The Miami Dade County Ethics Commission slams local politicians...

We received a press release from the Miami Dade Ethics Commission yesterday detailing several cases that they've brought against local politicians.  From the press release...

The Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust (COE) today found Probable Cause that North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre exploited his position from October of 2009 through January of 2012 by avoiding payment of rental fees at a municipal athletic field used by his soccer club. Mayor Pierre engaged in this activity even though a resolution was unanimously passed by the North Miami City Council in April 2010, which established policies for park rentals and limited fee waivers to certain qualified organizations for only one no-cost use per year. The complaint (C12-35) charged that Pierre’s group, the “North Miami Taxpayers Soccer Club,” used the fields more than 100 times without paying. Mayor Pierre objected to the accusation through his attorney, who argued the mayor was following proper protocol by utilizing the facility for “pick-up soccer games” and claimed the usage was consistent with “community service” activities of the city. The case will proceed to a public hearing.

It's about time someone brought some sort of an action against this character. Unfortunately local authorities have chosen to ignore Mr. Pierre's most egregious crimes and somehow latched onto this infraction. Oh well...

Also today, the Ethics Commission found Probable Cause that Miami City Commissioner Frank Carollo exploited his official position by calling the Miami police chief after being pulled over for a traffic violation in Coconut Grove this past August. The investigation shows that, after being pulled over, Carollo called the chief, who subsequently called the area commander, who then told dispatchers to have the officer call him. The officer let Carollo go with a warning. The determination found that Carollo may have used or intended to exploit his position to influence police officials, which is a violation of the Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance. Through his attorney, the Commissioner contended his phone call was intended to determine why several police vehicles and a city recycling truck were blocking the road. Carollo also claimed that he never asked for special treatment or expressed concern with the officer’s stop. Another part of the complaint (C 12-32) accused Commissioner Carollo of using his position to have trees planted in the swale near his home. Since the trees were part of a larger distribution through the district and did not solely benefit Carollo, No Probable Cause was found on that portion of the complaint by the Ethics Commission.

Get pulled over by the cops then call the chief to get you off.  Wouldn't there have been a better way to deal with this?  What a dick!  If I'm not mistaken, we can credit our friend Al Crespo for bringing about these complaints against Mr. Carollo. Nice work Al!

The COE also found Probable Cause on a complaint (C 12-41) against Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, accusing him of failing to properly disclose a gift. Sarnoff traveled to Brazil for activities associated with the Volvo Ocean Race at the stop prior to the race’s arrival in Miami last May. The Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau reimbursed Sarnoff for all of his expenses. The COE disagreed with the Miami City Attorney who had opined to the commissioner that, because he was partaking in an official activity, he did not need to report the trip as a gift. During the investigation, it was learned that Volvo Ocean Race reimbursed Sarnoff for his wife’s roundtrip airfare. Prior opinions had determined that payment for a spouse’s expenses should be reported as a gift by an elected official. The Ethics Commission voted to issue one Letter of Instruction to the City Attorney clarifying when a business trip must be reported as a gift and another Letter of Instruction to Commissioner Sarnoff advising him to report reimbursement of his wife’s travel expenses as a gift to him.

That's it? Considering all the questionable behavior that Mr. Sarnoff has been involved in during his tenure as a City of Miami commissioner, this is all they could come up with? Regardless, once again, we can credit our friend Al Crespo for bringing this story to the public.

Having the Ethics Commission finding probable cause against these local politicians is all well and good but what's the point of all of this if all they're going to do is give them a slap on the wrist, a minor fine and then send them on their way?  In the instance of City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro and his pending ethics case, if he's found guilty of any of the charges brought against him, he automatically loses his job as per the City of South Miami code of ethics ordinance... 

Willful violation of this subsection shall constitute malfeasance in office and shall effect forfeiture of office or position.

So what remains to be seen is how the Chief's ethics case plays out, will he proceed to a full public hearing and risk getting found guilty of the charges filed against him or will cut a deal at the last minute pleading to a lesser charge and hope to keep his job?  Who knows, but no worries, before we get there, we have to get over to the ethics commission and discuss some of the chief's newest ethics violations, one of which definitely rises to the level of criminality.  Stay tuned...
 

Fired City of Miami police chief Kenneth Harms pens a rather peculiar letter to City of South Miami Mayor Phillip Stoddard.

It looks like someone over at the City of South Miami finally started to pay attention to my public information requests!  A few weeks back I requested a copy of a letter former City of Miami Police Chief Kenneth Harms sent to City of South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard regarding the alleged lewd behavior that occurred at the mayor's home right after an exchange student staying at his home discovered that the home had been broken into.  For those of you who don't know who Mr. Harms is, this article from back in 1984 sums it up nicely...

