GOVERNMENT WASTE

- FLORIDA -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
01/19/05	Miami-Dade School District	Miami-Dade Wasted Over $100 Million on School Facilities Independent auditors have claimed that the Miami-Dade School Board wasted, through corruption and mismanagement, over $100 million through the Facilities Construction Department. The auditors recommended that the state appoint a special prosecutor and convene a grand jury to investigate the charges.
01/25/05	Miami-Dade County	County To Pay Amusement Park Loan Payment In 1998, the Department of Housing and Urban Development backed a $60 million loan to Parrot Jungle, based upon the amusement park’s ability to create jobs for residents of Miami’s depressed urban areas. In 1998, Miami leaders agreed to assume responsibility for 80 percent of the loan amount. Parrot Jungle is unable to make the current loan payment. This is the second loan payment they have been unable to meet leaving Miami-Dade holding the bag for the payment of $1.3 million on a $25 million loan. This is a prime example wherein government has no business stepping into the private sector.
03/22/205	State of Florida	Everglades Restoration Project a Shambles The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers was handed a $8.4 billion budget to restore the Everglades as a joint venture with the state of Florida. Naturally, the projected costs have increased by over $1 billion during that time. After 5 years, the Corps has built not one single project, while Florida has been moving ahead rapidly. In fact, Florida has taken over 8 stalled federal construction projects, at an additional cost of $1.5 billion to the state.
04/28/05	House and Senate	Florida Legislature Pushed for New Florida Marlins Ballpark/NASCAR Facility Both the House and Senate Republicans are pushing for a tax subsidy to fund a new ballpark for the Florida Marlins, another egregious example of government deviating far from its purpose. Legislators also endorsed a $75 million measure to lure the NASCAR Hall of Fame to Daytona Beach. In another bit of political pandering, Republicans added a rider to a bill to provide sales tax rebates for convention centers to benefit the Florida Marlins.
07/19/05	Florida Department of Transportation	Contractor Bills $15+ million on $667 thousand Contract One of the minor facets of the construction of the $1.4 billion Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) was likely a microcosm of the huge amounts of money wasted by government on construction of the state transit hub. R. L. Saum Construction Co. somehow managed to bill $15.48 million on a contract that was originally negotiated for $667,195 in 2001. According to the Miami Herald, when this came to light, the Florida Department of Transportation engineer, Kouroche Mohandes, who was in charge of construction, was forced to resign. To-date, $5.5 million has been identified as excessive billing. Earlier this year, it was reported that Mohandes’ steered work to Saum’s subcontractors in exchange for work for his wife’s public relations firm, which was ruled a “clear appearance of a conflict of interest.”
10/01/05	Miami-Dade Solid Waste Management Department	$5.5 Million in “No Bid” Awards to Waste Management Contractor According to the Miami Herald, without soliciting multiple bids, the Miami-Dade solid waste department awarded $5.5 of contracts out of $18 million in work to inspect the department’s facilities and for maintenance efforts to Brown and Caldwell, which subsequently subcontracted out much of the work to former solid waste employees. Now there’s no proof yet of very shady dealings, but all of the $5.5 in additional work was outside of the scope of the original contract.
11/01/05	Florida House	State Wants to Pay for Generators for Gas Stations In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, electrical power outages caused many gas stations to shut down operations causing long lines at the few stations still open for business. Naturally, state government wants to step in and fund generators for the gas stations across the state. After this latest hurricane, the Florida House Democratic minority leader called on Gov. Jeb Bush to pay for generators in next year's budget after he vetoed $3 million to buy generators for gas stations statewide last year. Again we have the same calamitous and illegal (yes, illegal) government meddling in commercial enterprise. Fortunately both Governor Jeb Bush and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have both said that it’s not the role of government to inject itself into private commerce. A Jeb Bush spokesman said the governor vetoed the budget measure because “the governor doesn't think the state should be in the business of subsidizing petroleum companies.” The responsibility to purchase generators rests with the oil companies and station owners, especially with full knowledge of the obscene profits being reported by major oil companies this month. And then again, it’s good business to have generators. If you are the only gas station open within 5 miles, just imagine the geysers of oil they can pump adding to the profits they can make from that unfortunate situation. Let private enterprise resolve the problem.
