Spence-Jones Faces Indictment

State attorney investigates ethically challenged Miami commissioner.

By Tamara Lush 

Published: December 13, 2007

• Office of Commissioner Spence-Jones

  

  Spence-Jones: V is for venal.

  On Monday, November 26, Miami city Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones stood before a few hundred constituents in the auditorium of Booker T. Washington High School in Overtown. Before she spoke, a slick video touted her successful first year in office, the school's marching band played a gospel number, and staffers handed out glossy flyers outlining her agenda.

  Spence-Jones's speech was long on metaphor and short on detail. She talked about her grandmother's bread pudding, the need for affordable housing, and crime reduction. There were tired phrases such as "quality of life," "essential building blocks of the future," and the clunky "tangible, achievable, measurable, community-driven." The catch phrase for the evening, which she had printed on buttons handed out to everyone in the room, was "Wake Up!"

  "It's time, Miami, to wake up!" she told the cheering audience.

  Indeed it's time for Miami to wake up and check out Spence-Jones. She is poised to join the ranks of city commissioners — Art Teele, Miller Dawkins, Humberto Hernandez — who have been charged with corruption. The reasons: ethical lapses and potentially shady deals. [Continue reading…]