The Springs Observer. - The Springs Observer

Paid For By "Citizens Against Triple Taxation" Hmmm...

10/16/2018

A group calling itself "Citizens Against Triple Taxation" was kind enough to send me a colorful, if poorly-designed 6" x 9" mailer today exhorting me (as a Miami Springs voter) to "Vote NO on Annexation."

Now, annexation is not a new issue in Miami Springs. But, it's kind of a settled issue. Nearly a decade ago, Miami Springs voters went to the polls on April 7, 2009 and over 76% voted in favor of annexation.

There is a fact sheet online at the City's website, here.

The fact that I'd seen ads over the Spring and Summer in the River Cities Gazette published by this group, "Citizens Against Triple Taxation" (hereinafter, "CATT") got me curious, since their ads used a lot of words like "WE" AND "US" and "OUR" -- I reasonably inferred it was a group of politically engaged Miami Springs residents voicing concerns.

That doesn't appear to be the case.

According to sunbiz.org, CATT is an active, Florida Not For Profit Corporation, led -- not by a Miami Springs resident -- but by a sole individual, Mr. Derick Ferrao. The mailing address for CATT is Mr. Ferrao's homestead-exempted property; a waterfront home just off Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove.

According to Mr. Ferrao's LinkedIn profile he presently serves as President of Doral East LLC, which holds property within the proposed annexation area, at 5149 NW 74th Avenue. According to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser's website, the building held by Doral East has an assessed value of $2,950,000.

There's lots more to get into here.

For now, I just wanted to speak up in favor of full disclosure and transparency on this matter that affects the lives of all Miami Springs residents.

At the moment "Citizens" appears to be just the citizen pictured at right.

Thanks for reading! Feedback is welcomed at [email protected].

s/o

Mr. Derick Ferrao --- Photo courtesy of Mr. Ferrao's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derick-ferrao-595700b1 Accessed 10/16/2018.

Memorial Day 2017

5/30/2017

Once again, the City of Miami Springs put on a terrific program for our Memorial Day service. Councilman Bob Best handled the emcee duties, the Boy Scouts posted the colors, the Girl Scouts led the Pledge of Allegiance, and a brass quintet (if I counted and recall correctly)

played the Star Spangled Banner to get underway. Thanks to the efforts of former Councilman Paul Dotson, we were joined by Bill Kniffin, the son of Walter D. Kniffin, one of the men whose name appears on our War Memorial monument.

I was gratified to be able to talk about the six men whose names appear on the memorial, giving details as to their service and their lives prior to the military, while introducing the names of three men who are "Sons of Miami Springs" but whose names do not appear on the memorial. As I was speaking, Chris Mayhew approached and gave me yet another name, and early indications are that my "three missing" will soon have a fourth in Robert Cain, Miami Springs '68.

I put out a call for volunteers to get involved with a larger project to renovate the memorial to include more detail about the men and their service, and I came home with 20 new contacts willing to step forward.

Finally, we had reporter Isabella Cueto of WLRN on hand to cover the event. You can read her coverage here.

If you haven't yet had an opportunity to peruse the research-in-progress on the Miami Springs War Memorial, you can find the page with links to the individual soldiers and marines here. I know there is a lot more information out there to be had, and I welcome all the help I can get, so please drop me a note at [email protected] with ideas and feedback.

Thanks once again to all who came out to make this year's Memorial Day service one of which we can be proud.

s/o

Time Out to Give Thanks Where It's Due

4/18/2017

So, it's been a couple of weeks. We've had ourselves an election and a swearing in.

Sincere thanks to our departing council members, Mayor Zavier M. Garcia and Councilwoman Rosalyn Buckner for your service.

A Special Thank You to the citizens who cared enough to step forward and put themselves out there on the ballot to be considered [read: knocked around] as prospective elected officials, but fell short: I'm looking at you Donna Hernandez, Eric Elza, Constantino Hernandez, Kathie Marquez and Martin Marquez. Having worked closely on campaigns that ended in victory as well as some that didn't - I will say that "those who talk far outnumber those who know." Let no person (or at least, no person who has never had their name on the ballot) minimize your contributions based solely on the returns - an election result is merely that...and I hope that your zeal for - and engagement with - our community and the issues it faces continue undiminished.

2017 - 2019 Miami Springs Council. L-R: Vice Mayor Bob Best, Councilwoman Maria Mitchell, Mayor Billy Bain, Councilwoman Mara Zapata, Councilman Jaime Petralanda. Photo: Wally Clark

Last, but most assuredly not least, Thank You to the newest members of our Council, Councilwoman Maria Mitchell and Councilwoman Mara Zapata; and our returning members, Mayor Billy Bain, Vice Mayor Bob Best, and Councilman Jaime Petralanda - who have some idea of what they're getting into, and stepped forward anyway. I know I speak for many in the community when I tell you that our hopes are high and we're expecting great things from you. Good luck to you all.

