Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Shuns Former State Legislators

Politics in Miami-Dade County, or as we like to call it, ”Arroz Con Pollo” politics, is not business as usual as is the case in other Florida counties.

Things in the Miami boogie down are done a lot differently. Cronyism runs rampant in Florida’s largest county, and it appears as if a longstanding, unspoken rule to push back against the current and former state-level politicians at the county level is currently playing out.

Miami-Dade County folks like to keep their business and politics among themselves and have tried to block out those they believe would bring in state-level approaches to change the way they cook their ropa vieja.

Chairman Oliver G. Gilbert, III, appears to have shunned the only past legislators on the Commission—Commissioners Rene Garcia, Kionne L. McGhee, and Anthony Rodriguez.

Why?

It has nothing to do with race, creed, or color.

Interestingly enough, Chairman Gilbert passed over veterans Garcia and McGhee for freshman commissioners Marleine Bastien, J.C. Bermudez, and Micky Steinberg.

Here are the committee chairmanship assignments:

Keon Hardemon —Airport and Economic Development

J.C. Bermudez —Community Safety, Security, and Emergency Management:

Raquel Regalado —County Infrastructure, Operations, and Innovations

Marleine Bastien —Housing, Recreation, Culture, and Community Development

Cohen Eileen Higgins—Port Miami

Eileen Higgins— Transportation, Mobility, and Planning

Micky Steinberg—Community Health

In American politics, coincidences do not exist.

Again, why were the only past state legislators not appointed to a committee?