you missed it last night on Channel 4's
Eleven o'clock newscast, Stephen Stock is on
the case!

CBS4, www.wfor.com
Wyclef Jean's Foundation Questionable Spending
Jan 15, 2010 11:12 pm US/Eastern
Stephen Stock reporting
http://cbs4.com/iteam/Wyclef.Jean.Haiti.2.1430087.html

Video is at: http://cbs4.com/video/?id=89759@wfor.dayport.com

See also: http://cbs4.com/iteam

Today's Washington Post has this story:
Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation under fiscal scrutiny
By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer

By Friday morning, just days after the earthquake hit, Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation had raised more than $1.5 million.

Undoubtedly, Jean's celebrity helped draw in donors: He's an internationally known musician from Haiti who won a Grammy with the Fugees and went on to a hugely successful solo career. But an analysis of the charity's tax returns raises questions about how it has spent money in the past, with administrative expenses that appear to be higher than comparable charities and payments to businesses owned by the musician and a board member, including $100,000 for a performance by Jean at a 2006 benefit concert.

Read the rest of the story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504024.html

Some straight talk about how Miami-Dade Commissioners use their discretionary funds, and the ethically-curious slippery slope Comm. Sally Heyman increasingly finds herself occupying

First, some necessary predicates to better understand the following blog post.

I think Matthew Haggman is one of the best reporters and most valuable assets of the Miami Herald.
If people like him ever start bailing out, it'll really be all over but the shouting.

I also think Carlos Alvarez as County mayor is a tremendous disappointment to tens of thousands of people, and his pathetic attempt to try to show-up Haggman recently at one of his press conferences only showed how far he's fallen.

He deserves to be recalled from office and just may self-destruct before it's all over.
His political future is in such a death spiral that a black hole would be a relief.

My comments follow the article.
---------------
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1288062.html

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

Miami-Dade commissioners sitting on millions in taxpayer funds

Miami-Dade commissioners are in control of $5 million in unspent money, angering groups facing budget cuts and watchdogs who say the kitty should be taken out of politicians' hands.

