A white lie, a damn lie or just clueless?

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez's lame explanations about granting pay raises to a cadre of his closest advisors -- as he was telling taxpayers we would all have to sacrifice in these tough times -- begs the question.

I prefer to think he's clueless, which is dangerous enough in this fiscal crisis.

The former police chief carries himself like a straight arrow -- lean and sometimes a bit mean with his detractors. You have to be when you're running a giant government complex with 30,000 workers.

Except that Alvarez now has sunk so low in the public's perception that there's a recall petition in the works. His ability to deal with the county's budget crisis -- a $427 million budget hole -- has been compromised by his bad judgment in granting those double-digit raises.

BIG PROMISES

Alvarez, the former Miami-Dade police director, campaigned as a crusader, the come-from-behind kid when he ran against already established politicians in 2004. His campaign mantra: ``We've got to make government as efficient as possible.''

If only.

Another Alvarez gem from 2004: ``The main problem we're facing is a lack of faith in county government.''

He's the clean cop who spearheaded the anti-corruption unit, who investigated commissioner after commissioner until four of them either resigned or were indicted for misconduct. The cop who saw life's choices in black and white, good and bad.

And now he's walking around with a dark cloud over him and talking in shades of gray about those pay raises.

He points out that after voters approved the position of strong mayor, he started to clean house, merging the county manager's staff with his so that there are 20 fewer positions today than there were when he took office.

Except some of those positions with six-figure salaries are still working for the county -- just not for the mayor or County Manager George Burgess, as Miami Herald reporters Jack Dolan and Matthew Haggman uncovered. Some of those ``former'' staffers are now earning more in another county job and have less responsibility. Who wouldn't love that arrangement?

So much for making government more efficient.

His explanations show total disregard for taxpayers hurting in this recession. He raised a dozen staffers' salaries, he says, to put them more in line with Burgess' staff's salaries.

And this happened before there was a crisis, he maintains, because the raises -- even those he approved in February --were retroactive to last October.

Huh? Were you sleeping during the banking meltdown in September, Mr. Mayor, and the near-global collapse in October?

NO LEADERSHIP

A strong mayor would have set the example. Would have questioned why Burgess and company earn more than the White House chief of staff.

This is ``strong'' mayor in name only. Instead of taking charge and cutting waste and duplication in departments, he was growing government even though the fat days of housing speculation ended more than two years ago. Even after Florida voters pushed through another homestead exemption to get relief. Even when every economic signal coming his way shouts: Stop!

Alvarez held out so much promise. It's sad to watch. Instead of leading good government he became a blind follower of business as usual.

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