Commissioner Jonah Wolfson. Photos by Richard M. Brooks

All the Rage

Ethics is in Vogue at Miami Beach City Hall — What Are the Motives?

By Lee Molloy

The dais was a bit of a lonely place for one commissioner on June 3.

At a heated meeting of the Miami Beach commission, Commissioner Jonah Wolfson found himself embattled and in political solitude. After being delayed or “not heard” on three occasions, Wolfson pushed to hear his proposed ethics ordinance that would ban elected officials from being employed by, or receiving compensation from, any city vendor or bidder.

The proposed ordinance, entitled the “A.C. Weinstein Service Above Profit Act” is named after Chief of Staff to the Mayor and controversial political columnist A.C. Weinstein, who died of an apparent heart attack in late February.

Wolfson explained that the ordinance was dedicated to Weinstein because he “was a simple person that was after the best interests of the city, not profit.”

Ethics reform resurfaced as a hot topic at City Hall with no less than 13 separate ordinances currently having been proposed by commissioners, spawning a special meeting of the commission just to hear them all. That meeting, however, was cancelled due to what Commissioner Deede Weithorn described to The Lead as a “logistical issue,” and rescheduled to July 22. Practicing CPA Weithorn’s client roster has also come under scrutiny in recent months.

Seconded by Commissioner Saul Gross, Wolfson pressed to have his ordinance read immediately. In light of the delays, “I don’t have complete confidence and faith that the meeting on July 22 is going to happen at all,” he said.

Mayor Matti Bower thought the ethics ordinance was “a good thing” in theory but she had reservations. “Many times we pass ordinances that have consequences that we have not thought about,” Bower said.

Those unintended consequences revolve around the fact that a city commissioner is paid on average $115 per week before expenses so most of those on the dais must maintain a day job, which could have the potential to create a conflict of interest.

“I have a concern that if the ordinance goes too far it may have a chilling effect on the working middle class like myself from running for office,” former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora told The Lead.

Several sitting commissioners share his opinion.

“I think [the proposed ordinance] ensnares everybody,” Commissioner Jerry Libbin said. “I’m not sure anyone but an unemployed person could possibly feel safe.”

Libbin gave a hypothetical example of a dentist who has hundreds of patients. If the dentist became a commissioner, and a patient filed a bid to be a vendor for the city, it would result in fines for the commissioner, because the dentist had been financially compensated for the dental work done for the prospective vendor.

City Attorney Jose Smith opined that Libbin’s reading of the ordinance was correct.

“This ordinance doesn’t go far enough,” Commissioner Victor Diaz said, taking the opposite stance.

Diaz offered another hypothetical: a commissioner that worked as a mortgage broker might vote to change a zoning law, which in turn could enabled a large commercial building to be built. Then, months later, that same commissioner could put the permanent financing in place for the property and collect a handsome fee without falling foul of the ordinance.

“We need to do it in a way that treats all professionals in the same way,” Diaz said, adding Wolfson’s ordinance is “too harsh on some people and not harsh enough on somebody else.”

“While Commissioner Diaz appears to favor pay cuts for first responders such as fire and police,” Wolfson later told The Lead, “he tries to protect the ill-gotten gains of his fellow commissioners by arguing against this good ethics legislation.”

Commissioner Ed Tobin also fired a shot across Wolfson’s bow.

“This ordinance does not affect me at all,” Tobin said, before explicitly implying that the ordinance was a political attack directed at Weithorn because Wolfson was “mad at that commissioner.”

Wolfson attempted to respond to this accusation before Mayor Bower’s gavel nearly pierced the dais, and she angrily threatened to bring the debate to a close.

“It’s just not true,” Wolfson later told The Lead, responding to Tobin’s accusation. “The fact that [Weithorn’s] behavior fits into a potentially corrupting scenario that the ordinance tried to address is not something that I did  ¾ All I’m trying to do is pass good ethics legislation.”

Commissioner Saul Gross suggested that the matter may be better resolved if it went through a committee.

“Never has a single [ethics ordinance] been passed,” Gross said, “that didn’t come out of committee.”

Before withdrawing his second of the reading, making it impossible to have an up or down vote, Gross advised Wolfson to think again.

“I think it would be best to work with the city attorney between now and [July] 22, and propose a revised version,” Gross said.

“Pay commissioners fairly,” Diaz told the commission, “and then bar all outside employment.”

Diaz later expanded on his position. “The best way to do it is pay commissioners a decent wage,” he said. “You come in, you serve, you leave, and you don’t ever come back. You don’t ever get to lobby the city.” The other benefit, Diaz says, is that by paying commissioners a wage there can be more diversity on the dais, such as young people and those who wouldn’t normally be able to afford to be a commissioner.

“AC Weinstein couldn’t have afforded it,” Diaz said.

However, Wolfson doesn’t think the added cost will fly with taxpayers.

“In a perfect world it would be nice,” Wolfson said, before voicing concern about how much that would add to the city budget.

Diaz, however, describes the numbers as “relatively nothing.” For example, if each commissioner was paid $100,000 it would amount to roughly 3 percent of the city’s $235 million budget.

Although the commission agreed that Wolfson’s proposed ordinance was put forward with the best of intentions, Gongora, who is running for the Group 2 seat in the November elections, remains skeptical.

comments@theleadmiamibeach.com

The Context

“We think it’s a no-brainer to agree to this settlement.”
- Attorney Richard J. Ovelmen who represents Miami Beach in the lawsuit filed against the city by strip club owner Leroy Griffith.

“Sometimes the fact that we are focused on what we need to focus on as opposed to focusing on things we really shouldn’t be focusing on is a good thing.”
– State Representative Richard Steinberg on the legislature’s concentration on the budget.

“I apologize to those members of the commission who I may have sent confusing signals to.”
- Dr. Morris Sunshine, speaking before the city commission on establishing a Baywalk around the city.

“Can I do the 10:30 [a.m.] time certain?”
- Commissioner Victor Diaz. At 6:27 p.m.

“We’re talking about bridging a $23 million budget gap, but we just walked away from a half million dollars in rents this year.”
- Commissioner Saul Gross, to the commission on the fact that not a single space in Old City Hall has been rented out.

SIDEBAR

Don’t Break Out the Decadence Just Yet

Despite the recent media attention of indicators of an upturn in some local economies, in a State Legislative Update before the Miami Beach City Commission on Wednesday, June 3, Senator Dan Gelber offered a reality check, and warned of a financial predicament still-to-come.

“I don’t think you can assume things are going to get better,” said Gelber, whose district spans Miami Beach. Real estate “growth has put us in a very bad situation,” he said and warned of multi-billion dollar decreases in state-wide funding on the horizon. He added “most of the major layoffs had June 1 dates.”

Gelber also warned city policymakers not to be overly-optimistic about recent stimulus securements, because real estate-rich Miami Beach was harder hit by the foreclosure crisis. Although many areas have recently seen a slight upturn in home sales, the sales can largely be attributed to foreclosure purchases, versus new home buyer sales, he said.

“I don’t think optimism is a policy,” Gelber warned. “I don’t think it’s going to get better [that soon]…you’re going to see a lot worse year than a lot of other areas.”

Florida State Senator Dan Gelber
1920 Meridian Ave.
305-535-5485 Flsenate.gov