Audio By Carbonatix
Core Curriculum: Civics 101
Required enrollment for José Cancela, Seth Gordon, Pat Tornillo, and Marcos Jimenez: Brett Sokol asks county mayoral candidate José Cancela about Cuban musicians playing in Miami (“Mixed Message,” September 18). Cancela hesitates. So Seth Gordon comes to his rescue with a letter to the editor (September 25). Seems as though both Seth and José need a Civics 101 refresher course. Actually, lots of folks in the Capital of the Americas could use a civics lesson (Pat Tornillo and Marcos Jimenez, I’m lookin’ at you), but I’ll just focus on Seth and José and the First Amendment seminar.
The First Amendment is based upon a very simple principle: In a democratic system, the open and free dissemination of ideas — all ideas, good and bad — is paramount to the very existence of that democracy. Our founding fathers believed in this principle: If all ideas have their day in the sun, the true and correct ones will ultimately survive. Communism in the Soviet Union was killed as much by jeans, rock and roll, and ideas as by the Cold War.
Castro, like a cockroach (and the analogy is intentional), has been exceedingly resistant to all the traditional means of attack we’ve thrown at him. Dumbass lefties like Oliver Stone have never been fully educated on the true horrors of Castro’s regime, so they continue to support the fantasy of a sun-drenched island paradise (and this is coming from a dyed-in-the-wool liberal). On the other side, knee-jerk conservatives and/or Cuban-American politicians are quick to stand up against the First Amendment in their efforts to oppose Cuban acts from performing in Miami.
Make no mistake, I have zero intention of spending one single penny on any artist when some of that money is going to be funneled into supporting Fidel’s power. However, the correct solution to the problem is to allow the artist to perform, then educate anyone who is foolish enough to show up to attend. And by educate, I mean peaceful demonstrations, workshops, and so on, not pelting concertgoers with whatever throwable object is handy. Someone who throws a rock looks stupid and foolish, but someone who shows a picture and tells a story of a loved one thrown into jail or executed for speaking his or her mind is an unstoppable force in the battle for world opinion.
Thus I have a problem with José Cancela, who wants to be the leader to bring Miami-Dade County into the 21st Century, when the best he can do is waffle and equivocate on a major local issue. It certainly should have been clear to him that freedom of speech is an issue that would come up during this mayoral campaign, and he should have been ready to address it, not duck the issue. As for Seth Gordon, I’d rather not have him tell us what Cancela meant to say; I want to hear it from Cancela himself.
As for the argument that this is a complex issue and can’t be reduced to a soundbite, here goes (local politicians, feel free to use this): “I absolutely support the right of any artist to have the forum to express ideas here in Miami-Dade County. However, I also absolutely support the right of others to express their dissent. And I pledge the full resources of this county to ensure that there is a right to protest and that those protests will be peaceful. As for me personally, you’ll see me at the next Los Van Van concert, out front, reading a list of names of those Fidel Castro has killed in the name of his revolution.” Now, wasn’t that easy?
Errol Portman
Miami
Pick One: Dumb As Dirt,
or Comunista
Of course with Brett Sokol, it could be both: Why is Brett Sokol so bent on defending the “rights” of musicians who come from a left-wing totalitarian regime? Would he have defended the rights of South African musicians to play in the U.S. during the days of apartheid?
We should be tolerant of people who are tolerant of us, but not of self-serving fascists or Marxist socialists. Why doesn’t he write an article on the lack of artistic freedom in Cuba, or how the Marxist government of Cuba does not allow Celia Cruz music to be played on Cuban radio? Did he know that in Cuba you can get sent to prison for having access to the Internet without the permission of the Marxist government?
With all due respect, which is he: naive or a Marxist?
Max Benitez
Westchester
Sorry, the Ethics Commission Does Not Arrest People
Snide reporter presses for perp walks: I was a little disappointed with Rebecca Wakefield’s story about the Commission on Ethics and Public Trust (“Please Try to Do the Right Thing, Okay?” September 18). Was this an honest appraisal of our efforts to date or an opportunity to make snide comments about an organization in this county that is actually trying to bring about positive change?
Yes, the Commission on Ethics (COE) is a small, underfunded group. Yes, the board of county commissioners that created us very astutely realized that one day we might be looking at them and legislated less-than-harsh penalty provisions. Yes, that same commission (surprise!) has shot down our attempts at lobbyist reform.