Essentially Mr. Harms was at the helm of the City of Miami police department during the race riots of the 1980's where the predominately white City of Miami police force was perceived to have an anti black bias.  Regardless, Mr. Harms was shit canned and sent on his way.  Since then Mr. Harms has been working as some sort of reserve officer in different police department and has been employed as an investigator for different attorneys and most notably as an investigator for the City of South Miami.  What's most troubling about this last part is that during Mr. Harm's tenure as an "investigator", he was never licensed by the state of Florida as a private investigator nor did he have a current law enforcement certification.  In fact, the only license that the Florida Department of Professional Regulation shows for Mr. Harms is a sales associate for a realator from back in 1994...

Whatever.  Since his firing back in 1984, Mr. Harms has made appearances in the media as a so called expert in law enforcement affairs, it's not uncommon to see one of the sorry excuses for evening news to go to Mr. Harms for a soundbite when there's something law enforcement related going on in the news.  

Another past time for Mr. Harms since his firing has been to interject his opinions on local affairs by writing letters to politicians and the media when he perceives that there's been some sort of wrong committed, case in point, the letter he recently wrote to City of South Miami mayor Philip Stoddard regarding the break in at his house that occurred nearly two years ago.  Take a look at the letter for yourselves...

Kenneth Harms Letter to Mayor Phillip Stoddard

What in the fcuk?  Have you ever read anything as slanderous as this piece of dreck?  First off, Mr. Harms claims to have reached the conclusion that the mayor engaged in some sort of lewd conduct in front of his daughter and a visiting exchange student based on the facts that he found in the police reports.  The fact that Mr. Harms chose to memorialize these slanderous allegations in a letter despite the very police reports he cites not supporting his allegations is laughable to say the least.  Last week we dissected the very same police reports that Mr. Harms references and proved that there was nothing of any substance to prove any of the allegations that Mr. Harms and his cohorts were making.  In fact, City of South Miami Detective King even went so far as to state in one of the reports that...

"At the time of my investigation (exchange students name redacted) didn't make any statement that lead me to believe that there was any illegal activity was (sic) taking place between Stoddard and (exchange students name redacted)."

We went on to conclude that if indeed something untoward had happened at the Mayor's home that morning that the everyone from the City of Miami PD that was present should have been fired and possibly charged criminally for their inaction considering the gravity of the allegations that are now, two years later, being levied against the Mayor.

If those allegations weren't serious enough, Mr. Harms then goes full retard and starts attacking the Mayor personally.  Here are some of the highlights of the letter...

• Mr Harms calls the mayor "an elitist academician nerd"
• Mr Harms says the City of South Miami is in "Good Hands" under former city manager Hector Mirabile and soon to be former City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro.
• Mr Harms believes the system of the community democratically electing its politicians is "seriously flawed" and that the process "rarely results in qualified, competent and honest people"
• Mr. Harms opines on the "conduct of public officials" as an expert witness

... and blah, blah, blah, blah.  So the mayor is a nerd, the city is in good hands with former city manager Mirabile and ethically challanged chief Martinez de Castro and elections are nonsense and result in the selection of buffons to run the government.

But the best part comes when Mr. Harms refers to the police report for the burglary at the Mayor's home:

"Given the inconsistencies in the report I have serious misgivings about a burglary being visited upon your residence as your (sic) reported"

Wait, what the fuck?  As a "trained law enforcement officer, investigator and manager" Mr Harms should have seen right through those "inconsistencies" in the reports, but he chose not to as the people that wrote those reports with the most slanderous allegations were part of his camp.  Mr. Harms goes on to spew more bullshit regarding the alleged lewd behavior at the mayor's house and finishes up with this...

"...while you are obviously different and out of the main stream of contemporary thought and behavior you should agree to a polygraph to help people decide whether or not you are a sexual predator.

I would also strongly suggest and encourage you to submit to a psychosexual evaluation to determine if you are a further risk to minor children"

In this instance, Mr. Harms is beginning to sound a lot like this asshole...

Honestly, what's crawled up this guys ass and died?  It's simple, you see, former city manager Hector Mirabile and police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro were cronies of Mr. Harms from back in their City of Miami days.  Harms, Martinez de Castro, Mirabile and their backers had a plan for South Miami, a brilliant plan where they were going to control and rape it like their own little fiefdom.  Unfortunately with the firing of city manager Mirabile and the eminent firing of police chief Martinez de Castro their grandiose plans for this sleepy little suburb are now in the toilet.  I can't reveal the details of this "plan" as of yet as I'm still researching and digging up evidence, trust me though, if I'm right, anyone who hears what these guys were up to will be appalled at their actions. 

On another note, if Mr. Harms is so concerned about what's going on in South Miami, why the hell did he wait till November 12, 2012 to review the case file on a burglary that occurred at the Mayor's house nearly two fucking years ago?  Isn't it strange that Mr. Harms waited till the day before he knew that his friend City Manager Mirabile was going to get fired before he dug up the police file on the burglary at the Mayor's house then wrote this nonsensical letter and distributed it all over god's creation shortly thereafter?  Sounds a bit retaliatory to me and a desperate bid to try to help his buddy get his job back, no?

