Meanwhile at the Ethics Commission....

Last month the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission met to discuss a possible plea deal for embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro in the ethics case that was filed as a result of his sending city business to his wife's tag agency.  We've had an audio recording of what went on during that meeting but have been struggling for weeks to try to figure out how the hell to post it in such a way that you guys can listen to it.  With that said, hopefully this link will let you listen in on what went on at the last ethics commission meeting...

The man you hear speaking on behalf of the citizens of Miami Dade County is Michael Murawski who is the staff attorney over at the commission who is responsible for handling the case against Mr de Castro.  The recording speaks for itself, according to Mr Murawski the South Miami cops are protecting their chief and refuse to testify against him and aside from paying some fines that the ethics commission have reclassified as "investigative costs", the chief is pleading "no contest" and being given a letter of instruction.  That was what was supposed to happen but then at the last minute the chief's criminal attorney, Simon Steckel, said that he had to talk to his client before he could accept the deal therefore delaying the plea till the next ethics commission meeting, which turns out to be today, June 13.  Hopefully we'll be able to get a recording of today's meeting, as soon as we get it we'll post it up.

The question that remains unanswered though is that if Mr. Murawski and his colleagues over at the ethics commission are so sure that they'd prevail if they went forward against the chief, then why the hell did they cut such a sweet deal and basically give him a slap on the wrist for what was an open and shut case?