When it comes to corruption, South Florida certainly doesn’t need any more bad publicity.  Unfortunately, the latest international money laundering scandal is only adding to the mix.

In its recent “Secret Shell Game” series, the Miami Herald exposed the Miami-Dade connection to the the “Panama Papers“, a series of just leaked 11.5 million confidential documents held by a Panamanian law firm.  In association with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Miami Herald uncovered “the tightly guarded world of high-end South Florida real estate and the global economic forces reshaping Miami’s skyline.”

The Herald reported an “analysis of the never-before-seen records found 19 foreign nationals creating offshore companies and buying Miami real estate. Of them, eight have been linked to bribery, corruption, embezzlement, tax evasion or other misdeeds in their home countries.”

The fallout of this global scandal has already resulted in the resignations of the Prime Minister of Iceland and the head of a Chilean anti-corruption watchdog agency.  The leak also implicated the law firm’s secret ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the father of British Prime Minister David Cameron, three members of FIFA, the international soccer association, as well as politicians from France, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Spain and China.

Yeah, this is huge.

As the leaked documents will be scrutinized, this story will continue to unfold.  As far as scandals go, the fact that there is a South Florida connection is hardly surprising.

Miami-Dade County in particular, is a magnet for fraud and corruption.  Nevertheless, the County Commissioners have their panties so twisted that they voted on a “symbolic resolution” last night decrying the Treasury Department for “singling out” Miami-Dade County’s corruption.

The commissioner who sponsored this silly resolution is none other than Politician-For-Life Sally Heyman, whose main complaint is that “real estate agencies in Broward and Palm Beach try to siphon luxury business away from Miami,” according to yesterday’s Miami Herald article, County commissioners object to extra scrutiny over Miami money-laundering.

Imagine that?

As you might also imagine, this act of idiocy just begs ridicule by the media.

Marc Caputo of Politico’s Florida Playbook so fittingly smirked:

–HOW ABOUT ‘CONCERNS’ FOR, YA KNOW, CRIME? Miamians are priced out of homes, in part, because of a housing market distorted by cash-only real estate deals that, sometimes, hide their shady owners’ true identities –and perhaps their crimes in other countries. But ya. The problem is perception of Miami as a scam capital. It’s not the scammers. What’s next? Asking the unfair feds to stop examining Medicare fraud?

By protesting oversight and scrutiny by the Treasury Department, they were just asking for trouble.  Obviously, the Miami-Dade County Commission did not seek the advice of a media consultant about the potential implications of such a resolution before allowing Heyman to put it on the agenda.

Because of the commission’s lack of foresight in doing so, in addition to being in the national spotlight for corruption, the county is now fodder for lampooning.

Memo to Sally Heyman:  Politicians like you keep media crisis specialists like Brian Andrews in business.

Idiotic commission resolution invites parody. Too bad they didn’t consult @brianandrews first. Blog coming. 😜 https://t.co/n14rNmTp2d

— Stephanie Kienzle (@dwightyoakamfan) April 6, 2016

The commission’s only saving grace is that three of the thirteen members, Chairman Jean Monestime, Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava and Commissioner Barbara Jordan, voted against this resolution.  They were appropriately more concerned about the illegal money laundering that’s negatively affecting the housing market, than the embarrassment all the corruption is causing them.

If there’s anything the Miami-Dade County Commission should be embarrassed about, it’s their own stupidity.

Sally Heyman and her co-conspirators are the proud recipients of the #AssClowns of the Internet Award.

Mazel tov!

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”