In the mean time, I'd suggest Mr. Harms take that letter that he wrote and have an attorney friend take a look at it.  If I were a betting man, I'd say this isn't the last we're going to hear about this letter and the slanderous allegations that it contains.  It seems to me that Mr Harms was so upset about the eminent collapse of his carefully crafted ambitions for South Miami that he didn't think about what he was putting in that letter.  

Another suggestion for Mr. Harms?  Don't fuck with academician nerds...

The New Times gives us a mention!

Happy Thanksgiving! Our friend, Francisco Alvarado, gave us a mention over at the New Times today, take a look for yourselves. We were honored to name soon to be former City of South Miami Police chief our ham! From the article...

Mike Hatami, the Strawbuyer: Orlando Martinez de Castro, South Miami Police Chief
"I don't have a turkey, but I do have a big ham. Martinez de Castro acts like a general running an army in a third-world dictatorship. He has abused his official position to pressure the state attorney's office into prosecuting three innocent women who worked at his wife's auto tag agency.

The Miami-Dade ethics commission recently found probable cause that Martinez de Castro also violated South Miami's prohibition on transacting business with relatives and the county's conflict of interest and ethics ordinance because he had the police department use his wife's tag agency to get tags and titles for forfeiture vehicles.

When several South Miami elected officials got wise to his shenanigans, Martinez de Castro used his officers to attack his political enemies. For instance, he had Warren Popove, a Canadian national who did odd jobs for Commissioner Bob Welsh, picked up by ICE. Now poor Papove is sitting in a jail cell at Krome Detention Center.
In June, Castro arrested Mayor Phillip Stoddard's friend Michael Davidson-Schmich for resisting arrest without violence. Castro was upset that Davidson-Schmich had the gumption to make a hand gesture to the chief for making an illegal turn.

These are tactics employed by secret police officers in Cuba. It's no coincidence Orlando shares the same last name as Fidel."

LULZ! Have a happy holiday folks, we'll see you on Friday!

BUT WAIT! There's more...

Considering that today is the day before Thanksgiving, I really didn't feel like going into another diatribe about the goings on at the City of South Miami, so we'll keep it short today.  Considering the political hatchet job the people behind the scenes are attempting to pull off against the City of South Miami's Mayor, Phillip Stoddard, you'd think they'd at least be a little more sophisticated in the execution of their ill fated plans.  Yesterday we discussed their bogus attempt at discrediting the mayor with phony allegations of impropriety during the burglary of his home, pulling out one of the most damaging allegations possible, lewd conduct in front of underage children.  The execution of said plan was laughable to say the least, with a bogus police report that was thrown into the case file sixteen months after the incident occurred then a follow up letter in the file that contradicted the bogus supplemental report.

Whatever!  I'm getting the feeling that we haven't seen the last of the pro Mirabile and Martinez de Castro clan's attempts at disparaging the Mayor and the other City of South Miami commissioners who voted to fire the city manager.  Regardless, it's turkey time, so until next time, GOBBLE GOBBLE!

The anatomy of a political hatchet job.

I really didn't want to make mention of the overall ugliness that has followed the firing of City of South Miami's city manager, Hector Mirabile, but the events following the manager's firing have proved to be difficult to ignore.  Let's not forget that the city manager wasn't fired by a lone crazed commission member but was instead was fired by a majority of the city of South Miami commissioners despite what certain political operatives within the city may have its citizens believe.

What's most disturbing now that the City Manager has been fired is the coordinated effort by people behind the scenes to discredit and smear the reputations of those on the commission who chose to fire the manager. The first to feel the wrath of this campaign turns out to be none other than the Mayor of South Miami, Phillip Stoddard.  In a lame attempt at character assassination, City of South Miami commissioner Valerie Newman staged a horrible attempt to distract the citizens from the subject of firing the city manager by bringing up a burglary at the mayors home that occurred back in March 3, 2011 during the commission meeting that was convened to fire the manager, conveniently in front of TV cameras from WSVN channel 7.  I attended that meeting and didn't think much of the cameras that were present, frankly I thought they were simply there to cover the firing of the city manager, that is until a few days later when they aired this lame excuse for journalism...

WSVN-TV -

So in an instant, Commissioner Newman turns this hearing into a circus by changing the focus of the hearing from the firing of the city manager to something about a burglary and the mayor being naked in his bedroom in front of two minor children.  From the WSVN story...

Commissioner Valerie Newman who opposed the firing, went after the mayor bringing up an incident that happened at his house.
Valerie Newman: "About him being naked in his room with with two minor girls."

How the hell did we get from there to here?  Once again from the WSVN story...

Police reports obtained by 7News indicate Stoddard admitted to being naked at the time.

Stoddard said the exchange student and his daughter were sleeping in his bedroom in a makeshift bed because the mayor's parents were in town and using the girl's room. 

The exchange student told police she saw a man in a green mask and, "That she screamed and ran into the bathroom until she heard Stoddard's voice," when she came out of the bathroom, "She noticed that Stoddard was not clothed."

Well, with something as salacious as that, we were left with no choice but to get these "police reports" WSVN was referring to and see for ourselves what went on.  

