Guest AuthorPublic service was once a noble cause, one that many believed, not too long ago, wasn’t necessarily a good fit for the business leader — without some check on his authority.
The focus of business leaders was seen as too narrow and too self-serving to entrust them with government leadership, which is why so many Florida cities hired professional city managers.
The great battle of the past two decades has been between the government professionals and business leaders. With the ever increasing demand for cities to lure employers and create jobs, the professionals are now seen as being ill-equipped for economic development, which has given rise to business leaders dictating city policies and budgets.
Instead of our city governments protecting and serving those they govern and improving their residents’ quality of life, they have morphed into branches of their chambers of commerce that offer public assets, subsidies and tax breaks to businesses. Leading the way to the rise of the pro-business mayors.
Recent events in South Florida show that the shift has created a system that is ripe for cronyism, bribery and graft.
Last week, Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman was suspended after he was arrested for allegedly using his elected position to land a secret consulting job with Community Health of South Florida Inc., a health care company that sought to build a clinic in Homestead.
The Miami Herald reported that Bateman pushed city and county bureaucracies to approve the necessary permits as if he were the mayor working for the civic good, rather than a $125-an-hour secret lobbyist. Reporters also has found that he had pushed the city to sell municipal property to the developer of a for-profit medical college, while his wife was working as the developer’s real estate agent.
Bateman became the third leg of the mayoral trifecta for South Florida prosecutors.
Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Marono and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi were arrested earlier in the month for their involvement in kickback and bribery schemes concerning federal grants.
Marono was the president of the Florida League of Cities. According to federal officials, he was trying to get other mayors in on the scheme. One of those mayors was reportedly Bateman of Homestead. Apparently Bateman had schemes of his own that left him little time for Marono.
The arrests of Bateman, Marono and Pizzi show that there still is a role for professional managers in city government. Too often business leaders are only self-interested actors trying to rig the system for their personal benefit.
