After 21 years, the advocate at the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust — the man who basically serves as the prosecutor — is leaving us. Michael Murawski has a new job: He will keep politicians and government folks in line at the new Naples Ethics Commission.
Murawski will be their first executive director starting June. 1. Congratulations, but Ladra gives him six months before he’s begging to come back just because of the sheer boredom.
In the meantime, the Miami-Dade commission on Friday selected six finalists to be interviewed for the position next month. They are Maribel Diaz, Averill Dorsett, Loressa Felix, Radia Turay, Tim VanderGiesen and George Wysong.
Wait a minute. Did you hear that record stopping abruptly? The squeak of someone hitting the brakes?
That was Ladra. Because Wysong is the deputy city attorney at the city of Miami, where a host of ethical lapses and outright violations have not just been tolerated by the attorney’s office but enthusiastically encouraged.
Read related: Miami city attorneys conspired, created ‘cheat sheet’ to stop Joe Carollo recall
This is the same assistant city attorney who conveniently provided a different interpretation of the state laws when his boss asked him to help create a “cheat sheet” to protect Commissioner Joe Carollo from a recall attempt. He was part of the conspiracy to try to deny citizens their due process. Doesn’t this disqualify him from judging others on their ethics?
He has sat by and allowed — no, enabled — the unethical behavior of Miami commissioners and administrators.
And now he wants to be our public watchdog? ¿No me digas?
What? Didn’t his boss, City Attorney Tricky Vicky Mendez make the cut? Las malas lenguas say she’s leaving the city toward the end of the year, so why doesn’t Wysong stick around to go for the top dog job?
Or does this show how much nobody is going to want that job?
Ethics Commission Director and chief apologist Jose Arrojo told Ladra in an email that about 20 people applied for the position, and that was whittled down to about a dozen by staff. The commission picked the six finalists, including Wysong, who will be interviewed on June 11.
The meeting is open to the public. Ladra will bet you booing is not allowed.
Read related: Ethics Commission’s finger-wagging plays important role
Also in the running is Tim VanderGiesen, who is the lead public corruption prosecutor at the State Attorney’s Office, replacing Arrojo when he took the job, who replaced Joe Centorino who was also head of corruption at the SAO. See the pattern?
It’s like a breeding ground.
Ladra likes VanderGiesen — even though he’s an underachiever — but maybe the poison is at the source. Some would say he is as much of a failure as la jefa. Shouldn’t we try somewhere else? A quick google search of the candidates should tell us all we need to know.
Averill Dorsett has municipal baggage. She was the Human Resources director for the city of Fort Lauderdale, replacing a 23-year city employee whose position was eliminated and later sued for racial bias.
Oh, wait, here it is. She worked as an assistant city attorney in Miami and in Sunrise and at the SAO office, not just under Kathy Fernandez-Rundle but under Janet Reno. She’s from the breeding ground.
Loressa Felix and Radia Turay are already staff attorneys at the ethics commission making $102,950 and $122,350 a year, respectively. So, meh.
If the candidate Maribel Diaz is the same Maribel Diaz who is the manager of collections for Behar, Gutt & Glazer, she’s perfect.
There are a lot of debts to collect.
Ethics commission looks at Miami’s George Wysong as potential advocate added by Ladra on
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