Alcaldito plays with fire, again

  • Sumo

We saw this coming. We told everyone that this alarmist threat to fire 105 of 271 firefighter paramedics in Hialeah was blackmail, or extortion (you pick your term), and that the very politicians who proposed it would come in at the 11th hour with a salvation plan or last-minute Holy Mary pass.

But I didn’t imagine the scare tactic would be so obviously revealed. Or is it me? You be the judge, dear readers.

On Monday, a day after El Nuevo Herald reporter Enrique Flor published a story based on a source’s [conveniently-placed] tip about the city’s offer to renew negotiations with the firefighters union, union representatives actually got a letter expressing this offer from City Attorney Bill “Go-Between” Grodnick, who as a legal representative of the city knows that neither the letter nor the deal uttered at a public budget hearing are legitimate or proper offers in the labor bargaining process that has been halted by a declaration of impasse on the city’s behalf. Nah. This is obvious campaign strategy. So the city attorney is playing politics now at the behest of su alcaldito Carlos Hernandez while accusing others of doing it (Can he be disbarred for any of this? Where do we complain?). The letter comes two days before the final public hearing where the Seguro Que Yes council is poised to pass a bogus budget that cuts 40 percent of the fire rescue staff and — again, this is odd for a city official — whines about not getting calls returned. It’s even odder from the city official who prematurely declared impasse less than two hours into the last negotiation session in July. This is becoming a broken record. Union President Mario Pico told Hernandez at the budget hearing that he would meet with him at his earliest convenience. “We can go get a cafecito right now after the meeting,” Pico said. “I don’t want coffee, Mr. Pico,” the mayor said, adding that he preferred to meet the next day. But he never made good on that because by then the TV cameras were gone. So, on Saturday, someone in the administration leaks the story to El Nuevo. On Monday, Grodnick sends the letter with the new offer, which is basically that in exchange for giving up holiday pay for 11 days, they can keep not only the 14 firefighters who would have been fired Oct. 1 but also the nine recruits at the academy that the city has already invested in.
But is it legitimate? Or is it a bait-and-switch hat trick (read: campaign stunt)? Because how can this be a possible solution if the holiday paycut will only save about $1.3 million and the budget, to be balanced, calls for more than $7 million cut from the fire department. Where did the city all of a sudden find another $5.5 million? “I can’t give you the details because I was not involved in it. But significant operational and costs savings were made,” Grodnick told me on the telephone, in a very proud tone. “We made substantial inroads in savings. Of the $7.5 million, half was saved through cost reductions in other changes.” Really? Someone found $5 million worth of “cost reductions” that were not apparent two weeks ago, when su alcaldito threatened to fire 105 firefighters. Or is this offer just for that first phase of the “budget in stages”? Are there still going to be 35 layoffs Dec. 1 and 35 more next year? That was the original plan and it would also serve to delay the overwhelming negative reaction su alcaldito has been getting, even from his supporters, until after Election Day? It would also delay the mandatory return of $1.8 million in federal homeland security grants for minimum staffing until after Election Day. Yes, Grodnick said. Those terminations are still on the table. “We hope to cut the other $3.5 million during the year through concessions in the fire department or further workforce reductions. But we hope and sincerely expect to come to an agreement once we get through the political season,” Grodnick told me. Really? I thought this was going on for two and a half years?

This is the longest shell game Ladra has ever watched and this dog is getting dizzy

