What no one is talking about is how the Mayor and Manager's acolytes continue to populate county hall making the day-to-day decisions that have brought Miami-Dade County government to the precipice.
Mayor Alvarez' cadre of "advisers" making six figure salaries, all with car allowances and other perks.
- Mayor's Communications Director Vicki Mallette - $136,019
- Mayor's Scheduler and Assistant Delivette Gonzalez - $110,337
- Mayor's Special Advisor Luis Andre Gazitua - $107,110
- Mayor's Policy and Legislative Affairs Director Robert Villar - $104,428
If there is no mayor, who are they advising?
Let us not stop there.
Terry Murphy, Chief of Staff to deposed County Commissioner Natasha Seijas, is still employed by the county earning his $135,887 salary for presumably sitting in an empty office.
The County Manager's office?
County Manager Alina Hudak has kept Burgess' circle of trust intact:
- Assistant County Manager Ysela Llort - $260,970
- Assistant County Manager Alex Munoz - $199,941
- Executive Assistant Henry Sori - $167,472
- County Manager Assistant Matthew Pinzur - $119,488
- County Manager Assistant Ana Bustamante - $115,147
- County Manager Assistant Mario Morlote - $114,719
- County Manager Assistant Liliana Collazo - $110,166
Bureaucrat department directors?
This one is a hoot. Bureaucrats always protect themselves from ouster by claiming they stay insulated from politics. That is the greatest excuse for having bureaucrats and professional staff, you do not want your government run by cronies who serve at the whim of politicians.
Miami-Dade bureaucrats, however, have it both ways.
Take Harpal Kapoor for instance.
The Miami-Dade Transit director, who participated in the Mayor's "brain-trust" meeting in a Doral warehouse, allowed transit workers to campaign for the Mayor, and "led" his department to be placed under federal fiscal oversight is still happily employed making his $242,602 annual salary.
Police chief James Loftus ($200,297.82), Fire Chief Herminio Lorenzo ($225,010.09), and Special assistant county manager Howard Piper ($158,053.83) were also at the "brain trust" meeting and are still employed.
In fact, all of the over 60 county department heads hand picked by Alvarez and Burgess to perpetuate their "vision of government" are still at County Hall.
Moreover, all of the above mentioned bureaucrats are also accruing time toward their respective taxpayer supported pensions.
Removing Alvarez and Burgess' resignation were the first steps of a long journey ahead. And while Charter reform must happen, a systematic purging and cleanse of the entrenched bureaucracy at County Hall must take place for any real change to occur.
Our next mayor must clean house and bring in new blood with fresh ideas on how to face our county's challenges, and how best to take us into the future.
We've taken out the head, now the roots must follow.