The COE has no magic wand to wave over the county and make everyone honest and ethical. Agencies that have been around far longer than we have — the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the State Attorney’s Office, and the Miami-Dade Police Department’s public corruption unit — have not accomplished that feat either. The COE was not created to arrest as many people as possible and stage semiannual “perp walk” parades. We were not meant to be the county’s police force. The Code of Ethics and Conflict of Interest ordinances address the many acts of misconduct that fall well short of being criminal violations but need to be addressed nevertheless. Prior to our creation, no one even looked at them. In the three years I have been here, the COE has handled more than 120 complaints, issued hundreds of opinions, and introduced ethics training to hundreds of county and municipal employees. Not bad for a “diminutive agency” with only five investigators to cover the entire county and 32 municipalities.
Moreover, it was my report and investigation that led to the removal from office of Daniel “Neil” Hall, a former Fire Board commissioner who lied about his residency. We also initiated the investigation that exposed the residency violation of Maytee Armesto, which resulted in her removal from Community Council 12, arrest, and criminal prosecution. I have had complaints sustained against North Miami Mayor Joe Celestin, Opa-locka Commissioner (now Mayor) Myra Taylor, Homestead Councilman Jeffrey Porter, and former City of Miami Manager Carlos Gimenez, as well as a host of less notable characters.
The idea of changing an organizational culture from the bottom up and the top down, as deeply steeped in a morass of politics, corruption, favoritism, cronyism, and wheeling and dealing as is this town, is a challenge that few would be willing to undertake. Yet we do so on a daily basis. Ms. Wakefield seems to suggest in her article that maybe we shouldn’t even bother.
Is she suggesting that local municipal governments and Miami-Dade County (whose misdeeds New Times regularly salivates over) do not need an ethics commission? Justify our existence? I think I just did.
Michael P. Murawski
Advocate for the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust
Miami
Sorry, but It’s Not
Cops and Robbers
Cranky reporter demands crooks in cuffs: Rebecca Wakefield’s interesting, albeit cranky, report on the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust presumes that such an agency should be judged on the basis of how many crooks, ne’er-do-wells, and miscreants it slaps the cuffs on — as if it were a branch of law enforcement. It is not, and shouldn’t be; that’s a job for local, state, and federal cops (who have their hands full trying to do the best they can with limited resources and the other consequences of our tax-cut fetishism).
The ethics commission — especially director Robert Meyers and his colleagues — has done an extraordinary job helping to raise the bar for education, outreach, and community service in a way that has nothing to do with smiting evildoers. Meyers and his associates annually give scores of presentations to government and municipal staffers, businesspeople, and schools. This is an effort whose success might be impossible to measure. How should we evaluate how many bad actors have thought twice and then refrained from acting badly? But my sense — and I believe that of others who have collaborated with the commission on various projects — is that our community is far richer for the effort because it is undertaken by solid and trustworthy folks who enjoy and are good at the give-and-take that marks high-quality education.
The article could have created a different impression by noting the commission’s training program for all county employees, its business-ethics initiative, and its collaboration with South Florida colleges and universities on projects ranging from environmental ethics and government purchasing to working with Rotary and Kiwanis clubs on programs for area youth. Have a look at the commission’s Website (www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/ethics/) for a fuller picture.
“Ethics” is often mistakenly reckoned to be synonymous with “integrity” and the like. Actually it is the study of morality, or public systems of rules and norms. Many of the bad things people do are not particularly interesting, ethically speaking. Public officials who steer business to kith and kin, for instance, raise no important ethical issues as such. This is an easy one: It’s wrong for a lot of reasons, and they should stop (and maybe be fired or arrested). It is far more interesting to address the difficult decisions we all make in the course of our work, the tough calls about hiring and firing, lobbying, workplace surveillance, free speech, taxation, and environmental protection.
Having that kind of conversation, offering that type of pedagogic engagement, is how the commission, along with South Florida universities’ several ethics programs, should be judged. By that standard, our community is better off — much better off — than it would have been otherwise.
Kenneth Goodman, co-director
University of Miami Ethics Programs
Coral Gables
From Buenos Aires to Miami
Lots of Argentine rockers, but only one Jinkus: I was very disappointed with Javier Andrade’s lack of research for his article “Argentineans Rock!” (September 4). One of the best Argentine artists was missing in that interview. Diego Jinkus (Diego Jinkus Band) is an amazing musician who is originally from Argentina. I can’t believe he wasn’t even mentioned!
I saw his amazing band at the Latin Grammy street parties and they were the only ones (besides the already very promoted Rabanes) to make people stand up and actually dance! Javier should check out that Diego Jinkus.
Erik Nuñez
Hollywood