The Miami Herald

Posted on Wednesday, April. 5, 2006

The house that clout built

BY MICHAEL PUTNEY
mputney@local10.com

Miami-Dade commissioners get awfully touchy when the topic of ethical behavior is raised. No doubt it's because so many of their predecessors failed to exhibit any. Joe Gersten, Jim Burke, Pedro Reboredo, Bruce Kaplan and Miriam Alonso are names of recent vintage that come to mind. All were forced off the commission for acting in improper, unethical or illegal ways.

Is Commissioner Joe Martinez a candidate for the list? Not likely, despite what you may have read or heard lately about a house he's building using some donated labor. Still, the flap over it indicates that a refresher course in ethics might be in order. That's assuming he got one during his previous career as a Miami-Dade police officer or, more recently, when he was sworn in as Miami-Dade Commission chairman. That's an increasingly powerful position that carries with it an imperative to not only act ethically but also to give the appearance of doing so. Martinez has gone to great lengths to make it look like he has. There's a perception that he hasn't.

Perception is reality

Robert Meyers, Miami-Dade's ethics czar, sent Martinez a letter March 21 warning that, while his cozy relationship with some friends in the building industry may not be a conflict of interest, there could be a public perception that there is. And in politics, as every schoolboy knows, perception is reality.

Here's the problem. Martinez is building a big (5,300 square feet) house in his West Kendall district using the services of close friends in the construction industry -- Jorge Guerra Sr. and Jr., who are not charging him a fee. They're donating their time and expertise to ''supervise'' the project, Martinez tells me, although it sounds like they're functioning as the general contractor. ''They're supervising the subs,'' Martinez says. ``And they're going out of their way to hire people who don't know what the County Commission is, much less that I'm the chairman.''

None of this would be a problem for an ordinary citizen building a home. But for an elected official who votes on public policy decisions affecting the construction industry and who also awards lucrative county construction contracts, it's quite a problem.

Further complicating the situation, Guerra Jr. sits on the board of the Latin Builders Association. The LBA is a politically active and powerful group whose members contribute generously to commissioners' campaigns and regularly appear before them at meetings. They ask for things such as moving the Urban Development Boundary or getting zoning changes that allow for more growth.

Meyers opines that while the work is going on at Martinez's new home, Guerra may not lobby Martinez. Meyers also advises the commissioner to recuse himself if Guerra should appear at a commission meeting or want to meet with him privately.

''Consider the perception that is created,'' Meyers wrote, ''if Mr. Guerra meets with you privately or if you stay on the dais in a case where he appears on behalf of the Latin Builders Association even substantially after (emphasis added) your home has been completed.'' Yep, that would appear to be a problem since the LBA often has issues before the commission. Does Martinez really think the public believes that he'll be fair and impartial on LBA issues after work worth thousands of dollars has been performed gratis by an LBA member?

The commissioner insists that he can, explaining that he plans to pay Guerra several thousand dollars, which he will then donate to charity.

I wonder why Martinez has even put himself in this pickle. To his credit, it was he who asked Meyers for the opinion. However, the one he got is merely a legal fig leaf from an office that, indefensibly, answers to the commission. Meyers' narrowly drawn opinion can't excuse what appears to be a clear conflict of interest. Whether or not it's a ''gift,'' whether or not Martinez reports it and whether or not money is donated to charity, Martinez should understand that accepting freebies like this is not a good idea.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, as far as we know, has never asked for a break on construction costs or anything else. And he has taken Martinez, his arch-rival and nemesis, to task for getting such breaks on his new home. The mayor wrote an indignant letter to the editor the other day about it and also chastised Martinez for not supporting his ordinance requiring more-extensive financial disclosure by commissioners and top county executives. Martinez says he's ambivalent.

I suspect this episode is less about freebies on a new home or financial disclosure requirements than raw political power. The mayor has lost it; the chairman has gained it.

The commission chair now oversees several county offices that used to be in the mayor's portfolio. The chairman oversees a staff of about 50 and has an office budget or more than $1 million. The mayor has 48 budgeted positions and $3.7 million to spend annually. Why either needs so many people on the payroll and so much money is beyond me. But that will be the subject of another column.