After I asked for details on these “significant operational savings” (one would think Grodnick could recite one or two if they were so significant), Grodnick told me to call Fire Chief Marco de la Rosa. “I can’t talk to you about that. That was done through the fire chief and the OMB [Office of Management and Budget] Director.” But the fire chief didn’t seem to know about his own amazing “significant cost reductions” that saved his department’s positions (at least for now). “I have to see what operational plan he is speaking to,” de la Rosa said, buying some time and seemingly satisfied with the city offer (Ladra can’t help but wonder if he was the tipster). “It’s the same offer made at the council meeting, which was stated publicly.” And when asked why savings of $1.3 million are suddenly enough, de la Rosa said “at least the partial costs are deferred through the holidays.” He then said he had to get permission from su alcaldito before he could speak with me anymore about the “significant costs savings” in his department’s operational plan and the re-organizational structure plan. But he is not, apparently, go-between material like Grodnick: When I called him back about a half an hour later, he told me he had been told not to provide me with any information. “As per direction of the mayor, all budgetary questions are referred to his office,” de la Rosa said. I had already left two messages with someone at the mayor’s office Monday, as I have done nearly every day in the last two weeks. But I likely will not get a call back. And I may ask him in person when I see him at City Hall, but he will likely ignore me again. So Hernandez won’t answer questions and won’t allow de la Rosa, Budget Director Alex Vega, Finance Director Vivian Parks or Water and Sewer Director Armando Vidal to clarify questions about the budget. That means that nobody gets to know what we are dealing with. And that’s exactly what the fire union is facing and has been facing for two and a half years. No answers to real questions of substance. No checks or balances. (We have filed a public records request, but history has shown us not to hold our breath).

Hernandez does have the time and werewithal, however, to record misleading robocalls paid for by his mayoral campaign account and leave messages for residents sullying Pico’s good Winnie-the-Pooh name. He has time to make up outright lies, saying the firefighters want to raise taxes “to protect their juicy benefits.” His emphasis, not Ladra’s. But the strong mayor (yeah, I did a double-take, too) won’t negotiate with them himself. He won’t meet cara a cara, at the table with rolled sleeves, ready to do what is necessary. The firefighters, many of whom live in the city and others who have served residents for decades, do not want anyone to raise taxes. In fact, they believe the city does not have to. They just want to stop frivolous spending and corruption. And they know that if the city loses its Class 1 rating, insurance rates could go up and Hernandez can claim no accountability yet again. Su alcaldito is desperate, meanwhile, to keep his $190,000-a-year job ($244,000 if you count his pension, since he is making a campaign issue of it) and has resorted to campaigning against the firefighters because its trendy and he has to rail against someone. He’s lost both the TV and radio debates with co-candidates: former State Sen. Rudy Garcia, (R, District 40) and former Mayor Raul Martinez. And he likely fears the planned live radio debate with Pico Wednesday morning on Actualidad Radio (1020 AM) because Pico (who is not a candidate but will still beat su actor alcaldito) brings documents and asks specific questions Hernandez won’t or can’t answer. Truth is on Mario Pico’s side.

But while Hernandez will pontificate perfidiously in public, el alcaldito sends the go-betweens to negotiate his will so he can later claim ignorance when they botch things up — as they have so many times. Shall we count the ways? The most recent finding of sufficient cause from state regulators came last week and the fire union can file a complaint about what is clearly a premature impasse (the third in this process, which has clearly been prolonged by the city). How can you say it wasn’t premature when even you are still willing to negotiate, Bill? Or was that also blackmail and extortion to get the firefighters at the table in a disadvantaged position? Was it extortion when former mayor Julio Robaina tells the union reps (who have it on video) that if they just shut up and bend over, the city will rehire the 16 firefighters that were illegally fired to influence a union vote (the same firefighters that have not been made whole yet even though the city was legally ordered to backpay them for those five months they sat at home and were covered with other staff on overtime)? Because every time su alcaldito and Go-Between Grodnick say it’s been two and a half years of negotiations, they forget to say the part about how the city is the one that has thwarted any real dialogue with hostility and heavy-handed tactics. They also forget to add that during that time, they have been found to violate fair labor practices not once, but twice. It’s been two and a half years because of them, not because of the firefighters who simply asked to see the books that show the city needs them to sacrifice so that political pals can keep getting juicy no-bid contracts (that emphasis is mine) and cronies who crank it out for their campaigns keep getting “salary adjustments.” It’s been two and a half years because there is no transparency about the numbers and the figures that are presented change from day to day. It’s been two and a half years because city administrators have dug in their heels and won’t show their real financials or even present a recovery plan so the community is not faced with this again in 12 and 24 and 36 months.

