In late July, as Miami-Dade leaders confronted the county's worst budget crisis in decades, Commissioner Natacha Seijas boarded American Airlines Flight 56 for a weeklong trip to Ireland.
In September, a day after commissioners voted to lay off more than 500 county workers and cut millions in funding to social service groups, Seijas hopped on a plane for seven days in Brazil. In October, as commissioners imposed steep salary cuts on three unions, Commissioner Audrey Edmonson and her chief of staff embarked on a 12-day journey through Senegal and South Africa.
Taxpayers picked up the tab for commissioners and their county entourages on each trip, which were arranged by the International Trade Consortium, a county agency designed to open global markets for Miami-Dade businesses.
Despite spending more than $217,000 on nine trips since 2007, ITC executive director J.A. "Tony'' Ojeda Jr. could not identify a single contract signed as a result of the missions. In fact, the agency stopped keeping such records four years ago after a Miami Herald review found them grossly exaggerating the trips' economic benefit.
Read more here.
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