By Matthew Haggman and Jack Dolan

October 18th, 2009
As Miami-Dade County fires hundreds of workers and slashes funding for nonprofit groups, county commissioners are sitting on a mountain of cash and are determined not to give it up.
Chairman Dennis Moss controls a stockpile of more than $1 million. Commissioner Sally Heyman has a stash totaling $955,064. Commissioner Jose "Pepe'' Diaz holds $548,651, Commissioner Bruno Barreiro $479,168 and Commissioner Katy Sorenson $353,691.
In all, the 13 commissioners have more than $5 million in unspent cash from last fiscal year at their disposal -- surplus office funds carried over into the new budget year. Some have carried over unspent office funds for years, building the money pile.
All other taxpayer-funded county departments, including the mayor's office, return unspent money to the county general fund to be budgeted the following year. Yet commissioners, who approve every dollar of the county budget, keep the excess while still giving themselves a new, fully-funded budget each year.
The practice has allowed commissioners to amass vast sums that they alone control and can use -- or not -- with few restrictions.
While the $5 million is a fraction of the $444 million budget shortfall the county just faced, it sits untapped at a time when commissioners have implored county administrators to search under every proverbial seat cushion for extra dollars. On Tuesday, for instance, commissioners instructed staffers to find $1.3 million somewhere in county coffers to avoid cutting elderly social service programs.
Yet, during the recent budget debates, commissioners made no mention of the individual pots of taxpayer money they've accumulated.
"I am stunned,'' said Catherine Penrod, CEO of Switchboard of Miami, a suicide prevention nonprofit that, like many agencies, saw its county funding cut 30 percent. "It's hard for me to believe that it is OK to stockpile money like this when there is such a great need out there.''
Social service groups and union leaders say the surplus money should be rolled into the county's general fund and reallocated to community groups struggling to survive the crippling economic downturn, used to save jobs, or to bolster next year's budget. Some suggest it be returned to cash-strapped taxpayers through a small, but symbolic, reduction in the tax rate.
Stan Hills, president of the county firefighters union, looked at the list of commissioners' surpluses and said, "Any money that's available should be used for core services that have been cut. We have response time problems all over the county. I'm sure the police could use the money, too.''
Commissioners show little inclination to part with taxpayer money some regularly call their own. Nor are they willing to let others decide what to do with it -- saying, if anything, the reserves show they have been frugal.
"I will determine how the monies are spent in my budget, not The Miami Herald, not the media,'' said Chairman Moss. His unused fund is the largest, in part because Moss controls more duties as commission chair, including the offices of protocol and media.
"This is the way it's been done historically, the way it's done now, and the way it will be done in the future,'' he said.
Last year, commissioners budgeted themselves $930,000 each -- which is slated to be reduced by 10 percent this year -- to pay the rent and utility bills at their district offices, and to pay salaries for as many as 10 personal staffers. Top aides can earn in excess of $100,000 per year.
By contrast, Florida State Representatives get an annual budget of $29,784 to pay the rent and utilities in their district offices. Each representative is allowed two staffers, who typically earn less than $40,000 and are paid through a state account the elected state leaders don't personally control.
State representatives can't stash away money from the office budget and carry those surpluses over from year to year.
Across Florida, allowing politicians to carry over unspent office funds is unusual, said Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the Tallahassee-based government watchdog group. Extra public dollars typically revert back to the government treasury, not kept by individual politicians.
"These are not commissioners' personal funds; these funds come out of the sweat of hard-working taxpayers,'' Calabro said.
Miami-Dade Commissioners previously came under fire for granting themselves $727,500 each in discretionary funds to personally dole out to district constituents and businesses, an unusual political payout that helps commissioners curry favor with voters. That money, which is being reduced this year by more than $400,000 per commissioner, is separate from the office accounts.
Under Dade's rules, commissioners are able to distribute their surplus office money to community groups, or even other commissioners who have blown their own budgets.
This past year, for example, Commissioner Natacha Seijas dipped into her surplus to transfer $14,811 to Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who overspent her $930,000 office budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Neither Seijas, who has accumulated $449,257, nor Jordan responded to interview requests.
Such transfers can raise questions about transparency and accountability, said Tony Alfieri, director of the University of Miami's Center for Ethics and Public Service.
When one commissioner bails out a fellow commissioner, said Alfieri, it creates a risk of favor trading with scant public monitoring.
Heyman -- sitting on nearly a million dollars in unspent taxpayer money -- said she saw the current fiscal crisis coming years ago and has been diligently saving her office funds, clipping coupons, paying her office staff less than other commissioners and eschewing fancy caterers at community events she hosts.
"Costco sheet cakes are a hell of a lot cheaper than Publix sheet cakes,'' she told a reporter asking about her surplus.
She said she'll use the money to host charity fundraisers and other community activities she says are not meant to win political favor. "When I'm underwriting a walk for the blind, I don't ask if the blind people live in my district,'' Heyman said.
Barreiro, also carrying over a weighty sum, pitched his actions as a benefit to taxpayers. ``I've been frugal,'' he said. "I'm not one who thinks that all the money that has been budgeted should be spent this year.''
Barreiro added that he would give some of the money to nonprofit social service agencies ``as projects warrant.''
Diaz said now may well be the perfect time to earmark the money.
"I believe it is important to maintain reserves in anticipation of a rainy day and, as you know, right now it is pouring,'' Diaz said. "If there is a proposal regarding the use of these dollars to save jobs or keep programs going, I will review and consider such proposals.''
To which TaxWatch's Calabro responded: "A rainy day fund would be in the treasury, not in their personal patronage pot. Frankly, this is a practice that should be eliminated. It is inappropriate in good times, and clearly out of line now.''