Time to go to work. s/o

Citizens for Ethical and Effective Leadership

4/3/2017

OK, there's a lot of ground to cover, so I'll probably break this into a couple of pieces.

First, I'd like to clarify - this post - like my others on campaign finance - is a commentary on the state of campaign finance in the hopes of getting some traction in reforming campaign finance and bringing integrity back to our elections at *every* level of government: Federal, State, and Local.

With that, I'd like to share a few mail pieces that have been sent by an "Electioneering Communications Organization" (also known as a "527" or "ECO") called "Citizens for Ethical and Effective Leadership" - a name too long to type over and over, so we'll just call them "CFEEL."

The gallery below depicts three mailers I've received at my home over the past two years from CFEEL. Note carefully, these are not campaign literature, as they do not use any of the "eight magic words" defined by the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo as "express advocacy" which would be subject to campaign finance laws.

The "magic words" as defined in Buckley are "vote for," "elect," "support," "cast your ballot for," "Smith for Congress," "vote against," "defeat," "reject," and variations of those phrases. Anything using the "magic words" has to be paid for by campaign using the kind of fundraising money that is reflected in your donor reports.

Mailers like the ones below, put out by CFEEL are not bound by the limits for campaign fundraising. This handout from NYU's Brennan Center for Justice illustrates nicely why the "magic words" test is laughably inadequate.

There's something else all the pieces have in common. See if you can find it. I'll wait...

Did you see it?

OK, so CFEEL was back again for this election cycle, sending at least two mail pieces ("at least" because received two, but there may have been others) that were, again *fully legal* and *not electioneering* since they passed the magic words test.

See if you can find what this year's two mailers have in common...

It's a little bit like how DeBeers says "A Diamond Is Forever" and sends a clear message without ever telling you, "Go Buy A Diamond!"

Finally, I wonder if you noticed anything else interesting regarding the layout and design of the preceding mail pieces? They were sent months (or years) apart, so it would be easy for the average person to miss certain similarities in real time.

Take another look before scrolling down...

No fair looking!

OK, here are a 2015 mailing and a 2017 mailing side-by-side.

Then - 2015

Now - 2017

Then - 2015

Now - 2017

Yes, they really are two different mailers.

While recycling copy and layout for different campaigns and different mailings might certainly be considered "efficient", I'm not sure it is either "ethical" or "effective".

So much for "Citizens for Ethical and Effective Leadership."

Next post, we'll attempt to "follow the money" with CFEEL. s/o

Sizing up the Mayoral Race - pt. 2

4/2/2017

Eric Elza
Former Councilman Eric Elza reports a total of $570 in campaign income, all self-loaned, which covers the $103 filing fee and $420 in campaign signs. The one discrepancy is with expenditures, on his "G3" report (p.3 of attachment) he reflects a payment of $1,475 to the River Cities Gazette for newspaper advertising, but there is no reported income to offset. I'm guessing this is an oversight and I've reached out to Mr. Elza to get clarification. UPDATE: Elza confirms that he is filing an amended report today 4/3 to reflect an additional loan of $1475 - bringing his total campaign to $2045, all self-funded. Nothing else of note with respect to his other qualifying documents.

Donna Hernandez
Ms. Hernandez reports a total of of $3,359.12 in contributions, $2,124.12 of which is self-funded. Her largest single contribution is $675 from "Miriam and Evelio Cabrera" on 3/8. I note this only because Mr. Cabrera also appears as the top contributor on the donor lists of Candidates Martin Marquez ($300 on 3/20 and an additional $250 on 3/27) and Kathie Marquez (identical contributions of $300 on 3/20 and $250 on 3/27.)
Cabrera is President of Zimmerman Auto Brokers on NW 36th Street.
Ms. Hernandez's candidate petition was a group effort, with no fewer than 8 individual canvassers collecting signatures, including Hernandez herself. She is the only candidate to have petitions circulated by a sitting member of the Miami Springs City Council, Hon. Roslyn Buckner (pp.32-33 of attachment).

Billy Bain update:
We have received a response from State Sen. Rene Garcia of the PAC, "People In Need of Government Accountability" with respect to their $1000 contribution. The Senator's reply begins at the bottom of page 1 and goes over the page 2. Because it appeared to have come from a personal account, I chose to partially redact the email address.

