Ethics complaint filed vs Alice Bravo for lobbying on county airports contract

Is a lobbyist still a lobbyist if nobody hears a sound?

Former Miami-Dade Transit Director Alice Bravo attended a meeting with other lobbyists last month with Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz about a piece of a $50 million contract for design and engineering services at Miami International Airport. Bravo, who resigned from her $250,000 earlier this year, can’t lobby anyone at the county for two years after she her exit. And Diaz would have us believe that she was not there to influence him.

She just said hi and — in the era of COVID-19 — gave him a big hug.

But even if it’s true that Bravo sat quietly in the corner without saying a single word on behalf of her employer — the fourth ranked company in the procurement process — it’s an obvious ethics breach. There was no reason for her to be there — as lobbyists persuaded Diaz to toss the recommendation out and start the process anew — otherwise.

Attorney David Winker, who has become a sort of government legal watchdog, filed a complaint Monday with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust that quotes much of what Diaz told Ladra, who broke this story last month — about the meeting.

“They were against the procurement the way it happened,” Diaz told Ladra. “It’s about a contract the mayor kicked out after months of procurement. They want it kicked out.”

“I told them I wasn’t in favor of starting over but I would consider what they said.”

Also there were lobbyists Alex Heckler — the official, publicly-declared paid lobbyist for WSP — Ralph Garcia-Toledo and Jesse Manzano, who were representing the company that came in third, Jacobs Engineering. Bravo and Heckler signed in at 3:30, eight minutes after Garcia-Toledo and Manzano.

“To argue that Ms. Bravo’s presence at the meeting with Chairman Diaz is okay makes a mockery of our ethics code and the fact that Ms. Bravo allegedly didn’t speak at the meeting does not cleanse her presence,” Winker wrote in the complaint narrative.

“The meeting was set up by lobbyists to advocate for the bid to be overturned and influence Chairman Diaz to take action to assist in throwing out the bids,” it reads. “That Ms. Bravo was paid to be at that meeting as part of her job at WSP is not an accident — without saying a word she is able to communicate her position on the issue and everyone at the meeting knew that.”

Like one of Political Cortadito’s loyal readers commented, “When ‘lobbyists’ Paulie Walnuts, Big Pussy and Tony show up in your office with a baseball bat to ‘discuss business’ Paulie does all the talking. Tony just stands there swinging the bat. Does anyone think Tony’s not the lead lobbyist?”

“Ms. Bravo is employed by WSP in the role of ‘client engagement’ and was being compensated by WSP to be at the meeting with Chairman Diaz as part of her job,” Winker wrote in his complaint. “This was not a social visit, but a meeting intended to advocate for Chairman Diaz to support their effort to overturn the bid.”

Winker also told Ladra that he had filed a complaint with the Inspector General.

“If what Alice Bravo did doesn’t break the two year ban on former employees lobbying, we need to either change the lobbying rules or stop pretending we care,” Winker told Ladra Monday. “We need more transparency and accountability and less corruption and pay-to-play politics as usual.”

Maybe part of the investigation should be to look at the video tape from the entrance to the commissioner’s office and see who signed in for Bravo. Ladra has asked for it but has been told that for “security reasons” it is exempt from public records laws. Well, it’s not exempt in court.

And it doesn’t look like Bravo signed in for herself. The entry looks different than the rest. It does not have the email and phone information, as if it had been entered been signed by someone who didn’t know it.

It looks like she tried to come in incognito and was busted. Why would she do that if it was just okay to sit there and not say a word?

“If it is true that Ms. Bravo did not sign it, it demonstrates that she knew her presence at the meeting was problematic,” Winker wrote in his complaint.

Well, of course she did. But that’s why they pay her the big bucks.

Ethics Complaint against Alice Bravo, May 2021 by Political Cortadito on Scribd

Narrative for Ethics Complaint against Alice Bravo by Political Cortadito on Scribd

Alice Bravo, Jose “Pepe” Diaz

Ethics complaint filed vs Alice Bravo for lobbying on county airports contract added by Ladra on May 18, 2021
View all posts by Ladra →