Other airport officials concluded that the firm also was ill-prepared for the job.

"Currently, the Madrid office is not capable of carrying out market research, defining targeted groups for mailings and business consultations, or attending technical trade shows without significant guidance and participation by MIA staff, " wrote Naomi Nixon, director of trade development, in a 1995 memo to then-Aviation Director Gary Dellapa.

Some in County Hall privately questioned the need to have a European marketing office at all; no other major U.S. airport has one.

A 1997 county audit said the company was acting more as a "travel agent" than a trade representative.

"This degenerated into a way for commissioners to be wined and dined in Spain, " said one former airport official with direct oversight over Paramedia. "That's really how Freixas maintained his influence."

County politicians and top bureaucrats who traveled with the Freixases in the name of attracting airport business included Penelas, Commissioners Reboredo, Seijas, Javier Souto, Miriam Alonso, Assistant County Manager Bill Johnson, and other county staff.

Seijas and her staff have traveled to Europe seven times on county business with Paramedia since 1996.

One of her trips to Madrid included a 1997 detour to Sevilla. According to a news account, Seijas "and the delegation from Miami traveled to Sevilla, where they enjoyed enormously the distinct activities organized for them in this beautiful city: they were honored guests in the tent of Mr. Manuel Gallardo, president of Prensa Grafica, who dedicated this year to MIA."

That "tent" was later billed to the airport: $3,500, according to a hand-scrawled invoice sent to the airport. The cost for Paramedia representatives to attend all of this was more than $25,000. The airport paid the bill.

Seijas did not return three calls last week.

LITTLE SIGNIFICANCE

The firm considered the trip a great success because it brokered an agreement between MIA and Madrid's Barajas International Airport to jointly promote each other at trade shows. Yet former Airport Director Dellapa, who retired last year, said: "Its significance wasn't tangible."

Still, when the Paramedia contract was up in 1999, the County Commission unanimously extended it for two years. With the two years up, airport staffers last year recommended a 90-day extension while they sought other bidders. Freixas wanted two years. In the end, the commission voted for a one-year no-bid extension to the company.

This January, Gittens terminated the company's contract, saying passenger and cargo traffic from Europe was growing faster at other U.S. airports that had no overseas offices. Moreover, by operating as a "trade and tourism" office, the firm violated federal rules prohibiting use of airport funds for purposes not directly benefiting the airport, she wrote.

Still, Freixas is seeking more county paydays, fighting for at least $20,000 in expenses related to his work in Spain, including hotel costs he would have incurred had he not bought an apartment in Madrid.

One obstacle, however: He hasn't provided the receipts.