Before we move on to the police reports, let's summarize what the WSVN story tells us about this incident:

• Mayor Stoddards's home gets broken into.
• An exchange student and the mayor's daughter were sleeping in the mayor's bedroom.
• The exchange student discovers the burglar inside the home, screams then locks herself in the bathroom.
• Upon hearing the scream, the mayor runs out of his room naked and the burglar takes off.
• The mayor allegedly tells police offices repeatedly that he sleeps naked in his "nest".

According to Commissioner Newman, all these statements are facts because as she says they are "right here in the police report" as she waves around what we can only presume is the police report although it looks to be a blank sheet of paper...

Regardless of what's on that piece of paper that Commissioner Newman is hysterically waving around, let's look at the actual police report which allegedly contains all these nasty "facts" about what went down at the Mayor's home.  We'll begin with the original police report that was written when the incident occurred.  Make note of the date the report was written, March 3, 2011.

Mayor Stoddard Burglary Police Report

Ok, very well, to me this police report written by Officer Hechavarria of the City of South Miami reads like any other burglary police report, nothing out of the ordinary, basically the report states the following:

• An exchange student residing at the mayor's house walks into the living room and spots the burglar.
• She screams then runs into the bathroom and hides.
• The mayor hears the scream, bolts out of his bed and into the living room to see what happens.
• The mayor discovers the exchange student barricaded in the bathroom then calls the cops.
• The mayor lists the items that were stolen.
• The mayor then states that had found his back door open and says that he had locked it the night before.
• The mayor's parents state that they had left the front door unlocked when they left the house.

Simple enough right?  The intruder comes in the unlocked front door, the exchange student sees him, freaks out, screams then locks herself in a bathroom, the mayor hauls ass out of his room to see whats going on and calls the cops.  Nothing strange here, right?  No mention of nudity, no mention of anyone sleeping in the same room as under aged girls, etc.  We even manage to learn how the intruder got in and how he left the house.  Nothing untoward going on, just an unfortunate burglary and a scared shitless exchange student.

Next in the police file we find a document that's labeled "NARRATIVE CONTINUATION", at quick glance it looks like it's part of the original police report until you notice that it was actually written and added to the file over SIXTEEN MONTHS LATER on July 12, 2012!!!  What in the fcuk is that about?  Were things so slow over at the South Miami PD that day that this Detective Lopez decided to write this supplement? Whatever.  Let's look at this supplement as it appears in the file...

Mayor Stoddard Burglary Report Continuation

WHOA!  Suddenly 16 months later, there's a whole lot more in the way of details than when the original report was written.  Let's summarize what this report alleges:

• Detective states that the point of entry was the front door and exit was the rear door.
• Mayor was asleep in his room till he heard the exchange student screaming.
• Mayor runs out of his room naked and possibly scared off the burglar.
• Mayor states that his parents had left the front door open.
• Mayor states that he had left the back door open for his dog to go in and out.
• Exchange student screams scaring the burglar then runs into the bathroom.
• Mayor states that "they" were sleeping in his bedroom when the exchange student walked out to get ready for school and encountered the burglar.
• Sgt James stated that from outside the mayor's home he managed to spot the mayor putting on his pants.

Now, this version of events chronicled in this police report written SIXTEEN FUCKING MONTHS after the original incident occurred is radically different than what was described in the original police report.  First off we have the first mention of any nudity, this report written SIXTEEN FUCKING MONTHS after the initial report clearly describes the mayor sleeping nude in his "nest" with the exchange student.  We now also have the allegation that the mayor scared off the burglar with his phallus, imagine that.  This second report also contains a contradiction of events as stated in the first report, now in this second report we have a "sliding glass door partially open for his pet to go outside" which is in stark contrast to the way the door was described in the first report which stated that the door was locked the night before and found open after the burglary.

It's this second police report that the hysterical news people over at WSVN latched on to and then decided to create this sensational segment labeled "Naked Truth".  If the morons over at Channel 7 would have taken a few moments and really thought about the two conflicting police reports, perhaps they would have been able to see what really happened.  To understand why the two reports are so different, one has to understand what happened in the period of time that transpired between the two reports.  

Back in March of 2011, police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro could do no wrong, according to the city manager, the chief single handily cleaned up all the crime in the city, got the police department on the straight and narrow and generally straightened out all of the problems the city had ever experienced, lol.  Since then, due to the efforts of some asshole with a blog, a new image of the chief has emerged  we now see a chief that seems somewhat less than ideal, one with several ethical lapses, some that may rise to the level of criminality, a chief that allegedly orchestrated the framing of three innocent girls for steeling tens of thousands of dollars from his wife's business, etc, but most importantly a chief who is on the verge of losing his job in disgrace.  In my opinion that makes him a desperate chief that will do anything to save his job, perhaps by creating a scandal involving one of his biggest detractors, Mayor Stoddard, but how do you do disgrace a guy who's got a spotless record?  In my opinion the people behind this mess latched on to the only thing they could which turns out to be this burglary, why not turn this whole incident into something more sensational and what could be more sensational than alleging the Mayor is parading around his house naked in the presence of under age children?  