Thank goodness we have the firefighters answering a different kind of emergency in the city. They are performing a different kind of triage. The victim is the community at large and the sickness is the corruption, lack of transparency and conflicts of interest that spread like cancer at City Hall. Rather than take their medicine to cover up the symptoms, the firefighters want to treat the disease — perhaps even remove the tumor — so that the patient can live and thrive again for many more years. They have sacrificed their own time to educate the public and the union leaders have sacrificed their personal lives to defend not just their own, but the entire city, and fight for what’s right.

And for this, they are heroes once more.

They are certainly not the politicians that bargain-rate politico pretenders try pathetically to paint them as.

35 Responses to "Alcaldito plays with fire, again"

  1. Sergiyoyo, I was not trying to make fun of your sister. Your pathetic behavior is more than enough comic relief without picking on your sister. I also hate to pick on another's command of the English language if they are not a native born English speaker. But "those comments of my sister IS not funny !!!", man, that could have been spoken by Moron George Bush himself. That is funny.
    I feel sorry for your sister, saddled with 4 children. What are you Catholic? Don't believe in birth control? 4 kids, that's a crime against nature. Overpopulation is the world's greatest environmental issue. Regardless of whatever advances man makes in food production, potable water, climate change, energy production; overpopulation with swamp and drown all these advances. With all those noses and butts to wipe, when would you sister have time to keep her man happy? And if this amorous relationship took place, why is it the woman's fault. Is Ladra an irresistible seductress, a siren luring her man to the rocks of romance? Why is the woman the bad person?
    Maybe the ex-brother-in-law is a lying, cheating bastard…or maybe he's hung like a horse and knows how to gallop.
    What has any of this to do with a political conversation about Hialeah? Now if you really have video of Ladra, and I don't mean standing in a hallway answering your pathetic questions….ooo…sorry Ladra..I did admit to prurient interests. I am but a weak man, and you are a powerful, bad woman. Take me Ladra, I am powerless to resist.
    Yo, Sergiyoyo…..you are not a bad son of a bitch….you are just someone's bitch. Pathetic, airing your family's dirty laundry, and mistakenly attacking the wrong target…what a pathetic gusano.

  2. Mr. Gonzalez, I think you have me confused with somebody else. Please come to the budget hearing tonight so we can clarify this case of what could be mistaken identity. We can also continue the "interview" that I didn't even know was an interview since you introduced yourself to me under false pretenses.

    I am an open book and will answer any questions — but let me ask some also, okay? Thanks.

  3. I will continue than, I posted you were arrested and you came out and admitted that you were arrested THREE times. So I spoke that facts!!!! Period!!!!

    I posted you were fired and you came out and admitted you were laid off !!! Laid off and fired is the same shit!!!! So I spoke the facts!!!!! Period!!!!!!

    I posted you had an affair with my brother in law and cause the divorce of my sister with 4 kids, 4 6 9 and 12 years old that now have to live with a broken house because you were fucking him and got caught. I am not saying his name to protect my newphew and niece and if you want to continue hurting those kids , 2 years later than go ahead.
    You are a bad person Elaine and everyone will soon find out who you really are.

    So what now am I still full of shit

  4. Sergio, quit with the tough guy act over the Internet. No one believes you, not even yourself. If your boyfriend passes the proposed budget tonight that will be the end of him and all of his lackies(you included). You guys only have 34 more days 🙂