See you at the Polls - again, comments and feedback welcome at [email protected]. No matter who you vote for, be sure to vote Miami Springs! s/o

Sizing up the Mayoral Race - pt. 1

4/1/2017

So, in my original post I introduced myself and dropped the disclosures for the Mayor's race without further elaboration. I apologize, I wanted to be sure to get all the documentation posted first and foremost - and this race has the most to discuss, perhaps fittingly. The collective field for Mayor is an embarrassment of riches for the community with respect to passion, integrity, experience, dedication, leadership, service, and judgment. The challenge will be cutting through the bluster to find the right combination. Let's break down the documentation.

William "Billy" Bain
The former Mayor and incumbent Councilman reported $10,550 raised, including $2,750 of his own money. In addition, he accepted $1000 (legally) from City Vendor Becker & Poliakoff. Major contributions from local business included $1000 from from Mas Fuel (same owner as Orion Gas and Downstairs Market on 36th St.) and $750 from Milam's. Other local contributors would be former Mayor J.C. "Chet" Field's firm for $100, and Medley's Big "E" Trucking for $300, and Veron [sic] Green from Sonic Aviation for $250.

Finally, there are contributions of $1000 each from the Orwellian-sounding "People in Need of Government Accountability PAC" (which, coincidentally, is a shoo-in for the "Most Unfortunate Acronym" award) and "Fighting for Florida's Families PAC", as well as $1000 from the more benign "Miami Realtors PAC". The influx of PAC money is out of character for Bain. His 6-0 win/loss record in Miami Springs elections is a testament to his natural, friendly manner. Instead, it's the outgoing Mayor who is a particularly prodigious fundraiser. Given that his reports reflect payments of $829.25, $3,049.50, and $829.25 to the outgoing Mayor's firm ZMG Media, Inc. for printing and mailing, it's unclear who is getting the greatest benefit of those PAC dollars. I have reached out to find out how those contributions came about, and will update with any new information I receive there. UPDATE! Response received from the Chair of "People in Need of Government Accountability," State Senator Rene Garcia - HERE.

With respect to the other qualifying documents, nothing jumped out except that all of the qualifying petition signatures appear to have been collected by Billy's spouse, former Councilwoman Grace Bain. Except for one sheet that was circulated by Ms. Nora Lob, spouse of former Councilman George Lob.

So I guess we can't say, "Bain and Martin Marquez have nothing in common."

(That's a joke - c'mon, there's no reason this can't be fun...)

To be continued... s/o

Seat 3 - Kathie A. Marquez v. Mara Zapata

4/1/2017

The winner of Seat 3 will be a "freshman" Councilwoman, as first-time candidates Kathie A. Marquez and Mara Zapata bid for election. Let's take a look at the campaign documents.

Kathie A. Marquez
Ms. Marquez reports $1,500 raised, including $200 from herself and $300 from Urbanworks, which is her spouse Mr. Martin L. Marquez's firm. Minor irregularity, Ms. Marquez neglected to sign her "G1" and "G2" reports (pages 4 and 7), and reminiscent of husband Martin's "G1" report, there is $100 styled as a "loan" on page 7, but the itemized list on page 8 reflects a cash contribution. The striking similarity between the reports (down to some of the errors) does little to dispel the perception that husband and wife will be unable to work independently as simultaneous members of the Miami Springs City Council.

Mara Zapata
Ms. Zapata reports $7210.17 raised, including loans of $1,340 to herself. Full disclosure: I wrote her campaign a check for $250...it's in the report. Sue me. I also see where she received a $1,000 contribution from the "Miami Realtors PAC" as did Ms. Mitchell in Seat 2. As I mentioned in the Seat 2 post, this is not a "big money" PAC, and the way you know this is that their two largest contributors each gave $1,000, and they have (according to their report) more than 14,500 individual contributions under $100 each...including a $20 contribution in January 2017 from Constantino Hernandez.
Turning to the qualifying documents, she stands in 2nd place in terms of "Former Council" signatures on her petition with three: Hon, George Lob, Michael Windrem and Jennifer Ator. Again, in the spirit of disclosure, I signed her petition too, but whatever. I'm less interested in appearing "fair" and more concerned with being truthful and transparent. If something looks bad, attempting to cover it up only amplifies it. In that vein, if (when) I blow it and get something wrong here, I will do my very best to make it right.

Turning to the qualifying documents, while Mr. and Ms. Marquez shared the roles of Campaign Treasurer, each serving the other's campaign - it appears that the canvassing for petition signatures was all on Ms. Marquez, who circulated the petitions for both.

I welcome all reader feedback (even if it's not a love letter) - but if you're going to write, please sign your name. The page for cowardly yahoos who won't stand behind their words is here.

Finally, I would like to reiterate here that my observations with respect to the candidates' submissions are merely that. My observations. Further, to remind the reader that appending meaning to "who signed what" is not necessarily the best proxy for determining the relative merit or value of a candidate.

