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Government
Cleaning Up
 Christopher Mazzella, Miami-Dade inspector general, says his office is seeing fewer cases of "systemic" abuses. [Photo: Daniel Portnoy] |
Could Miami-Dade be winning its war on mismanagement and public corruption? As evidence of progress, county officials point to a series of high-profile cases in 2006, among them: A multimillion-dollar affordable housing scandal, a scheme to sell bogus contractor licenses, a cell-phone scandal at the county water and sewer department, procurement and construction abuse at Miami International Airport and overbilling allegations at Jackson Health System.
“It’s hard to say if things are getting better or worse, but we’re certainly doing a better job of detecting abuse, corruption and fraud,” says Christopher Mazzella, veteran Miami-Dade County inspector general.
Both Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz were elected on platforms of law and order and reform. Diaz has brought a business model to city government, believing that corporate efficiencies can reduce waste and abuse. Alvarez is locked in a testy battle with unions and county commissioners over a “strong-mayor” referendum that, he argues, would centralize accountability.
Mazzella says his office is seeing fewer “systemic” abuses characterized by broad-reaching corruption and mismanagement scandals at the county’s largest bureaucracies. More often, he says, his office tracks rogue operators who steal taxpayer funds. He cites a recent $1-million mailroom money-laundering operation at the water and sewer department involving a small ring of crooks.
Elected officials are largely beyond his reach. In 2006, one county commissioner was sentenced to prison for stealing campaign funds, a state legislator was indicted on charges of witness tampering and a city commissioner was removed from office following a drunken brawl with a police officer. “There’s an awful lot more that can be cleaned up,” says Mazzella, “but much of it the voters need to deal with.”
