I guess we can officially name this the “Bash the Herald Week at VotersOpinion,” because here comes another jab at my favorite rag.

Today’s Editorial, Ferreting out fraud addresses the voter fraud problem we have here in Miami-Dade County.  The Editor discusses the Elections Department’s refusal to comply with the grand jury recommendations to secure absentee ballot requests by requiring a user login and password, which I already reported in Absentee ballot fraud? No worries, voters. Penelope Townsley’s got your back!

In a rare and surprising move, the Editor of the Miami Herald criticized the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.

Kinda.

Sorta.

But not really.

The Editor acknowledges Elections Supervisor Penelope Townsley’s claim that compliance would cost too much money (even though I’ve been advised by website experts that her numbers don’t add up), and that “beefing up the back end of the computer software won’t cost the county any money.”  He cautions that “the elections department has to stay two steps ahead” of the fraudsters, and cites the 500 fraudulent ballots “linked to aids to U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia.”

The Miami Herald Editor then goes on to praise State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle for her “strong assist” in fighting voter fraud with “her task force of police officers” and “phalanx of prosecutors.”

Yes, I’m still laughing at that one.

Considering how ferociously she’s been prosecuting the case against Deisy Cabrera, the Hialeah boletera, we all know that KFR considers tackling absentee ballot fraud her top priority.

While he gushes over Rundle’s sudden interest in corruption, has the Herald Editor bothered to ask her if her crack “task force,” headed by Jose Arroyo, has gotten any results in any of their rigorous investigations of voter fraud?  We already know that the Cabrera case is stuck in limbo, but what about all the others?  Surely they’ve come up with something worth prosecuting.  Anything?

(Unlike the Herald, this investigative non-reporter, a/k/a Just a Blogger, is following up on some tips about Kathy’s “task force” and what they’re doing about voter fraud and public corruption.  If my leads pan out, I hope to have an interesting, if not eye-opening, expose.  Stay tuned.)

The Editor of the Miami Herald was on target in asserting that “you can’t overstate the value of maintaining the integrity of the election process,” and claiming that “it’s up to the county to ensure that the real costs aren’t instead a corruptible – or corrupted – election process.”

Unfortunately, he goes on to blame the “GOP-majority Legislature” for not enacting a state law “regarding the collection of an absentee ballot” because it might “cut into their political advantage.”

Because no Democrat is even remotely capable of committing absentee ballot fraud, right?  Certainly not Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla.

As usual, instead of focusing on the non-partisan problem of voter fraud, which cuts across party lines, the Herald Editor just had to lob a zinger at Republicans.

Almost daily I resist the urge to go all GOP on you guys because I know I’d lose a good portion of my readers if I did that.  It would be extremely foolish of me to risk pissing off my audience.  Instead, I tackle problems that have nothing to do with partisan politics, such as fraud and corruption.  Most issues, especially local ones, transcend partisanship.

And yet, the Miami Herald’s Editor hasn’t figured out why it’s struggling to stay in business.  Between not aggressively going after the very real problem of voter fraud, and alienating half its readership with a one-sided view of politics, the Miami Herald continues to prove its irrelevance.

On the upside, it’s still good for lining kitty litter boxes and bird cages.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”