The Seat 2 Shootout - Maria Mitchell v. Constantino Hernandez v. Martin Marquez

4/1/2017

The winner of Seat 2 will be a first-time member of the Miami Springs Council - and it is between two campaign veterans, Constantino Hernandez and Martin L. Marquez; and first-time candidate Maria Puente Mitchell. Let's break down the documents and finances.

Maria Puente Mitchell
Ms. Mitchell reports $3,950 raised, including $1300 of her own and $500 from her spouse. She also received $1,000 from something called the "Miami Realtors PAC" . Looking at its documents and donor lists, it looks as though basically every Realtor in Miami-Dade is invited to make some kind of contribution, mostly in the $20-$100 range. Not a big-money PAC like some of the others we'll see. Full disclosure: both my spouse and I signed her petition for candidacy.

Constantino Hernandez
Mr. Hernandez reports $6,509.57 raised, including some $4574.57 of his own money. As with Councilman Jaime Petralanda, I noted (legally permissible) contributions of $500 each from Miami Springs vendors Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. and Waste Management, Inc.
Looking at his candidate petitions, I noted no fewer than 4 former Councilmembers (Hon. Helen Gannon, Grace Bain, George Lob, and Eric Elza.)

Martin L. Marquez
Mr. Marquez reports $1,500 raised, including $100 from himself, $100 from his spouse and Seat 3 candidate Kathie Marquez, and $300 from his own firm, Urbanworks. There are some minor irregularities, for example he failed to sign his "G1" (see p.7 of the uploaded doc), and has $100 listed as a "loan" where on that report's itemized list (see p.8) the only $100 entry is not a loan but a cash contribution from "S" meaning self. Also, the contribution is not from Mr. Marquez, but from his spouse.
Looking at the candidate petitions, the only detail that stood out was that all the signatures appeared to have been collected by his spouse, Kathie Marquez.

Unopposed Candidates and Campaign Finance - Councilman Bob Best, Councilman Jaime Petralanda

4/1/2017

In the first post, we saw the filings from the Mayoral candidates, and here are those for the two candidates who won re-election unopposed. Councilman Best ran a shoestring operation, loaning himself $500 and spending only $85 to pay the required candidate filing fee.

Councilman Petralanda raised $2,665, including $500 from Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.,
and $1000 from Waste Management, Inc. (WMI - listed on p.8 of the report as Trail Ridge Landfill, Inc).

Not for nothing, but Becker & Poliakoff is the City's lobbying firm, and WMI is the solid waste disposal provider for Miami-Dade County, and Miami Springs re-approved our interlocal agreement with Miami-Dade (thus sending our solid waste business and dollars to WMI.)

Later I will check, but I doubt that the Miami Springs Charter or Code has any explicit rule against accepting campaign contributions from city vendors. I am confident that it's a bad practice - even if only for the perception.

To wit: the motion to send our business to the County and thus, Waste Management passed 5-0. Doubtless it was the right decision. But , but when you accept a contribution from a vendor, and then second a motion that benefits that vendor, it invites speculation. The good news it's not too late to return contributions like these.

Finally, I want to reiterate that I feel Councilman Petralanda is a decent and honest public servant, and this is not to single him out, as there were a number of candidates who accepted large, outside sums, and I mean to discuss them all here. It also bears repeating that acceptance of campaign support does not automatically equate to impropriety, and it's unfair to suggest otherwise without evidence.

A couple of years ago in December 2012, my spouse then-Councilwoman Jennifer Ator asked the Council to consider adoption of a code of ethics and a "Citizen's Bill of Rights." It literally died on the dais for want of a second.

Perhaps its time has come? Documents below. s/o

Bob Best - Campaign Documents

Jaime Petralanda - Campaign Documents

No April Fools Here!

3/31/2017

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I have been meaning to do this for quite awhile. I'm a big fan of "government in the sunshine" but today, that sunshine is only as good as those who choose to go out and bask in it.

If you want to know what's going on in national or international politics, there are plenty of people out there finding and reporting facts.

If you want to know what's up with state or county politics, there are local bloggers and reporters watching out.

If you want to know what's up with Miami Springs campaign finance - you get me. Sorry.

I just got back from City Hall, and in short order will be posting each candidate's full campaign filings and finance reports for your review and consideration. I've only been looking for a few minutes, but there are some interesting things to note. Do they mean anything? I can't say - other than that they're interesting, and will raise some questions to be considered in the future.

OK for now. s/o

Final Roster of Qualified Candidates

Billy Bain - Mayor
Campaign Filings

Donna Hernandez - Mayor
Campaign Filings

Eric Elza - Mayor
Campaign Filings