Category: Miami-Dade County
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Donors violate Miami Beach’s campaign finance laws, but face no discipline
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco derailed his political ascent by getting involved with a committee secretly raising money for his failed mayoral bid. Yet, lobbyists and vendors that built up the PAC’s $200,000 war chest have not faced any consequences despite a city ban designed to stop them from contributing to local candidates and political action committees if they do business with Miami Beach government. -
In Hialeah, money meant to feed poor kids pays for Las Vegas trip for city officials
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Two years ago, Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez signed off on spending $7,621 from a $10,000 corporate grant for feeding poor children. Instead, the money went to pay for airline tickets and posh hotel accommodations for himself, his chief of staff, a police detective and four other city employees to attend a parks and recreation conference in Las Vegas. -
Red light ticket? Enforcement depends on where you got it and how you try to resolve it
By Susannah Nesmith
FloridaBulldog.org
Miami-Dade Traffic Magistrate Christopher Benjamin played a series of dramatic videos of crashes caught on tape by red-light cameras. The people in the audience gasped each time someone t-boned a car, flipped over a railing, struck a motorcyclist or nearly plowed through a line of kids crossing the street. “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise,” Benjamin told the audience after playing the videos. And then he surprised everyone. “Be safe out there. Case dismissed. Thank you.” -
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Hialeah’s mayor, a former crony, an off-the-books city gig and an ethics investigation
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Being a political operative for Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez comes with city perks. Glenn Rice — a former city cop who worked on the mayor’s 2011 and 2013 campaigns — collected roughly $12,000 during a three-year period acting as an off-the-books employee monitoring the company Hialeah hired to collect trash from private homes, as well as investigating potential hires and vendors, a Miami-Dade ethics commission probe found. -
Miami-Dade judge sent Shelborne Hotel case to judge with similar conflict
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
The Miami-Dade Circuit judge who chose to quit presiding over the high-profile Shelborne Hotel case due to an apparent conflict of interest, funneled the case directly to a second judge with a similar conflict in a way that avoided the case being randomly reassigned. -
A curious search for justice amid Miami-Dade judges’ desire for new civil courthouse
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
The effort to build a new civil court building to replace the historic, but crumbling, Dade County Courthouse in downtown Miami recently took a bizarre turn that prompted a local judge to remove herself from a high-profile case involving prominent developer Russell Galbut and another local landmark, the Shelborne Hotel in Miami Beach.
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