12/01/05	Agency for Persons with Disabilities	Persons with Disabilities Agency Sat on $151 Million According to the Miami Herald, while more than 16,600 disabled Floridians languish on a waiting list for wheelchairs and therapy, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities has been crying for more funds even though it has over $150 million in it’s coffers. Senator Walter “Skip” Campbell, the chairman of a Senate family welfare committee, which is reviewing these problems, said, “Kids in my community are potentially going to die because we’re not doing what is right.” The legislature authorized an additional $20 million last year to hopefully cut the waiting list in half, but through the agency’s sheer incompetence, the agency actually served 44 less people. Pat Young, president of the Association of Retarded Citizens of Florida, found the revelations astounding, “I think it’s horrible. I can’t believe that much [money] was laid aside and didn’t serve the thousands who need help. But I think it’s a positive thing that these hearings are held, and we’ll get answers.” Don’t hold your breath, Pat!
01/01/06	Miami Commissioners	Miami Mayor Gets $53,000 Raise Miami Commissioners enthusiastically gave Mayor Manny Diaz a salary increase from $97,000 to $150,000. According to the Miami Herald, this 54% raise was granted with little debate and no public discussion, as the public was not alerted that this item was on the agenda. The issue was carefully raised at the end of the session, when all residents, who may have protested this increase, had left. The resolution increasing the salary included the reasons why the Commissioners felt this staggering raise was perfectly justifiable stating that the mayor had been overwhelming reelected and that the raise brought his salary in line with comparable cities. Perhaps following this illogic, in the future, salaries of public servants should be indexed to the percentage of the vote they receive. When one of the commissioners was asked, “What if someone complains that the public should have been included?” Commissioner Johnny Winton replied, “We would be probably rightfully criticized, … but he’s still worth the money.” And when City Manager Joe Arriola was asked whether taxpayers might be upset at not being allowed to speak about the pay raise, he was quoted as saying, “That’s their problem.” The arrogance outwardly displayed by an inordinate number of civil servants is beyond belief. Perhaps the Commissioners had a strong suspicion as to just how the public would have reacted if they had been made aware of this legal taxpayer thievery. Six times in a row Miami residents have rejected higher salaries for city commissioners, but two years ago, they apparently begrudgingly authorized an increase of $5,000 to $58,200 annually, an increase of 8%, considerably less than the 54% they approved for the mayor. On top of this issue, these same commissioners gave County Manager George Burgess a $54,000 raise, too, the second increase in two years. The commission's insatiable appetite to give away the store increases Mr. Burgess' salary to $311,000. When benefits such as car allowance, insurance, etc., are counted, the compensation is actually $390,000. In two years, the commission has raised the manager's base pay by $95,000 -- more than 40 percent. One of the reasons Mr. Burgess was granted the outlandish raises is he was instrumental in propagandizing a $2.9 billion general obligations bond issue approved by the voters. It seems that taxpayers will be hit with both barrels of government spending. Meanwhile, the county is budgeting an average of 3 percent merit-pay increases for its other 30,000 employees at a time when cost-of-living increases are running around 2 percent.
01/01/06		Governor Wants to Spend $1.8 Million on Ex-Cons According to the Miami Herald, Governor Jeb Bush has asked the legislature to authorize $1.8 million to hire 40 more workers to speed up the process to determine if ex-cons should have their civil rights restored. The Governor is concerned about the backlog of 7,500 applications that existing state workers have been unable to process. Florida is one of three states that automatically strip felons of their civil rights. Only the state Clemency Board can restore rights to those who petition the board. Based on the Apathetic Voter’s encounters with county and state workers in his lifetime, one need only wonder if the civil service rules were modified to permit the firing of inept public workers, that might light a fire under the Florida Parole Commission Board and clerical staff to reduce the backlog without hiring additional workers or expenditures.