Reader comments: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1288062.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

-----------

CBS4's Stephen Stock and the I-Team did several great stories on the questionable spending practices of the Commission and their massive discretionary accounts back in the spring.

As the best investigations tend to do, they raised even more questions about the the royal bubble that the Commissioners have created around themselves, and the shallow, self-serving nature of their responses to

honest questions and criticisms.

http://cbs4.com/iteam/investigation.carry.over.2.954322.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/commission.mudget.broward.2.957878.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/iteam.tax.spending.2.955862.html
http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam

Given that the Herald and the TV station are supposed to be "news partners,' you'd think they'd have figured out a way to mention this past fact-finding, or at least have links to those I-Team reports on the Herald's website for this particular article.
But they don't.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but as I told a Channel 4 exec in February when I was down at the station, in my opinion, it's NOT really a team if they refuse to ever give you credit for the hard work you've already
done.
This is precisely the sort of important story that the newspaper and station ought to be collaborating on if they were a real team, in order to bring enough resources -and pressure- to bear on the M-D
county commissioners. http://www.miamidade.gov/commiss/

But instead, the Herald acts like they're the only ones prospecting in that particularly rich vein of the mine, and yet bring nothing new to this story.

Well, other than the insolent attitude of the commissioners finally emerging in print in ways that are far different from what they were when they were being interviewed on camera by Channel 4.
Imagine that!
 
Based on what I've written before in my blog on in emails to some of you, the fact that, as proven yet again in this article, Chairman Donald Moss is an insufferable horse's ass with no concept of public good or perception is NOT exactly Breaking News to me, even if it may be to you.

He personally, and his ilk, are precisely one of the reasons why life in South Florida is the way it is -and so much less than it ought to be.

I've generally been ambivalent-to-supportive of Sally Heyman, but if I were her, I might start re-thinking my role of playing the great public curmudgeon, the ethical moralizer of everyone else's actions and motives, all
while sitting on nearly a million dollars of taxpayers funds you're personally using as a political slush fund to engender political support and positive PR spin,
http://www.miamidade.gov/district04/home.asp

There are a lot of rich and successful people living in District 4, stretching as it does from just south of me in Aventura to Miami Beach, people who ARE pro-reform and have both the means and the issues to
politically decapitate Sally Heyman in an election campaign, if they were so motivated.
Up 'till now they haven't been.

They have the collective ability to put money into a savvy and well-choreographed media political campaign the likes of which this area has seldom seen before, including a pro-reform TV campaign that highlights
with great clarity and specificity the disparity between what Heyman publicly says and what she actually does.

And uses that as a springboard for county-wide ballot issues that can go right at the heart of the bureaucratic beast.

Right now, they can't do anything directly, per se, about the glut of Barbara Jordans, Dorrin Rolles and Natacha Seijas littering the South Florida landscape like glossy nighclub cards on Miami Beach sidewalks,
but they can make an example of the person on the commission who is supposed to be representing them in an ethical and scrupulous fashion.
And they can enjoy themselves while doing so.

Trust me, just because the Beth Reinhards of the world don't have the sense to see the larger picture, or to contact some of these people I'm talking about, to sound them out, is of no real consequence.
Frankly, given her reportorial style, she likely wouldn't know until someone else tells her, after-the-fact, perhaps thru a PR release, which, sadly, seems to be how far too much gets into both the Herald and Sun-Sentinel these days.

That they don't care what Reinhard thinks -and neither should you, if you really want to know the truth- should cheer you up straight-away.

Sally Heyman's past hard work and good intentions will count for very little when and IF she is increasingly perceived as someone who has made the fatal political mistake of taking things for granted and overstaying her welcome.

So much so, that she became part of the larger problem and not part of the solution.
Given the great resources available and perfectly capable of sending her packing, toute-de-suite, Heyman's rather smarmy self-justifying comments here can only be interpreted one way.

Christmas just came early for those who believe Miami-Dade County can and ought to be more than just a self-serve ATM for second-rate politicos eager to create slush funds out of taxpayers funds.