Let's not forget these allegations were made SIXTEEN FUCKING MONTHS after the incident had occurred, which brings up another salient point.  Let's assume for a moment that the allegations contained within the second supplemental report were actually true, this leads us up to an issue far greater than the mayor parading around his house in the nude.  If indeed these events did occur as Detective Lopez would want us to believe, I'm going to suggest that every member of the City of South Miami police department present at the crime scene should be stripped of their law enforcement certifications and thrown in jail.  Why do you ask?  If they knew that the mayor was running around naked in front of any underage girls then their simple failure to call the Department of Children and Families immediately should constitute the automatic loss of their police certifications.  Think about it for a moment, what kind of cop would hear this story of a grown man running around naked before minor children then leave the scene without either arresting the adult  who he alleged was nude or at the very least calling DCF?  

The fact that neither the mayor was arrested and nobody called DCF in my opinion is proof that the allegations in the second report were pure bullshit, nothing more than a slanderous fictitious attempt at disparaging the mayors reputation.  The problem is that the people behind this scheme are idiots who couldn't scheme there way out of a wet paper bag.  The best part of this failed scheme to defame the mayor?  The best part of it is this third page that's part of the case file that's labeled "INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM", take a look for yourselves...

Mayor Stoddard Burglary Report Memo

I'm not sure why this memo was created as it negates the allegations that were made in the supplemental police report.  This memo confirms the events as described in the original report and also confirms that the Mayor was sleeping naked in his bedroom, yet makes no mention of any underage children sleeping in his bedroom.  

So think about it for a moment, you're in your own home, in your own bedroom sleeping how ever the hell you like when all of a sudden you're awoken by someone screaming, it's understandable that your first instinct is to run out of bed and find out what's going on.  In this case who could fault the mayor for running out of his bedroom when he heard the scream?  Perhaps in the instant it would have taken to put his clothes on, something unthinkable could have happened, those seconds it would have taken to throw on a pair of pants could have been the difference between life and death!  And what happened when the poor guy did run out of his bedroom and into his living room in his birthday suit?  He found the burglar had run away and the exchange student that discovered him was locked in the bathroom shitting bricks.  Most importantly, what's the take away from this "interoffice memo"?  To me it's the following part that Detective King concludes her report with:

"At the time of my investigation (exchange students name redacted) didn't make any statement that lead me to believe that there was any illegal activity was (sic) taking place between Stoddard and (exchange students name redacted)."

With that statement Detective King basically wipes her ass with the supplemental report that Detective Lopez concocted  SIXTEEN FUCKING MONTHS after the original police report was written.

So now that there seems to be a plausable explanation to this lame attempt at a political hatchet job, the question that we're left with is how the hell did Carmel Cafiero from WSVN, who is someone that I used to respect, fall for this steaming pile of shit and who fed her this nonsensical fairy tale?  Once again, the answer lies in her own report...

Handwritten police notes about the case provided by commissioner Newman...

And therein lies the answer.  Handwritten notes that according to the author of the "inter-office memo", Detective King,  appear to have disappeared.  From Detective King's memo...

When I looked into the file I noticed that my final case notes were not present.

Wonderful.  So a veteran new reporter decided to do a story smearing a sitting mayor based on notes provided by a commissioner who is a political enemy of said mayor.  I guess taking the time to go through the police reports and researching the subject matter aren't part of Carmel's m.o., too much work for that third rate swill that Ms. Cafiero calls reporting.

Tomorrow we'll examine the hysterical high faggotry exhibited by a former City of Miami police chief whose sole intention it was to detract attention from the firing of one his cronies from back in the City of Miami days and to get people talking about a nude mayor running around his house in front of underage girls...

Help is on it's way!

Isn't it?  Weren't we lead to believe that Governor Rick Scott was going to send the troops in to remove the City of South Miami Commissioners that voted to fire former City Manager Hector Mirabile and to reinstate the manager?  Has anyone seen the guys from Tallahassee doing just that?  I haven't seen anything?

The political machine that backs the former City Manager and the soon to be fired Police Chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro even had their paid mouthpiece put this headline out on his website...

Gobernador Scott interviene en crisis de South Miami

Or for those of us who don't speak spanish according to Google translate...

Governor Scott intervene crisis of South Miami

Which I suppose means that "Governor Scott intervenes in the South Miami crisis."  Ok, so that was last week, has anyone seen Governor Scott over in South Miami?

If that wasn't enough, the paid mouthpiece gives us this today...

Alcalde de South Miami es visto como racista antihispano

Which again according to Google translate...

Mayor of South Miami is seen as racist anti hispanic

LOL!  Is this the best you guys can do?  

We're waiting on some public information requests to come in, till then we'll be scouring the streets of South Miami looking for any traces of Governor Scott and his posse!

An interesting comment regarding the firing of City of South Miami city manager Hector Mirabile...

Early this morning one of former City of South Miami city manger Hector Mirabile's supporters left this comment on yesterdays blog post...