03/01/06	Legislature	Unions Want Law Requiring Large Companies to Spend 9 Percent on Healthcare Following up on other states that have attempted to intercede in how businesses allocate their operating capital, the Florida legislature is considering a bill, similar to a bill in Maryland that was passed over the governor’s veto, that would force the state’s largest companies to spend at least 9 percent of total worker earnings on healthcare or pay the difference to a Fair Share Heath Care Fund. The law is obviously targeted at Wal-Mart, one of the largest employers in the state. The AFL-CIO of Florida backs the bill and it’s 500,000 union members. Fred Frost, president of the AFL-CIO, said the key issue requires hugely profitable corporations “to do the right thing,” and stop “shifting basic healthcare costs from employers onto taxpayers.” The union claims it has state data that showed 4,900 Wal-Mart employees and their dependents were using state-financed health plans, including Medicaid and Florida Healthy Kids. Publix, Winn-Dixie, Wendy’s, Walgreens, Burger-King and Miami-Dade government with from 4,129 to 1,316 employees, respectively, followed Wal-Mart employees seeking state help. A major business-lobbying group, Associated Industries of Florida, immediately denounced the proposal, saying it “could become one of the costliest taxes ever levied on Florida employers and one that would cause untold damage to the state’s efforts to recruit and retain high-paying jobs.” They warned that the bill was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” If the bill were passed, it would lead to more versions, requiring small businesses to carry health insurance – a “health tax” burden that would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Labor unions hate Wal-Mart because they have been unable to unionize even one of the company’s 3,250 stores, so they are now using the legislative process to force wages in line with unionized stores. Experts suggest that Wal-Mart may be forced to actually lower wages to comply with these laws and maintain profitability. Some facts about Wal-Mart employment are important in understanding this issue: · 86 percent of Wal-Mart employees have health insurance · Wal-Mart employees are only slightly more likely to collect Medicaid than the average among the nation’s large retailers · In the past 12 months, Wal-Mart, the largest employer in the nation and in 25 states, estimates it has paid its 1.3 million employees $4.7 billion in benefits, equal to about half the company’s profits · Wal-Mart’s pay and benefits are sufficient to attract hordes of job applicants whenever it opens a new store. Wal-Mart may easily get around the law by creating a second or a third company and then split their employees to get below the 10,000-employee threshold. Wal-Mart may also elect to outsource a number of tasks to lower head count. Then it is fully expected that the state governments could easily lop a zero off the threshold making the number 1,000 employees and encumber hundreds of businesses with this draconian law. The Apathetic Voter almost hates to suggest it, even in jest, but why stop with laws mandating how businesses spend their operating capital? Since government continues to pass laws that continually degrade business’ ability to run those businesses, why not pass a law that mandates employees must receive at least 50 percent of their base pay at retirement after 10 years too, to give private sector employees comparable benefits to that offered in the public sector? And how about free lunches for employees, mandatory pre-school for their children and health checkups paid for by the company every 6 months? Let’s protect those workers, that is, until the companies file bankruptcy because they can’t afford to compete in the world market.
06/01/06	Governor Bush	The Joke About Taxes is On All of Us The big news is that Governor Jeb Bush will try and cut $300 million from the state budget before he signs it into law. The other major news is this same governor has cut $1.59 billion in budget items since he took office in 1999. Naturally, progressives and liberals are denouncing his cuts as eliminating “vital programs” for the people. Now for the real news that somehow gets lost in the fog of politics. This year’s budget of $71 billion is a 13 percent increase from the previous year, but no one seems to be concerned about that little gem. In addition, no one seems to be concerned about the fact that revenue is predicated on a continued strong economy and housing sales, but no monies have been allocated to reduce the state’s debt. Bush said, ''I think it's important to leave with the resources available for the next governor. There may be some paring back beyond member projects,” obviously meaning he may veto a few “pork” projects. Bush has admitted that one of the items he would likely scrub is the $310,000 placed in the budget for the Pensacola Greyhound Track that the track sought for hurricane relief to repay the track for tax credits it lost while under repair following Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Other items he proposes to cut are no doubt of equal importance to the people. Excuse me while I gag! All of these politicians should join a traveling minstrel show.