The escalation of gutter politics. Let’s vote out bad leadership in November. Village candidate chases apparent political sign stealer all over Miami | Featured

Village candidate chases apparent political sign stealer all over Miami | Featured

Read this article recent posted online with the Palmetto Bay News entitled "Village candidate chases apparent political sign stealer all over Miami."  It should upset you.  This is yet another example of bad leadership.  What drives a Village resident, a PTA parent, to stoop to such a despicable low and steal campaign signs?  Where will this end?  There are many occasions when politics goes too far and though some may see this as childish act and more of a prank, I see this as a final step toward someone getting hurt in the upcoming election.

An elected official can and should be judged by how they conduct themselves both at public meetings as well as the antics of their supporters.  Enough is enough.  I was shocked to read a blog entry posted by South Dade Matters: "PB: More Indecorous and Some Just Plain Odd Behavior.” Read it for yourself.  There are links to the actual meeting video.  You can judge with your own eyes. 

Enough is enough.  I am calling out the Mayor and Vice Mayor to stop the pettiness and finally show some positive leadership.  How? First, start at the meetings.  Stop interrupting and chastising speakers at meetings.  Control the meetings by protecting Free Speech by putting an end to the heckling of certain speakers that has been perpetrated by council supporters and even family members of certain council members.  This is an example of institutionalized bullying.  The lack of civility at meetings has obviously filtered out into the community and into the ongoing elections. 

The current elected officials need to stop the bickering and divorce themselves from those who are engaging in gutter politics.  The involved officials are guilty by association.  I am calling upon all candidates to disavow this type of activity and work to return Palmetto Bay onto a positive track.  Stop the deterioration of this town.

No one in Palmetto Bay should vote for any candidate, to reelect any current official, who cannot move forward on a positive agenda.

I will be keeping a very close eye on these elections and offer my support to the positive campaigns and properly call out the negativity.  I ask all voters to reward the positive candidates and reject negative campaigners.

Who is SDM? Thank you for the nice comment.

I want to thank the author or authors of South Dade Matters (SDM) for the kind comments posted in "SDM Wonders: Palmetto Bay Politics Edition":

Lesson from the Tuesday, August 14th Election: The Founding Village Council’s Legacy cannot be understated, especially in its decision to hold elections in November rather than the middle of August just a week before school starts. Palmetto Bay voters should thank Eugene Flinn, Paul Neidhart, Linda Robinson, Ed Feller and John Breder for doing the right thing on election dates. SDM Wonders: When will the county government start holding elections in November when all of their constituents are engaged?

Let’s use the November election to as our opportunity to exhale the negativity and get Palmetto Bay back on the positive track.