As we type, there is a countermeasure developing where the Governor was asked to intervene and investigate. When wrong doing is found, negative consequences will follow for those implicated in the manager’s dismissal and the conspiracy to remove the police chief.

We got friends too!

Whoever wrote this post would want us to believe that our Governor, Rick Scott, is going to intervene in city politics and get involved in the firing of the city manager?  LOL!  

That's some of the funniest shit I've heard in a while, this guy expects the governor to get involved in reinstating a city manager that was fired by the majority of the city commission.  Good luck with that!

I'm going to cut it short today as I'm on the way to meet an old friend of Mr. Mirabile who promises to be an entertaining source of information regarding the chief and his pal Hector's escapades during their tenure as City of Miami cops...

More on the City of South Miami's firing of their city manager, Hector Mirabile and his "farewell speech"

If you were either unlucky enough to have attended the City of South Miami's special commission meeting last Friday or because of some sort of morbid curiosity actually sat down and listened to the hearing online, you wold have heard former City of South Miami city manager Hector Mirabile repeat again and again how he was the greatest city manager the city (or any other city for that matter) had ever had and how he single handily reformed the city and turned it into the flourishing town that it is.  He goes on further to say that he was being fired for no reason whatsoever other than as a retaliatory measure for filing an ethics complaint against one of the commissioner and for refusing to fire his buddy, the police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro.

That's all well and good if it was true, but it's not.  There are things that I know about that I can't reveal at the moment that will further disprove the former managers claims of being the greatest thing since sliced bread, for a moment, put aside all the bullshit and high faggotry from last Friday's commission meeting and read the City of South Miami's mayor's response to Mr. Mirabile's allegations.  From his blog...

An explanation
In his “good bye and good luck” speech, outgoing City Manager Hector Mirabile made a final series of statements about me and my colleagues on the City Commission that have typified the attitude he has expressed in public and in private over the past year.  I present one example here by way of illustration.
In explaining my termination decision to the Commission and residents of South Miami, I stated that the City Manager had not followed a Commission directive to identify possible alternative revenue sources to replace revenues provided by the expiring FPL Franchise Agreement.  Here is why this directive was important and remains important:
Beyond the regular utility tax, the FPL franchise agreement tacks an additional 6% tax called a “franchise fee” onto your monthly bill.  FPL passes most (but not all) of that money through to the City.  The franchise fee is a hidden tax on the residents and businesses, but an important revenue stream for the City.  When FPL raises your rates, the City gets its cut.  A darker side is that the franchise agreement gives FPL the right to put infrastructure anywhere it chooses in the city.  Under a renewed franchise agreement, FPL will claim the right to locate transmission lines on US 1, on SW 80th St, or anywhere else it chooses, which is predicted to lower adjacent property values and economic activity by about 12%.
So, I sponsored a resolution to the City Commission that would direct the Manager to explore alternate ways to cover the franchise fee revenue stream, and let the City get out from under FPL’s thumb when our franchise agreement comes up for renewal in 2014.
The City Commission unanimously passed the resolution on 19 April 2011, as indicated in the  4.19.11 After Action Summary prepared by the City Clerk.  But here’s what the Manager said on his way out the door:
“Now let’s go with the allegation that really – you thought that this one set me off – the allegation of not following his PERSONAL directive.  By the way, this Commission never told me to go out and find an alternative to franchise fees; that was just the Mayor.  But I did it anyway.  Why?  ‘Cause, hell, who wants to piss off the Mayor.  I guess I did.  So, but really, that’s the only reason I went ahead and asked Mr. Riverol, ‘Hey, can you come up with any alternative to the franchise fee?’  The answer was ‘No, we can’t.’  Not unless you want to make another fee that YOU all are going to have to pay, and basically chew me out, cause we ran out of things to charge you for.  There’s so many things we charge you for.  If you want to, read it [the schedule of fees].  We went ahead and approved it.  They did, anyway.  All I did was come up with it.  So I gotta come up with more things?  What do you want me to charge you for?  Every time you come in here and look for the information booth, I gotta charge you a penny like the bank does?  When you go into the Internet, I gotta charge you?  I mean, granted, the one thing that turns out to be a cash cow turns out being the public records request.  And Commissioner Welsh, I’ll keep taking your money if you’ll keep hiring me because, aside from the lawyers that just paid $5000, you’re number one on the collections, so I appreciate that.  Now, I personally explained those fees to the Mayor, and I told him ‘No, we couldn’t do it’.  So I don’t know why.  I guess he didn’t like my answer, but now he’s accusing me of violating the Charter because HE PERSONALLY directed me, which, by the way, is against the Charter.  It’s the Commission, through resolution and ordinances – that’s the only way.  So I’m being fired because I gave him the information and he didn’t like it, and now, because I followed the Charter, he didn’t like that.”
However, as evidenced by the resolution and 4.19.11 After Action Summary:
1. Direction to Manager to explore alternative revenues to the FPL franchise fees was by resolution of the City Commission, not by my personal request.  Nor did the Manager pursue it as a personal favor to the Mayor.
2. I followed Charter by bringing forth a resolution through the City Commission.
3. Finally, the Manager did not report to the Commission on the viability of alternative revenue streams that other municipalities have used to replace franchise fees, typically a mix of utility taxes, special assessments, and ad-valorem taxes.
The Manager did report to the Commission that the law firm Weiss Serota had opined that if Bay Harbor Island refused to renew their franchise agreement with FPL, that FPL would continue to collect the revenues from their residents and turn them over to the County.  I researched the matter and obtained a copy of a Miami-Dade County Commission resolution promising not to interfere in local franchise agreement negotiations, i.e., the county would not take our money if we cancelled our franchise agreement with FPL.  I submitted the County resolution to the Manager.
Ultimately, the Manager never provided the Commission with a report showing careful research on alternate revenue options as directed by the Commission in its adopted resolution.
So I stand by my assertion that the Manager did not comply with a written directive of the City Commission.  In addition, in making the false claims detailed above, the Manager violated the Citizen’s Bill of Rights, Truth in Government provision detailed in the City Charter.
This example is just one of many in which the Manager dismissed or undermined my efforts to do the job for which I was elected, sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly.  I don’t see the benefit of going through every instance, but hopefully I have made the point that my decision to terminate was not personal, capricious, or vindictive.
Under the City Charter, a City Manager can be terminated with cause for failing to carry out a Commission directive.  I chose instead to terminate without cause, also provided in the Charter – the financial cost is equivalent, and the recovery can begin much sooner.
Dr. Mirabile is smart and talented, and he has done many good things in the City for which I am grateful.  But you cannot undermine the elected officials (your bosses) indefinitely and expect to keep your job.  My problems began when I voted to extend the Manager’s contract.  My bad.  Commissioner Beasley voted against the contract extension and subsequently came under so much pressure and persecution that he declined to run for reelection.
I was elected to give the city my best.  I could not do that while being undermined at every turn.  I gave the Manager many opportunities to reform his behavior, yet he persisted.  I truly hated to move for termination, but after a year of sleepless nights, I acted in my best conscience.  Friends and neighbors, that’s the best I can do.  I doubt many in my position would have held out so long.
It’s time to support our fine City staff, find a new manager, and move forward.  This time we have higher standards and raised expectations.  I believe we can meet them.

