Jimmy Morales just might be the dumbest Harvard magna cum laude graduate on the face of the planet.  As Random Pixels reported in Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales believes the less you know, the better off you are, he sent an “email to his inner circle at City Hall and a few top people at the Miami Beach Police Department” telling them that the “Miami-Dade police certainly seem to have no problem issuing a short statement with only the facts.  No interviews by anybody.  Just a simple statement.”

Random Pixels was referring to Morales’ comments about the dearth of information the MDPD put out regarding a February 5, 2014 death-by-police-taser of a 21 year old man.  In that reprehensible email Morales stated, “Probably part of the reason there has been so little coverage.”  He added, “I find it usually much safer to say less than more” before issuing the directive, “I trust this will be how we handle things going forward.”

That Morales ordered his Police Department to suppress information from the press is deplorable.

That he put his decree in writing instead of verbally is just plain stupid.

As I’ve pointed out on a number of occasions, it certainly appears that the North Miami Beach Police Department’s Public Information Office operates under the Jimmy Morales Credo of “Less is More.”  Luckily for PIOs Tom Carney and Kathy Katerman, this column is not about the NMBPD today.  (I can already hear them breathing sighs of relief.)

What I find even more troubling at the moment is the fact that Jimmy Morales has a long-standing habit of bending, if not breaking, the rules.  This isn’t the first time Morales has played hide and seek with the truth.  Unfortunately, like most public officials in South Florida, he keeps getting away with it.

Random Pixels also pointed out that in 2004 Morales ran for the office of Miami-Dade County Mayor and “couldn’t explain how he spent $580,000.00 in campaign funds.”  According to a Public Report and Order Accepting Settlement Agreement filed on March 22, 2007 (three years after the election) by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, “The Respondent did not provide documentation for expenditures of five hundred eighty thousand and eight-one dollars and twenty-seven ($580,081.27) cents.”

The Commission then slapped Morales on the wrist, fined him a whopping $250.00, and sent him on his way.

To this day Morales has never accounted for that missing money, nor has he been required to do so.

But the best (or is it the worst?) part is that in his resume, Jimmy Morales proudly boasts under Government Achievments:

As Miami-Dade County Commissioner, I played a significant role in the following accomplishments and projects:Preparing and sponsoring the legislation creating the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission

• Preparing and sponsoring the legislation creating the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission

Isn’t that special?

We no longer have to wonder why the Ethics Commission rarely finds Probable Cause in complaints filed against public officials.  The COE obviously embraced its Creator’s “Less is More” Philosophy.

That also could explain why the Commission had absolutely nothing to say about Morales’ “lack of documentation for expenditures” in excess of $580K other than the Respondent “pled no contest to the complaint and agreed to pay a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars.”

After all, the Founding Father of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust firmly believes that it’s “much safer to say less than more.”

Whether concealing information from the media, or withholding campaign finance information from the state, Miami Beach City Manager/Wannabe Mayor Jimmy Morales is the poster child for Corruption in Government.

In which case, less really would be more.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”