  5. I must admit, ashamedly, that sordid tales of this sort do interest me; but there are many more exciting, ribald tales online. I admit to these prurient interests, but that is not why I come to this blog. This blog is an open conversation about current politics in Hialeah. Not wishing to speak for Ladra, she is quite capable of defending herself, but no one claims that this is
    strict, formal journalism. Instead it is the color commentary that fills in the questions of motivation of the players' actions. Let the official news media call the play by play, and we can receive, and add to, the color commentary here.
    Let ye amongst us who has not sinned, cast the first stone. It takes two to tango, and Sergio, if your allegation is true, then perhaps some responsibility lies with the actions of your ex-brother-in-law, or with your sister. Yes, Sergio, you may continue; but on the subject at hand, the City of Hialeah, and the administration thereof. If you wish to read or write tales of sex, then visit asstr.org. If you wish to have a conversation about Hialeah, where apparently no views, no matter how prurient, are blocked; please continue to share your knowledge, and questions, of Hialeah
    here.
    And one more thing Sergio, please forward picture of sister…only kidding , Sergio. I heard you are a bad son of a …hey, that makes you sort of a kindred spirit of Ladra then. She is a watchdog, and you are a son of a bitch, a puppy.. que cute !

  6. Yes, please continue… because everyone will see that you can't because there is no such thing. And show the non-existing video, too. You have nothing. So put up, or shut up. Because nobody believes you and this is getting boring, except for the part where you are revealing yourself more and more as Won't.

    I have more of my important work to do and more personnel files to go through at City Hall… maybe yours (are you posting comments on city-paid time?)… and campaign finance report to peruse and liars to hunt down. You can continue to spew your garbage, because like I said, nobody believes you.

  7. No I am not a city employee
    No one sent me to interview you
    you walked away before my interview was over
    I answered your stupid questions.
    Want to know who I am? I will tell you. I am a American citizen that is tired of bad journalist like you. The facts you report are all one what you want to make it to be.You are a Bad Person with bad intentions. I will follow your blog even after this election and will expose all your lies…. Enough of your bullshit!!! I am a bad son of a bitch so if you think your so called tough girl I will run from you are mistaken.
    Elaine you had a affair with my X- brother in law and caused a lot of pain for my sister!!!!!!
    Shall I continue?

  8. You didn't answer one single question, Mr. Gonzalez. I answered all yours. You prove again that your baseless accusations carry no weight.

    Please show the video as soon as you can… oh, that's right, you won't. Because it does not exist. If it did, it would already be on youtube.

    I have been painfully honest about my life, which is why everyone knows how old my daughter is and where I live. But I guarantee you that our home is very real and happy and loving and there are many people who are today living with their parents because of the economic hardships we are all facing. Living with her abuela y abuelo have been a blessing to my daughter and to me and we are eternally grateful for having had this opportunity. Sometimes things happen for a reason.

    Again, please tell everyone who you really are and who you are doing this for. These threats and actions must mean that I am on the right track and uncovering some truth you do not like. Or someone else, maybe someone running for office.

    Show the video. Or shut up. Nobody believes you.

  9. Elaine enough of your lies, I have your whole interview on video. This video plus one of your x- boyfriend in his interview with us will be shown soon.
    Your cameraman Raul seems like a nice guy, maybe I interview him because you can't pay him much, we all know you spend your time lying and not working and not trying to give your 11 year old daughter a real home. 46 years old and live with mom!!! You are a loser!!!

  10. …"Um, I mean, you have been involved in this and you know so much about them, so, um, who do you think, you know, I should vote for?" I told you I was not comfortable telling you how to vote and that I had not decided who to support for mayor besides being ABC. "Anyone but Carlos. The other two candidates have very different styles and very different things to offer so it depends on what you want for Hialeah." I told you that I may lean a certain way eventually and to stay tuned to the blog because I would be open about it, as I have been in the council races. I told him he could find who I supported on the blog and that I was basically anti-incumbent because I felt that they were complicit in fiscal mismanagement and lack of transparency in the city. I also told you to read other things too, like the Miami Herald and "their blog" I said, motioning to the council chambers and giving you the www. site address for the real[non]truth blog that I now suspect you may also already read. I was not rude at all. I was exceedingly nice despite my misgivings about you. And I excused myself when I needed to go and interview candidate Tony Vega and even invited you to listen, calling him a "smart and funny candidate" you might want to learn more about. I did not say he was a two-faced opportunistic back-peddler who would soon be exposed in a smoking gun post that would not only end his short candidacy but also could end someone else's political career (more on that later) because I still wanted him to talk to me. On camera. About the smoking gun.

