Add another chief of something to the growing cabinet of Democrat castaways that Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava is building around her administration. Former Florida Emergency Management Director and State Rep. Jared Moscowitz is now our Chief COVID Officer.
Well, that’s not his official title but it’s what he is. He is officially just a “special advisor” and will work with the county’s emergency management team and “COVID leadership” — we have a COVID leadership? — to advise on our vaccination, testing and overall COVID response strategy.
Wasn’t Chief Medical Officer Peter Paige, a Jackson Memorial Hospital doctor, supposed to be doing that? Levine Cava named him to the post in November, shortly after her election, after promising to create the position repeatedly during the campaign.
It wasn’t the last position she created.
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Moskowitz joins a mayor’s office that is fat with chiefs. There’s Paige. And then there’s the county’s first Chief Bay Officer, Irela Bague, and first Chief Heat Officer, Jane Gilbert. We’ve got Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Morales, Chief Safety Officer J.D. Patterson, Chief Financial Officer Ed Marquez, Chief Information Officer Margaret Brisbane.
You know what these people used to be called? Deputy mayors. And La Alcaldesa has more of them than former mayor and now Congressman Carlos Gimenez ever had. I bet you it’s a bigger budget, too. It’s at least $1.2 million a year for the five of them without Gilbert, whose salary couldn’t be found on the county’s online salary search database.
Also not included is the Equity and Inclusion Officer, which is also a new position but not a chief. El pobre.
Because at some point there are too many chiefs in the kitchen.
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It’s not that it’s Moskowitz isn’t fantastic at the crisis crunch and worth every penny of that $5,000 a month Ladra was told he is getting paid. Known as the ‘master of disaster,’ Moskowitz — who was also a gun reform advocate after the Parkland shooting — has guided Florida through several hurricanes and the first year of the COVID pandemic, leaving the state job in February “to spend more time with family.” My quotes, not his. Because it’s what everybody says.
But he’s been helping Florida cities and counties out behind the scenes since leaving Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ administration, which by the way, since when has their COVID response been a model? So why are we paying for the cow when we could get the milk for free?
And we won’t need a chief COVID officer forever, right? Or does the mayor know something we don’t? So would Moskowitz segue into another position, as many “professional administrators” do? Or will he just go away? Or is he there to take some of the slack off Morales, who is the real mayor by all accounts, or help her raise money for her political action committee?
“He is a seasoned emergency management professional,” Levine Cava said at a televised press conference Thursday. “He led the state through the pandemic and we are glad to have him.”
Mmmm, hmmm. Ladra is sure you are.
La Alcaldesa Levine Cava names Jared Moskowitz as ‘chief’ COVID officer added by Ladra on
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