Michael Putney

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Michael Putney
Michael Putney is the political and governmental reporter for Miami's ABC affiliate, WPLG-Channel 10, where he also hosts This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney. A native New Yorker, he is a graduate of the University of Missouri. He worked as a reporter for the Dow Jones weekly The National Observer, was a writer for Time Inc. and came to Miami in 1977 to work for The Miami Herald. He joined WTVJ in 1981 and in 1989 moved to WPLG. He has won numerous awards in his career, including two Emmys for reporting and commentary.

Top Story

TAX REFORM

Reject these pernicious amendments

What were those folks on the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission smoking? Or did they just drink the conservative Kool Aid ladled out by Jeb Bush and a few other like-minded, right-wing ideologues? Whatever it was, the TBRC concentrated on social engineering rather than budget and taxation issues and thus squandered a once-every-20-year opportunity to put meaningful proposals before voters without legislative or court approval. The TBRC strong-armed several amendments on the Nov. 4 ballot that...

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MEGAPLAN

Why give $395 million to a private enterprise?

Miami-Dade County gave away the store when it negotiated the contract to build a stadium for the Marlins and did so to satisfy Carlos Alvarez's campaign pledge to keep Major League Baseball in South Florida.
MID-SUMMER

Dread, lassitude -- and civility

We're living through a strange and unsettling period of dread and lassitude. Dread over the economy, the rising price of groceries and gas, the falling values of our homes, the fate of our 401(k)s (if we're lucky enough to have one), the future of that fun couple Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and how in the world we're ever going to pay off our credit cards. Oh yeah, there's also that little matter of the Bush administration ginning up a possible bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and the resurgence...
MIAMI-DADE SCHOOL BOARD

Putney: Members need to stop squabbling

The Miami-Dade School Board is in meltdown. It has devolved from a collegial body that could disagree agreeably into a dysfunctional collection of competing egos and agendas that can't agree on anything. It's the gang that couldn't govern straight. Actually two gangs: The five who support Rudy Crew and the four who don't.
CARLOS ALVAREZ

Four more years of a so-so mayor

Carlos Alvarez isn't a bad mayor. Nor a very good one, either. Nevertheless, it looks like he'll be the Miami-Dade mayor for four more years. The deadline for filing was yesterday, and no one other than a retired school teacher qualified to run against him.
NEWSPAPERS

Local watchdogs struggle to survive

There's a big news story going on in South Florida, but you won't read about it in The Miami Herald or the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Oh, maybe a brief mention back in the business pages, but never on the front of the A section. The story? The Herald and Sun-Sentinel's fight for survival.