Well, that puts a different spin on things, now doesn't it?

Now, on another note, last Thursday, after the city commission already put forth the question of firing the city manager, City of South Miami's police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro, decided to take off on a hunting trip.  Wouldn't you call the timing of that trip slightly suspicious   Look at it this way, even if the trip was scheduled before all this went down, isn't it strange of him to take off right when his good buddy, the city manager, was getting fired?  For the sake of his friend the manager and the stability of the town he presides over, wouldn't you think it would have been prudent of him to have stuck around?  After all, the city manager painted a picture of a town that would have descended into chaos without him at the helm, wouldn't it have been smart for the chief to have been at his job to make sure nothing went awry?  On the other hand, considering how tight the chief and the manager are supposed to be, wouldn't you think he would have stuck around to help support his friend in his time of need and perhaps to quell the rumors of his own demise after his friends firing?

Strange, isn't it?  I would have thought that any police chief of a major suburb or city like South Miami would have remained at his post after a change like the city manager getting fired, regardless of whether or not he had a hunting trip planned before hand.  Perhaps his rational for taking the trip regardless of what happened in the city was the fact that he knew his days were numbered?  Something to the effect of "I know I'm fucked so I might as well take my vacation now while I still can?"

Regardless of why the Chief took his vacation, we hope that he has a great time hunting and we can only pray that he's a better shot than Dick Cheney...

Meanwhile at the City of Miami special commission hearing...

Good lord, after nearly three hours of sitting through some of the most boring and slow moving city business I've ever seen, the special meeting ended with City Manager Hector Mirabile getting FIRED!

Our friend, Andrea Torres, from the Miami Herald covered it here...

