776 NE 125 Street I North Miami I Florida I 33161
Media Contact: Pam Solomon, Public Information Manager
For Immediate Release
MIAMI-DADE ETHICS COMMISSION FINDS NO BASIS IN COMPLAINT
REGARDING SERGEANT AT ARMS ESCORT FOR MAYOR TONDREAU
North Miami, FL – December 9, 2013 – The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has closed an inquiry investigation on the Sergeant at Arms assignment to the Mayor and City Council. The complaint alleged that Mayor Lucie Tondreau was utilizing the Sergeant at Arms position as a personal chauffeur/bodyguard. The Commission launched an investigation (PI-13-014) on August 30, 2013.
The Commission closed the investigation on November 19, 2013, concluding “based upon the available evidence, there is no basis for filing an ethics complaint, this matter is closed without further action.” A copy of the Report of Preliminary Inquiry is attached. For additional details on the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, visit ethics.miamidade.gov.
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Sincerely,
Pam Solomon
Public Information Manager
776 NE 125 Street
North Miami, FL 33161
305-895-9891 – direct
A chauffeur for a mayor in a large city or county may be acceptable, but it has no place in a city the size of North Miami. First and foremost is the question of the use of city resources and second is the use of taxpayer dollars for this . A police officer in a city of 120 police employees who is paid 40k or more should not be assigned to taxi the mayor or her kids around.
If you figure that department has between 110 to 120 officers then you factor in how many of those persons are administrators, detectives, community policing officers,and motor officers then throw in a few who are on injury or vacation leave what do you think you have left working the road responding to calls? Not many officers. A police department that sends out five officers on the midnight shift to work citywide is acting at minimum irresponsibly if not negligently . North Miami isn’t equipped to treat its mayor as if she were royalty. She is definitely not Carlos Gimenez or Rudy Gulianni and N.Miami doesn’t have that tax base. By demanding a body guard or chauffeur Coco Deuce is just reinforcing the fact that she is an arrogant, self centered person who has no regard for this city, its employees or its residents. City Manager Johnson should step in and put a stop to this posthaste.
There’s no such thing as a $40,000 police officer in South Florida.
Including fringe benefits of a pension/401k, insurance, FICA, uniform allowance, police car, supervision, radio and computer, there isn’t a police officer employed by any department in South Florida that costs the cities or counties less than $100,000 a year. Most cost, on average, $120,000 to $150,000 per year, per police officer.
The current government of the City of North Miami is partially a result of weak immigration laws that allow low intelligence, non-skilled immigrants, to become citizens who bring with them the corruption and nepotism that was their way of life in the country they immigrated from. They feel they need to elect one of their own so that they can personally benefit from their fellow elected immigrants who will hire them, give them a contract, or some other handout like being a sergeant-at-arms personal driver.
The current corrupt, immigrant government is also a result of the non-Haitian residents of North Miami who didn’t give a crap about even voting in their own elections. Not only did they not support honorable candidates, they didn’t even take the time to vote for anyone, hence they got what they deserve. Its unfortunate that the true citizens of North Miami, that did vote, were far outnumbered by those that didn’t. The result is what North Miami has become.
What will it ever take to get more of a voter turnout … and do you think that case that has not been decided yet will overturn the current mayor… wondering….
Changing the voting laws to give two votes per person to those paying income taxes and one vote per person to those receiving public assistance. That would get up the interest of many who complain about paying for the lazy, near-de-wells to go and make their two votes count.
Well. That was, um, random.
And I thought I was cynical. Nope, you win. Seriously.
As a Three decades experienced LEO, including 7 years as an COE Investigator and one who grew up in NYC, I must remind you that corruption is not an immigrant problem. That is, of course, if you do not factor in the Irish, Italian, Polish immigrants that were the then reigning entities in many of our major cities. You may recall that the dominant “immigrants” in the NYC Police Department, NYC Fire Department, NYC Sanitation also controlled who was hired. The problem then may be that, unfortunately, all immigrants follow the acts and unwritten policies of those that came before them. When we can ALL rally behind honest citizens willing to perform ethically in the public arena we will be better off. The answer is not just in the ballot box, but in having candidates worthy of our vote.
Just beware of Canadians named Myron. He ruined it for that entire country. 🙂