And Sally Heyman has just presented them with yet another gift-wrapped issue to tie around her neck like an anchor.

For those interested in real reform and accountability, not just pretend reform, Heyman's growing track record of hypocrisy here is the gift that keeps on giving.

CBS4's Stephen Stock gives FL Stimulus Spending the I-Team Treatment tonight at 11 p.m.

July 23rd, 2009

Re my post yesterday, Et tu, Florida?: Georgia DOT
joins ProPublica's Stimulus Spot Check project,
just a head's-up before you head out for the night.

Stephen Stock of the hard-charging CBS4 I-Team
wrote this morning to say that they'll be doing a story
on Florida stimulus spending tonight at 11 p.m.,
so have your VCRs/TiVos at the ready.
http://cbs4.com/iteam

Above, some CBS4 Miami screenshots I did this

afternoon while I caught a promo for Stephen

Stock's report tonight.

In case you miss it, I should have the story link up
tomorrow on my blog, along some with some other
interesting articles on the stimulus spending in

Florida and the nation, and whether it's actually

working, or will even have had any consequences

before next year's primary and general election,

where a new governor and new U.S. Senator will

be chosen for The Sunshine State.

Updated; Why do Carrie Meek Foundation Directors still get free pass from South Florida's news media? Miami-Dade County's deal with Wackenhut, Carrie Meek's wearing of two hats, Kendrick Meek's time with wackenhut; Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's ego and chicanery won't ultimately succeed -except in making this city much-worse than it needs to be; Michael Butler's Public Records Request leads to him being sued by Cooper & City, so where's the coverage in the Miami Herald?

2013 Update: Unfortunately, Michael Butler's Change Hallandale website is no longer in operation.
-----
This is an excerpt from a longer email I sent early Friday morning to some public policy friends and acquaintances around Florida and up in D.C., many of whom share my own incredulity on this particular subject, and wonder how much longer the obsequious media will allow Carrie Meek, our region's "Dear Leader," to get away with her antics.

Please read this news story from South Bend, via their CBS affiliate, WSBT-TV

Local Shelters Lose Food Aid Because Of Fees

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/48557542.html

Frankly, I can't help but wonder if this is going on somewhere down here, given the truly haphazard track record of actually following the spirit and letter of the law among many South Florida non-profits, who don't (always) train their own front-line personnel properly, often with devastating or tragic effects.

Or even the higher-ups, who ought to know better!

Look at the Carrie Meek Foundation's Board of Directors hardly being grilled a whit publicly in the local news media about what they knew -and when- about the very curious things that took place there.

http://www.carriemeekfoundation.org/#content/directors

Notice anything unusual about the foundation's Directors web page above?

Correct, it lacks any information identifying who those very people are, with no photos, no

biographical info about them, nada.

It's a simple list of names, not unlike an elementary school honor roll.

Consider these two sentences from Charles Rabins's excellent article in the Miami Herald from November 16th, at bottom, seven months ago:

The audit accuses the Meek Foundation of using money from business-tax receipts intended for development to pay its former executive director.

The group's contract called for it to pay the director from a trust fund, the

audit said.

MMAP never addressed why trust fund money wasn't used, only saying it

was involved in a joint venture to build an apartment complex on Northeast Second Avenue that should be "ready for occupancy" soon.

Well, the foundation's executive director, Anthony Williams, was able to snag a Herald Letter to the Editor less than a week later, on November 22nd, and -shocker!-

Williams never addressed that very simple question.

Is the general indifference down here among the media to follow-up on this story because of sheer laziness, or because of who the individual directors are, and what those people represent in the greater South Florida community, such as it is, including Carrie Meek's current role as one of Miami-Dade County's Washington lobbyists, and mother of a local Congressman?

