Miami-Dade mayor's aide had 2nd job while on paid leave

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Tuesday, 12.08.09
Miami-Dade mayor's aide had 2nd job while on paid leave

At a time of severe budget cutting, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez's top aide was serving as a paid police consultant in Panama while on paid leave from the county.

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN, JACK DOLAN AND DAVID OVALLE
[e-mail]

As his administration confronts a historic budget crisis, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez is allowing his chief of staff Denis Morales to moonlight as a police trainer in Panama.

Morales said he has traveled to the central American country ``three or four times'' this year, working as a paid consultant for Protection Strategies Inc., a private company based in Arlington, Va.

In late February and early March, Alvarez authorized seven days of paid leave for Morales, county records show. In the first week of March, Panamanian news reports indicate Morales was working in the Central American country. That means Morales didn't have to use vacation time and was paid his regular six-figure county salary while apparently working as a private consultant.

Alvarez signed Morales' latest outside employment request on Feb. 11, the day after the mayor's state of the county address declared that Miami-Dade confronted an economic crisis so severe it required county workers ``to do more with less in order to cushion the impact this downturn is having on our residents.''


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/top-stories/story/1370924.html

---

All I can learn in a hurried search is this company is a Defense contractor.