Don’t be distracted by lawmakers’ food fight. The real fight is for our democracy
It’s like something out of middle school. Rep. Paul Gosar posts video of an asinine anime that depicts him violently murdering Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez. Facing censure in the House, he is defended by Rep. Lauren Boebert, who in the process slags Rep. Ilhan Omar as a member of something she calls the “jihad squad.” Omar fires back, hitting Boebert for sleeping “with a pervert.”
Meantime, Sen. Ted Cruz, fresh from dubbing Big Bird a tool of “government propaganda” for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, goes after
Rep. Liz Cheney, saying she has “Trump derangement syndrome” for her disparagement of the
45th president. Cheney, playing on Cruz’s canine loyalty to someone who famously insulted his wife’s looks, shoots back that “a real man” would be defending his spouse.
Again, middle school. One pictures 13-year-olds arguing in the lunchroom while the gravy on their mystery meat congeals. But sadly, these recent exchanges of juvenile vitriol are from members of Congress. You are forgiven if you find it difficult to tell the difference.
One is strongly tempted to extend a pass to Cheney and Omar who were, after all, only firing back in kind after enduring a steady stream of belowthe-belt abuse, the former for daring to be a Republican with the conscience and spine to hold Donald Trump to account, the latter for daring to be a Muslim. But the truth is, this is not a good look for anybody. The old adage about mud wrestling with pigs comes to mind. Gosar, Cruz and Boebert dragged Cheney and Omar down to their level, and that’s low enough to give Aquaman the bends.
By extension, they drag the rest of us, too. It’s not just that they coarsen the culture, though that’s bad enough. But what’s worse is, they steal attention from more important matters. Take the Gosar hearing. How much time and energy do you suppose lawmakers had to divert to his puerile post? Whatever it was was time not spent dealing with an unprecedented conflux of challenges, including inflation, a broken supply chain, racial strife, the misinformation crisis, the insurrection and the failing health of our only planet.
Big things are at stake, much bigger than whether Paul Gosar has his wrist slapped. Yet we — media, voters and lawmakers alike — do not seem to really get it. We obsess on questions — Will Biden’s slumping approval rating hinder his re-election? Is Vice President Harris feeling slighted? Can Liz Cheney keep her seat? — that feel like normal, that feel like 1987 or 2005 and, thus, that feel disconnected from the urgency of this strange and critical moment in our history. We need to stop treating this like it’s normal. Normal is the last thing it is.
It’s well and good to wonder whether someone will lose an election or a committee assignment, but the bigger question right now is whether we will all lose a country. We chortle and “ooh” at the insults and clapbacks of our leaders, while laws are passed to ban disfavored voters from voting and Trump loyalists are installed in key positions in state election offices. Which raises the likelihood that he — or someone else with equal disregard for the norms and niceties of democracy — will then be installed in the White House with a pliant Republican Congress at his disposal.
What becomes of America then?
That’s the question that needs to be front and center right now, but it isn’t. Instead, some of us are fighting like middle school students while others watch from the sidelines.
Are we not entertained? Well, yes.
But meantime, the school is burning down.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.”
The late U.S. Rep.
John Lewis
Twenty-five years ago, the voters of Miami-Dade County spoke up and did something. They used the power of their vote to amend the county’s home rule charter to create the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.
Their vote was based on the basic truth that government should serve the governed, not the governing. They believed that local government employees and government officials had a special duty to abide by a standard of ethics in order to maintain the trust of those they serve. The Ethics Commission was created to serve as the guardian of the public trust.
As a result of the referendum, the County Commission enacted the Miami-Dade Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance and other ethics laws that every local government official and government employee must abide by in Miami-Dade County. The Code establishes a minimum standard of ethical conduct and behavior, and its provisions promote transparency in government and protect against cronyism and self-dealing.
The Ethics Commission is tasked with bolstering public confidence in the administration of government by informing the public and private sectors about the county’s ethics laws and seeking strict compliance with them.
For more than two decades, the agency has stayed true to its mission by conducting trainings, providing opinions and enforcing the Ethics
Code.
The Ethics Commission has handled more than 900 formal complaints, conducted more than a thousand self-initiated investigations and worked with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office (SAO) and other lawenforcement agencies on joint investigations that led to the arrest and prosecution of elected officials and government employees. Most recently, as a result of a joint investigation, a Medley councilwoman was arrested and charged with organized scheme to defraud and grand theft, both felonies.
The Ethics Commission’s enforcement function is one of the features that makes our agency unique. A visiting foreign dignitary told us that most countries and other jurisdictions have a lot of
“nice” sounding ethics laws on the books, but there is frequently no mechanism to enforce them.
This is not lost on me as the newly appointed Advocate at the Ethics Commission because, like many other first-generation citizens of this community, I was born in a country rife with corruption. Having witnessed the devastating impact that corruption had on Sierra Leone, the country of my birth, and how ethics violations create distrust in government, I am passionate about our work at the Ethics Commission because I understand what is at stake.
In my role as Advocate, I lead the Ethics Commission’s enforcement function which is tasked with conducting investigations of possible violations of county and municipal ethics laws. I also have the responsibility for filing complaints, making probable cause recommendations, and litigating cases before the Ethics Commission.
The decision to initiate an ethics investigation or the filing of an ethics complaint is not a decision taken lightly, because I understand the impact that being wrongfully accused of an ethics violation has on an elected official or government employee. In fact, my family fled Sierra Leone as a result of one of several military coups disguised as efforts to rid the nation of corruption. I understand that political influence and bias have no place in ethics investigations and prosecutions.
It is no mistake that the Ethics Commission is an independent agency with advisory and quasi-judicial powers. In fact, Ethics Commissioners are neither appointed nor can they be removed by the County Commission or Miami-Dade mayor.
In my leadership role as the agency’s Advocate, I will ensure that Ethics Commission investigations continue to be impartial, unbiased, thorough and objective. Every person accused of an ethics violation will be treated with fairness and respect. We will continue to work tirelessly to bolster public trust in government by holding wrongdoers accountable while ensuring fairness, integrity and transparency in our government processes.
However, we cannot do our work in a vacuum. We need your help.
You can report misconduct anonymously on the Ethics Hotline at 786314-9560 or send an email to ethics@miamidade.gov. You can also file a formal complaint by visiting our website: ethics.miamidade.gov.
We ask the residents of Miami-Dade to again, speak up when they see something that is not right, fair or just in local government.
Radia Turay was recently appointed Advocate for the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.