If you didn't already know, that move was made at the explicit direction of M-D Commissioner

Sally Heyman, as CBS4's Stephen Stock mentioned in his excellent I-Team stories on

the M-D Commissioners' discretionary funds, which is nothing but a taxpayer-funded political

patronage slush fund, with zero oversight.

http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam/investigation.carry.over.2.954322.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam/miami.dade.commission.2.907201.html

http://cbs4.com/iteam/commission.mudget.broward.2.957878.html

More than just the usual reasons why certain people in the community are asked to join such

efforts, I can't help but wonder if it's actually their very ubiquity that explains why they were chosen in the first place.

http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/povped/part1/index.html

Sad to say, but speaking for myself, I can't help but wonder if that element explains most of the lack of interest among South Florida media for following that story further along.

After all, some of these people can CLOSE a lot of doors to reporters on other, perhaps, more important stories...

I'm no News Director... but it might be a good time to head out and see what's what, months after Miami-Dade County gave a no-bid deal to lease 121 acres of Opa-locka Executive Airport to a foundation like Meek's, with ZERO track record to speak of with large-scale development.

So far, the only constant for the foundation's website is the same photo of Meek that appears

on every single page, yet when you click the Economic Development link, naturally,

assuming that there'll be something there of substance about the situation at the airport,

there's only "Coming Soon."

Wow, the same exact thing it said 3-4 months ago. Que pasa?

By the looks of things, they haven't added anything to the website since December 11th,

2008, and that was here:

http://www.carriemeekfoundation.org/#content/news

It also seems to me like it's high time to ask the foundation's well-known Directors, who are

faceless on the foundation's own website, if they have any earthly idea what's going on.

Personally, having grown-up here, I have my doubts.

For good examples of what's been going on with the Meeks, including the MMAP, take a look at what ever-vigilant Eye on Miami has written about them in the past:

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/search?q="Meek"

Earlier this year I found myself in a professional situation where I was in the company of some very well-informed media folks that were down here in South Florida while I was working up in the Washington, D.C, area during the 1990's.

People who were frequently at County Hall downtown and over on Dinner Key and all the usual locales where we've grown accustomed to seeing on LIVE stand-up shots for the 6 and 11 p,m. local newscasts.

Well, among the more interesting things I learned that day were that one of the many knocks on Kendrick Meek before he first got elected to public office, was that he had a reputation for often being a 'no-show' while working for Wackenhut, who was unable to complain

about this for reasons that should be patently obvious by now.

I was told this was "common knowledge."

Not that this probably will surprise many of you, but for the record, I have never voted for any of the Meeks and never will.

In 2006, rather than simply ratify Kendrick Meek, I voted for myself for Congress.

Last November, rather than ratify Meek-supporter Joy Cooper, I voted for my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach civic activist, Michael Butler for mayor of Hallandale Beach.

Michael is the moral force and number cruncher extraordinaire behind the popular website,

Change Hallandale, http://www.changehallandale.com/

In my own modest way, I describe his site thusly on my blogroll:

"Change Hallandale -New fact-based website by Hallandale Beach resident Michael 
Butler that goes directly after the longtime cronyism and incompetency at Hallandale Beach City Hall with cold hard facts, figures, graphs, charts and videos. See 'em for yourself and you'll see what's really going on!"

For his hard work at trying to ferret-out useful and compelling information and make it publicly

available for local residents to analyze, he's being sued by HB Mayor Joy Cooper and 3/4ths of the HB City Commission, the very people I so often -and accurately- refer to on my blog as The Rubber Stamp Crew, for obvious reasons.

Michael's particular crime?

Making public records requests for information that is specifically allowed under Florida's

Sunshine Laws by legal precedent, but which is particularly embarrassing to Mayor Cooper.

In this state, the actual content defines what's public, not the mayor's own desires or opinion.

Especially when she uses the HB City Hall office address and phone number and signs

them, "Mayor Cooper."

Mayor Cooper has engaged in subterfuge and chicanery on the dais of the City Commission in order to hide her own appalling personal failure to exercise proper judgment, and NOT mix personal, political and official business when sending emails.

