Miami Nights

Here we go again. Another vote on whether to give our worthy unworthy commission a pay raise. Currently the commission members make a measly $6,000 a year and are asking Miami Dade voters to up their pay to $90k. This would seem like a very reasonable proposition considering commissioners put in endless hours for the good of Miami. It would be reasonable if they were actually doing good for our county. But their record says otherwise. New Miami Herald columnist Myrian Marguez lists a host of failings the commission has partook in in her latest column "This group isn't worth 90,000".

While I agree 100% on her column I also believe commissioners should get compensated for the time they put into their work, be it good or bad. At $6k a year it's hard to imagine anyone would do good work. Would you work a thankless job for that salary? I sure as hell wouldn't. So to me there are 2 important questions to ask, 1. Is this current crop of commissioners worth $90k a year? and 2. Will $90k a year end the corruption and tempt better candidates in future elections? Regarding question 1 I think the current commission isn't worth the toilet paper I flush down the toilet. Will a higher salary attract more candidates which could potentially be more qualified and less biased, hell yes.

The current problem is that the sitting commissioners have to look for income in other areas and special interest is all to well aware of this. Check out what Eye on Miami put together regarding each commissioners net worth:

County Commission Chair Bruno Barreiro's net worth 12/31/07 was $1,365,496.70 about $300,000 more than last year. Same date, Jose "Pepe" Diaz was worth $267,373. he shows $82,666 income from the Asti Group in Coral Gables. 12/31/2004 Pepe was worth $225,833. Audrey Edmonson was worth $249,000, in 2006 she claimed her worth was $212,700. She gets $50,150 from the School Board. Doing what?

That's just a short snippet from the post, I suggest you read the entire thing. Currently the commissioners are working "consultant" jobs that has serious implications towards their required impartiality when making major decisions. If we pay them more will they feel obligated to drop their cash cow "side" jobs? Probably not this sitting commission but maybe new candidate will feel the call to public service more strongly with a $90k sticker on it.

[Herald Article:This group isn't worth 90,000 bucks]