    I suppose your frustration at not getting me to say whatever it was, I don't even know what, that you were supposed to get me to say led you to post these lies instead. But like I said, nobody believes you. They know I would have gladly answered, so I will here: Not much. Because he was a jerk, but a level-headed jerk who knew he had to stay cool so he could bail me out. Hours (never overnight). I never say I was "let go" because I took the buy-out in 2009 during a forced reduction and got a 26-week severance package, down from a 32-week max severance months earlier during the previous layoffs so if I was going to jump I was jumping while the water was still deep. The difference is huge but you don't really care since you don't care about the truth. We made great journalism together. No, because I was not "let go".

    Now it's your turn: Are you a city employee? Who sent you to get me to say I don't even know what? What was it you were supposed to get me to say? Why didn't you have the guts to ask me those questions you posted here in person? Will you the next time you see me? Are you "Won't"? Because your bad grammar, tone and rhythm suggest you are. Do your handlers realize that this has only vindicated Ladra, made me stronger and motivated me to start translating all posts to Spanish and print El Cortadito Politico on paper to distribute by hand to the voters who don't read online?

    Final question: What are you guys gonna try next?

  11. Mr. Gonzalez, when did you interview me? Because I certainly did not interview you. And I really wish I had not agreed when you asked my new friend and (if I can con him) news partner, cameraman Raul Torres, to excuse us so we could have some privacy (Note to Raul: Camera stays ON always from now on). Because you never asked about my by-now public and irrelevant 25-year-old arrest record or the non-existing probation or any of those other things, which I would have gladly answered, as I have always done, honestly and openly.

    You wasted your time and embarrassed yourself with this pathetic attempt to embarrass me (give it up, people). Nobody believes you anyway. Know why? Because everyone knows Ladra never walks away from questions and loves to play catch — or, rather, gotcha — with confrontationists. So here is the true version of events, in detail (read: credibility).

    You approached me in the hallway outside the chambers and asked if I was devallez, with a z or s at the end. I did not correct you, like I normally would, because you seemed nervous. You said your name was Sergio and that you had been wanting to meet me. I asked for your last name because there is another Sergio who works in the Hialeah Police department who may have had me investigated or backgrounded at the behest of one or more incumbent candidates (and I am making an inquiry/complaint with the FDLE to see what agency or authorized law enforcement officer ran my criminal history because, as far as I am aware, I am not under investigation by anyone). You told me your last name was Gonzalez and you shook my hand. You told me that you read the blog and that I was very knowledgeable about the candidates and the election. You said you had moved to Hialeah from Coral Springs five months ago. The hair on Ladra's neck stood up. You had lived in Hialeah all of five months and you were already so politically motivated that you were at a council meeting — a boring one at that — asking a relatively obscure blogger for intel? I asked you how you found Political Cortadito and you said friends had referred you to it. You said I seemed to know a lot about the races and was "close" to some candidates. Your lines seemed practiced and it took you forever to get to your obviously end-game question…

  12. Elaine I am proud of the way you described Hialeah on the above post. Every word is true it is everything that combined makes this City so uniquely amazing. Thank you for speaking on the Cities behalf and lifting the veil that has endangered her heritage.
    As to the matter of where to report attorney behaviors too:
    I came across this; Florida Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, page 32 section 4.6 Lack of Candor
    4.61 Disbarment is appropriate when a lawyer knowingly or intentionally deceives a client with the intent to benefit the lawyer or another regardless of injury or potential injury to the client.

    After reading your blog and reading 4.61it made me think of the following, If a City attorney knowingly deceived the client (tax paying residents) to maintain his employment or benefit a person's "political agenda" which could potentially cause the injury or potential injury of a (resident not receiving life saving services that have been paid by their tax dollars) than I think in my tax payer opinion that it may have grounds. The moment 105 firefighters are reduced it puts the residents/client at risk of injury.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.