(In fact, Mayor Cooper railed against Michael Butler and myself at Wednesday night's City Commission meeting, and though she didn't mention us by name, it was crystal clear to everyone whom she was referring, a fact not lost on any of the many people in Hallandale Beach who've contacted me in the days since, to see if I'd heard about it -yet.

Well, I was there, sitting in the back of the room taking note of Cooper's faux umbrage and false modesty.

I will try my best in the near-future to get video of her remarks posted here, so you can see for

yourself what she's really like when she gets on a smug, self-serving rant like Wednesday night's.

Hubris?

Joy Cooper not only can't spell it, she doesn't even know the meaning of the word.

No doubt Joy Cooper's been warned many times over the years that she courted legal trouble if she persisted in her unethical behavior with emails, but if she's nothing else, Joy Cooper is very, very stubborn and very, very egotistical, so other people's words of advice just bounce off of her like rain off a duck's back.

Rather than openly admitting her past mistakes and taking her punishment for not abiding by the laws of this state, per her sworn oath of office, she's trying to turn the tables on someone who IS genuinely interested in getting the truth out.

That's the main reason why HB taxpayers are now being billed -bilked- for $185 an hour for an outside attorney in the person of Jamie Cole, who, it would seem, has to literally make a mockery of both the State of Florida's Sunshine Laws and court precedents in order to make their case.

Oh, and did I mention here yet that the Miami Herald, in its infinte wisdom, has NEVER once reported on this sad and queer little story of South Florida in the year 2009?

A South Florida city that's actually suing one of its own citizens -and charging its own taxpayers for

the dirty deed- at the behest of a dishonest and

power-hungry poltician?

Now I have.

For more information on the absurdity of this lawsuit, orchestrated by and for the personal benefit of Mayor Joy Cooper, go to Michael's website, Change Hallandale, and look for his May 22nd post titled, CITY SUES ME TO DENY TRANSPARENCY

under Blog/Updates at http://www.changehallandale.com/

Be sure to also see my April 21st post on it, re Hallandale Beach City Hall fights blogger

seeking mayor's e-mail list

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/re-hallandale-beach-city-hall-fights.html

The latter includes the entire account written by the Sun-Sentinel's Ihosvani Rodriguez.

Reader comments for that story are still at:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-hallandale-email-suit-bn042009,0,5408550.story

Miami Herald

SECURITY CONTRACT DEBATE: Carrie Meek seeks to remain a lobbyist in Miami-Dade security contract debate - Former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek is asking Miami-Dade officials to let her continue lobbying for both the county and Wackenhut Corp. despite their dueling positions on a security contract

By Beth Reinhard

May 17, 2009

In the escalating showdown between Miami-Dade County and Wackenhut Corp., former congresswoman Carrie Meek is on both sides.

She lobbies for Miami-Dade, which is accusing Wackenhut of bilking the county out of $3.4 million. And she lobbies for Wackenhut, which is suing the county for $20 million in damages.

"It's kind of hard to represent two masters," said Robert Meyers, executive director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

But Meek is asking county officials to disregard the conflict of interests and allow her to continue representing both Miami-Dade taxpayers and the security company. She has received $150,000 from the county since mid-2007. She declined to disclose her Wackenhut pay.

"I don't see any reason why I can't continue to represent Wackenhut, and I've always been a strong proponent of the county," said Meek, a civil-rights pioneer who represented Miami-Dade in Congress from 1992 to 2001.

Allegations that Wackenhut was doctoring timesheets and leaving county transit stations unguarded go back to a whistleblower's civil lawsuit filed in 2005. The county auditor found evidence of overbilling in 2006 and released a report in 2008. In early April, County Manager George Burgess said the Palm Beach Gardens-based company should be barred from doing business with Miami-Dade.

