And then there are the free rounds that Armando Vidal receives. "I feel proud that the manager is out there," says Sergio Vidal, confirming Armando's golfing proclivity. "He can check on the status of the courses. We are not twisting arms; it's in the lease that he can play."
Sergio Vidal is referring to an amendment in the lease adopted by the county commission on October 8, 1996, which states that the county has up to twenty complimentary rounds per month at its disposal. It also states that the rounds are to be allotted through the parks and recreation director.
In an interview the current director, Bill Cutie, explained that those complimentary rounds are used primarily for charity fundraising by various departments. If a department is trying to collect money for a particular cause, it might hold a raffle where one of the prizes could be four free rounds of golf. "They were not intended as a perk for county executives," he declared. Cutie said he had no idea Vidal was golfing for free at the course and has no record that Vidal sought to charge those outings against the county's allotment of rounds.
Regardless of whether the complimentary rounds were intended for Armando Vidal or not, the amendment to the lease was added only three months ago -- nearly eighteen months after the county manager started playing free. Confronted with that chronology, Sergio Vidal relented and acknowledged that the county manager and Jorge Lopez played free as "the guests of Carlos Morales, the sales manager." A round of golf at the course costs between $20 and $50, depending on the course and the season.
In addition to the issues surrounding Muirfield's finances, Hart and LaPonzina also began questioning the friendships of Armando Vidal, Sergio Vidal, and Jorge Lopez and how they affect the way the county supervises this contract. "If your personal relationship with individuals involved in this matter causes you difficulty," LaPonzina wrote to Armando Vidal on July 24, 1996, "we hereby request that you appoint a neutral person to make inquiry and respond to all of the questions presented."
Hart taunted the manager as well. In his July 1, 1996, letter to Armando Vidal, Hart closed his missive by writing: "I understand Jorge Lopez may be acting as counsel to the Muirfield Group and, if in fact this is true, you may wish to discuss these matters with him."
The scrutiny of Hart and LaPonzina may have had an interesting result. DeLucca and Moore say Sergio Vidal invited them to meet with him in late August at his restaurant in Little Havana. According to their lawsuit, filed about a week after this meeting, Sergio Vidal complained that County Manager Armando Vidal "is under pressure" to do something about the Muirfield contract. Sergio Vidal allegedly told DeLucca and Moore that if they stopped complaining about their ouster, he would see to it they were compensated. "If you cooperate and stick together," the lawsuit claims Sergio Vidal said, "after the election we will see to it that you get Key Biscayne and Palmetto Golf Course."
The election Sergio Vidal reportedly referred to was the race for Dade County mayor, which Alex Penelas won. If Penelas had lost he election, it was unlikely that Armando Vidal would have remained as county manager. "The implicit message to [DeLucca and Moore]," according to the lawsuit, "was that if they kept their mouths shut about how they were used and then ousted from the Muirfield Group, they would be rewarded by [Sergio Vidal's] delivery to them of management agreements with Dade County for the Key Biscayne Golf Course and the Palmetto Golf Course which [Sergio] Vidal implied he could deliver because of his influence with the county manager." The suit also states that DeLucca and Moore refused the offer. Says DeLucca: "I thought it was pretty brazen on Sergio Vidal's part to even make that offer."
Sergio Vidal denies making any such inducement. "They are liars," he says. Vidal stresses that the Golf Club of Miami has never been in better hands. It has recently been ranked among the best golf courses in Florida -- public or private -- and among the best public courses in the country. He also notes that for the first time since the county took over the course in 1988, the facility is going to show a profit, with the county's share estimated by him at approximately $235,000.
DeLucca and Moore's lawsuit is expected to go to trial later this year. The two men claim that all they want is that their shares in the company be reinstated. "I'm not looking for anything that wasn't given to me by the county commission," says Moore. "And if that is not possible, then I think the contract should go out for a new bid."
Moore finds it extremely discouraging to have to file a lawsuit to defend his interests. "But," he says, "this is the only way to do it. We have to get it out of the political realm and into the courts and hope that justice will prevail.
