Morales Revives Bid for Airport Authority in Miami-Dade County

January 13, 2004

Morales Revives Bid for Airport Authority
Miami Herald, FL


Seven Miami-Dade county commissioners, a single-vote
majority, wouldn't budge for Chairwoman Barbara
Carey-Shuler in November when she urged them to create
an independent body to run Miami International
Airport.

Commissioner Jimmy Morales announced Monday he intends
to ask his colleagues to back a more modest proposal,
but one that could have the same effect: allow voters
to settle the matter at the polls.

Morales' call for an Aug. 31 referendum would give
voters final say over who governs the county's
contract-rich aviation system, which includes MIA and
smaller airfields in Opa-locka, West Kendall and
Homestead.

''We, who are put in office by the power of the
people, should be the least concerned about hearing
the public speak,'' said Morales, who is running for
county mayor on that same date.

Supporters of an independent aviation authority
contend such an agency is needed to limit the
influence of lobbyists over lucrative contracts and
concession deals at MIA. Many of the same lobbyists
are closely allied with commissioners.

Commissioners opposed to surrendering power to
nonelected authority members say they consider the
proposal an attack on their integrity.

''Any issue that goes down 7-6 before the County
Commission obviously has some strong level of
support,'' Morales said. ``So let's put it out to a
vote so people can vote yea or nay, and we as a county
can move forward.''

WITHDREW MEASURE

Commissioners didn't actually vote on Carey-Shuler's
proposal to create an authority on Nov. 4. But seven
of the commission's 13 members expressed strong
opposition, leading her to withdraw the measure. Those
commissioners are Rebeca Sosa, Joe Martínez, Javier
Souto, Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz, Bruno Barreiro, Natacha
Seijas and Dennis Moss, who chairs the committee
overseeing aviation issues.

Carey-Shuler said she wished Morales luck, but was not
optimistic he would succeed. She said business leaders
asked her to sponsor the measure, but she declined.

''I wish him well and I certainly will support him,''
Carey-Shuler said. ``But it's not the voters who are
asking us to do this. It's a group of business
people.''

Business leaders have vowed to initiate a petition
drive to force a referendum in the fall. Morales'
proposal, backed by these same interests, would serve
as a shortcut. But hurdles remain.

The proposal will go before Moss' transportation
committee on Thursday. Four of its six members opposed
last year's bid to create an authority. If the measure
fails in committee, Moss could still place it on the
full commission agenda as early as next month.

But that's far from assured, Moss said.

''I will go through the normal committee process, and
whatever the committee decides to do is what I will
support,'' Moss said. ``I'm not inclined to send this
to the board as I did last time around out of respect
for the chairwoman.''

Moss said he remains steadfast in his opposition to an
authority.

''The constituents in my district aren't knocking my
door down crying that we need an authority,'' Moss
said. ``I haven't gotten one call on the issue.''

Three other members of Moss' committee -- Martínez,
Diaz and Barreiro -- said they were unlikely to
support Morales' proposal.

''We've had some clear direction from the commission
on this,'' Barreiro said. ``And I don't see any public
outcry for it.''

Commissioner Sosa, who does not sit on the committee,
said her views haven't changed, either. She said she
thought it was premature to revive the issue.

''I am very concerned with the creation of more
independent authorities that are not working,'' Sosa
said. ``I don't want government in the hands of people
who were not elected.''

AD HOC COMMITTEE

The model authority that Morales' resolution would put
before voters would be nearly identical to the one
championed by Carey-Shuler. Hers was drafted by an ad
hoc committee of private citizens, mostly business
leaders.

At a news conference Monday, Morales was flanked by
two of the ad hoc committee members, Raymond Cain,
director of Florida Memorial College's Aviation
Department, and Mario Artecona, executive director of
the Miami Business Forum.

Cain, a former airline pilot, stressed the authority
proposal should not be viewed as a criticism of
commissioners, who presently oversee the county's
aviation concerns.

''The purpose is not to exclude the political process,
but for the business community to join our leaders in
a true partnership,'' Cain said.

The proposed seven-member authority would govern the
day-to-day operations of the aviation system,
including approving contracts and hiring an aviation
director.

But commissioners would retain some measure of
control. They would appoint five of the seven
authority members, have power to remove members by a
two-thirds vote for malfeasance, and review the
airport system's master plan every five years.

Should Morales' proposal fail, Artecona said a new
authority plan could go before voters, presumably one
that further erodes commissioners' powers.
 

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