Meek didn't file her conflict-waiver request until April 27 -- a year after the audit became public. She said she didn't know the county requires its lobbyists to give notice immediately in case of an "actual or perceived" dispute with a private client.

"I can tell you that Wackenhut feels that they're being unfairly judged," said Meek, who added that she did not know the lawsuit was coming. "I can't tell you who is right or wrong."
LONG-STANDING TIES

Meek and her family have long-standing ties to the Palm Beach Gardens-based security company.

Her son, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, sold security contracts for the company from 1994 to 2002, and his Senate campaign has received the maximum $10,000 donation from Wackenhut's political action committee. Meek's wife, Leslie, registered with the county to lobby for Wackenhut in 2004, according to public records.

The former congresswoman began lobbying for Wackenhut in April 2007, the same month the county hired her to focus on transit issues. She asked the county if she could continue representing both clients after she was reminded last month about the county's policy regarding lobbying conflicts, said Joe Rasco, director of the county Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

"I think it's time we asked and that they proferred," Rasco said. "I think it's a fair question and we'll be taking a look at it."

Miami-Dade's lobbying contract describes a conflict of interest as a position contrary to county policy or its financial interests. Representing a client at odds with the county without permission "shall result" in the lobbyist's contract being thrown out and/or the lobbyist being barred from working for the county for up to three years.

"It is incumbent on the consultant and its employees, partners and subcontractors to remain mindful of the county's policy and fiscal interests and positions vis-a-vis other clients," reads the agreement.

Meek didn't make the initial cut in 2006 when the county decided to scale back its Washington lobbying team from eight to three firms and put the contracts out for bid. The county had been spending nearly $1.2 million a year.
'SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE'

"Paying this much for this many people was simply unacceptable," County Commissioner Sally Heyman said in March 2006.

But two months earlier, Heyman directed staff to add Meek and former state Rep. Mike Abrams -- who came in fourth and fifth place -- to the lobbying team. "This was coming out of nowhere," Rasco told county investigators, who concluded Heyman did not violate the ethics code because the lobbying office reports to the commission.

The commission unanimously approved hiring Meek and Abrams on an "as-needed basis" and set their pay at a maximum of $75,000 a year. County officials said the money would come from reserves set aside for hiring outside experts in case of an emergency, such as a terrorist attack or major hurricane.

Two years later, Heyman now says the county should consider paring down to two lobbying firms. The county pays two full-time employees in Washington to lobby the federal government, in addition to the team of three law firms plus Meek and Abrams.

"Are we getting our money's worth?" Heyman asked. "Originally, I thought so. I don't know right now, to tell you the truth."

Miami Herald

AUDIT SCANDAL: Tug of war for troubled Metro Miami Action Plan - Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and county commissioners are vying to control an organization created as an economic driver in the black community.

By Charles Rabin

November 16, 2008

After three terrible days of rioting in 1980, Miami civic and political leaders aimed to heal the city through a 21-member group that would lay the foundation for an inner-city rebirth.

But more than two decades later, despite successful programs helping scofflaw teens and first-time home buyers, the Metro Miami Action Plan remains wracked by management breakdowns and intermittent scandal.

And now, with a scathing 76-page audit outlining millions of dollars of questionable deals, the MMAP may be stripped of control in a power struggle between the county mayor and commissioners.

This much Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and county commissioners agree upon: If the agency is to survive, fundamental change must come. The real battle involves the fine print of that change and who will oversee the group. The mayor wants it; commissioners don't want to give it up.

Armed with the audit, which reaffirms old problems and unveils new ones, County Manager George Burgess said the agency must become a county department under the administration's eye. "Action must be taken to stabilize the organization and to ensure its effectiveness in advocating for the needs of the black community," he wrote.

Commissioners, who appoint the agency's board members, responded by creating a nine-member task force of high-powered black community leaders. Its mission: to press recommendations that would lift the agency out of its hole.
AGENCY'S MISSION

"The agency got off to a wonderful start, but somewhere along the way it lost direction," admitted Commission Vice Chairwoman Barbara Jordan. "But under the mayor's watch, it takes away from the original intent. How can you have it as a county department? You're dancing to the tune of one leader."

