Who is advising Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez these days?
No, really.
Because on Friday afternoon, our Not So Golden Boy mayor will join none other than the Miami Dolphins — you know, the team he wanted us taxpayers to buy a new stadium for — to give some holiday turkeys to needy families whose kids go to the Boys and Girls Club of Miami-Dade.
Is he crazy? Does he not realize that he is going to look like the biggest turkey of them all?
“During this season of gratitude, we are thankful for the opportunity to serve the families of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami,” Gimenez said in a press release, or didn’t say because I am sure his comments were written by somebody else.
“Together with our friends at the Miami Dolphins, we look forward to making the Thanksgiving holidays an extra special one for these children.”
At least this time they are giving away turkeys, not trying to sell us one.
Gimenez is probably also looking forward to re-introducing some kind of public financing scheme to roof and renovate the privately owned Dolphins Stadium, which he thought was a brilliant idea last year.
Yes, it would have been through a penny increase in tourist taxes, mostly. But also a sales tax rebate. Still, both things are public dollars that could be used elsewhere and some would argue should be used elsewhere since the millionaire who owns the stadium and the team and half of New York City can afford to fix the facility himself.
We already know owner Stephen Ross has publicly said he will try for taxpayer monies again this year, though I can hardly believe that there would be any more of an appetite. Perhaps there is less now with the bullying and razing headlines hounding the team. Plus, Ross is also now bullying the legislators that killed that scam of a bill in Tallahassee, threatening with putting challengers against him because they dared to thwart his evil plan.
If Ladra were advising the mayor, she’d have told him to politely decline the offer from The Miami Dolphins organization to help distribute 100 turkeys they paid for. They can do it themselves. He’s not up for re-election for another three years. And, anyway, can’t he pass poultry with a better suite community stakeholder?
Why, perhaps he can.
About seven hours before the photo-op with some retired Dolphins players, cheerleaders and the team mascot — Ross is not attending, according to county staff — Gimenez will be tossing turkeys with grocery giant Winn-Dixie. The mayor held a turkey drive with them last year, too. But not with the Dolphins. Hmmmm.
“While the holiday season offers us a time to celebrate with family and friends, it is also a time to share our many blessings with others in our community,” Gimenez said in another press release.
“I am proud to partner with our friends at Winn-Dixie to bring food and holiday cheer to so many families in need.”
It appears the mayor thinks we have a lot of “our friends.” The Dolphins are “our friends.” We have “friends” at Winn Dixie.
Gimenez could not be reached for comment — not that he calls me back much these days — because he is back in Washington, D.C. again, where he went in August with the Dolphins when they were honored by the White House. This time, he’s attending a U.S. Department of Transportation National Freight Advisory Committee meeting in Washington, D.C.
But his spokeswoman, Suzy Trutie, said these turkey drives have been a county staple for years. “The purpose of the free turkey drives is to assist needy individuals and families in our community,” Trutie said.
Ladra is not sure that’s the only purpose. Because if so, then these 600 pre-registered low-income families that the mayor identified through local churches and the county’s Community Action and Human Services Department’s service centers wouldn’t need to be paraded through the west end parking lot at Tropical Park in front of TV cameras like the poor photo-op props that they are.
Wouldn’t these people prefer to pick up their family’s charity Thanksgiving meal at the aforementioned local church or the agency that referred them and where they already get services? Quietly? Privately? Keeping a little dignity?
I am sure they would. But that would not give the Dolphins and Winn Dixie and the mayor the very valuable “earned media” publicity that such poultry lotteries generally generate.
Can anybody say “cheese”?
Photo-op: Carlos Gimenez plays turkey with Miami Dolphins added by Ladra on
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