The agency's origins date to the 1979 beating death of Arthur McDuffie, a one-time Marine killed while handcuffed after a chase by white police officers. When the police were acquitted a year later by an all-white jury, a three-day rampage ensued that cost 18 lives and $100 million in damage.

MMAP was formed in 1983 to rebuild a torn business community. Among its goals were economic development, housing and education. Though its employees work for the county, it reports to county commissioners.

About $1 million a year of MMAP's $5 million budget comes from the county's general fund, the remainder from fees and a surtax.
TROUBLED BOOKS

Since management issues surfaced last year, 15 of the 21 appointed members have left the Trust, leaving only six to run the quasi-county agency.

Late last year, Miami-Dade prosecutors entered MMAP's Flagler Street office and hauled away computer files. There's been little word on that investigation, but the new audit, released last week, raises questions about spending.

Entangled in the audit are several church leaders, the Carrie Meek Foundation -- named after the longtime former U.S. congresswoman -- and Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.

The audit accuses the Meek Foundation of using money from business-tax receipts intended for development to pay its former executive director. The group's contract called for it to pay the director from a trust fund, the audit said.

MMAP never addressed why trust fund money wasn't used, only saying it was involved in a joint venture to build an apartment complex on Northeast Second Avenue that should be "ready for occupancy" soon.

Some of the agency's housing initiatives also came under fire.

In 2006, MMAP allocated $2.85 million for a lottery system in which first-time home buyers were given 0 percent loans that would be forgiven after 20 years if payments were kept up and the homeowner didn't move.

The audit found that notices of the lottery were placed in newspapers so late that applicants only had two days to respond. Despite public notices of applications available at several locations, they were only available at one.

"The lottery provided significant subsidies to only a handful of individuals, in effect awarding them homes as gifts," wrote county auditor Cathy Jackson.

Action Plan Chairman John T. Jones said the county's ethics commission investigated the lottery -- and found no misuse of funds. He also noted that the application deadline was extended a month at the public's request.
FUNDS IN QUESTION

And, the audit delved into deals that had been reported in The Miami Herald.

For instance, it requested that Karym Ventures, a Liberty City company owned by Spence-Jones' family, return $75,000 of Local Business Tax Receipts that the audit said were improperly used.

Spence-Jones called the auditor's request for restitution "totally wrong." She wouldn't comment further.

The audit questioned the $25,000 awarded to Liberty City's Friends of MLK, money that was to develop promotional material, outreach and build a website. The company couldn't provide documents to prove how the money was spent, the audit found.

"This contract and its principals are currently involved in a criminal proceeding," responded Jones, the trust chairman, saying the group would seek a return of any improperly spent money.

Friends of MLK director the Rev. Gaston Smith was arrested earlier this year on theft charges, accused of misspending the $25,000 county grant and passing along $4,000 to Karym Ventures.

Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker said Smith used the money for "his own personal gain." More than $10,000 was taken out in ATM withdrawals over three months, including $500 at a martini bar at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas.

Smith's attorney, Michael Tein, said his client used the money to promote the organization, for travel to religious conferences and to pay an employee. Smith awaits trial.
UP FOR DISCUSSION

Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, who created the new task force, admits MMAP needs major reform and wants it placed under "management watch," akin to County Hall probation.

Her push to add oversight but retain control will be discussed in a Thursday meeting likely to spur debate. Ultimately, whether the agency's oversight is transferred to the mayor may well be decided by commissioners who still control its purse strings.

Either way, Edmonson said the agency's core mission must remain.

"The problem is there was a lot of conflict going on in the board," Edmonson said. The name "gets a sour feeling now among some people. But what it stands for is really needed in our community."

Miami Herald staff writer Michael Vasquez contributed to this report.