Fired South Miami city manager says treatment was worse than Iraq

BY ANDREA TORRES

South Miami commissioners fired their fourth city manager since 2009 during a contentious meeting Friday night.
Outgoing City Manager Hector Mirabile said Friday that his last year working for South Miami was far worse than being under daily attack as a lieutenant colonel in Ramadi, Iraq, where he was stationed in 2009.
With tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat, Mirabile told the crowd at the commission meeting that he was proud of his team and all that they had accomplished during the two years in the city.
“Part of my management leadership style is to surround myself with the best available leaders that have the same drive and focus as I,” Mirabile said. “I am reporting to you that I accomplished that and more. The team of directors and managers currently working for the city are probably the best group.”
Some city employees, including South Miami’s director of human resources LaTasha M. Nickle, walked out of the meeting crying. Others filed up into his office to hug him.
Commissioners voted 3-2 to fire Mirabile without cause. South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, a biology professor turned politician, led the effort after accusing Mirabile and “his friend,” South Miami Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro, of turning the city into a “hostile” place.
“The situation has become intolerable,” Stoddard said.
Commissioners Bob Welsh and Walter Harris supported Stoddard’s effort. Vice Mayor Josh Liebman and Commissioner Valerie Newman dissented.
The city charter entitles a manager fired without cause to a month’s salary and benefits as severance, but Mirabile’s contract stipulates that a firing without cause before Sept. 20, 2015, required the city to pay his full salary as a “consultant” with benefits for six months. Under the contract’s terms, Mirabile received $140,000 in salary, and benefits included a $150 cellphone and $650 car allowance each month, plus a monthly $680 for health insurance coverage. Mirabile also receives benefits from the city of Miami.
Mirabile came to the city loaded with experience as a former Miami police major, Army National Guard veteran, and Miami’s interim director of community development and director of employee relations. He is also board chairman for the United Police Federal Credit Union, which represents police departments, including Miami, West Miami and the Miami-Dade County school district police.
In 2010, Mirabile replaced former acting city manager Buford “Randy” Witt, a retired Air Force general and former Miami-Dade chief information officer. Witt had replaced interim city manager Roger M. Carlton, who took Ajibola Balogun’s place after he was fired in 2009. A year ago, commissioners extended Mirabile’s three-year contract to two more years.
“I feel it was a mistake,” Stoddard said at a meeting Wednesday.
Before being fired, Witt chose Martinez de Castro as one of three finalists. Martinez de Castro, who worked in the Miami Police Department in the early 1980s with Mirabile, held several posts in South Miami, including public works director and assistant city manager before then-City Manager Maria Davis appointed him as police chief in October 2003. Martinez de Castro resigned in March 2006 and returned in 2010.
One of Mirabile’s biggest accomplishments: He restructured the police pension plan and moved toward a defined-contribution plan.
On Friday, commissioners named Kelly Barket as the acting city manager, while they look for an interim manager.

What she doesn't mention among other things is just how nasty Mr. Mirabile got during his "farewell speech", aside from his self aggrandizing babble that lasted over 45 minutes, he managed to show some hypocritical character traits while he was busy patting himself on the back.   He went on to tell us that...

"You had certain managers from the past hiring personal friends you had the human resources director hiring family member (sic), come to find out we had ended up having an IT person being a uh a cousin of the city mana..., one of the city managers in here and on and on and on.  Well that doesn't happen here any more."

You sure about that Mr. Mirabile?  Really?  Last I checked it was under your watch and in some instances with your approval that the city sent the chief's wife's tag agency business, unless you too are going to claim that you had no idea that tag agency was owned by the chief's wife.

Regardless, to get the full grasp of how nasty former city manager Mirabile's diatribe was, go on over to the City of South Miami's website and you can here it all for yourself.  Here's a link to the hearing, the "farewell speech" starts at around 1:46.

In his final parting shot, former city manager Mirabile plays the veteran card and accuses Mayor Stoddard of somehow not being patriotic or in someway shape or form being disrespectful of veterans by firing Mr Mirabile (an Iraq veteran) on the weekend of Veterans day.  That sounds pretty shitty doesn't it?  Reality is quite different than Mr. Mirabile wants us to believe as the commission had originally called his firing to vote on Wednesday, November 7th.  Remember, it was Mr. Mirabile's staunchest supporter, Commissioner Valerie Newman, who went ahead and blocked the vote last Wednesday and therefore pushed the vote onto the Friday of Veterans day weekend.  

So while we understand Mr. Mirabile's disappointment and perceived disrespect for being fired on this particular weekend, his animosity is aimed at the wrong person.  In fact, the person he should be pissed off at for ruining his Veterans day weekend is none other than Commissioner Valerie Newman!

Valerie Newman

That's enough for this week, more coming next week, we've found a new witness in the chief's ethics case that claims he's been lying and we've got a whole desk full of new ethics complaints against him as well.  So till then, have a great Veterans day weekend!

For whom the bell tolls...

As we mentioned yesterday, today at 3:45 pm the City of South Miami will convene a special meeting whose  sole purpose is to vote on whether or not to fire city manager Hector Mirabile.  So how did city manager Mirabile find himself in this mess?  Well, I'm told it's for two reasons, first off for being an overall DICK, second and most importantly my sources tell me it's because he refused to terminate (aka FIRE) his good buddy the chief of police, Orlando Martinez de Castro.  Interesting, huh?

So by the end of the day today, we're going to have another victim to add to the long list of victims that Orlando Martinez de Castro has left in his path of destruction.  While I don't feel bad for this latest casualty of the Martinez de Castro clan, I think it's worthwhile to look back at some of the innocent people that we've spoken about in the past...

The three innocent tellers that worked at the chief's wife's tag agency that were railroaded by the chief and falsely accused of stealing money or worse, Warren Papove, the South Miami handyman that was also railroaded by the chief and has been sitting in Krome detention center now for over four months.  These are just four innocent people whose lives have been destroyed by Chief (soon to be ex) Orlando Martinez de Castro, you have to ask yourself, how the hell can anyone live with themselves knowing that they've maintained whatever semblance of a life or career they may have by destroying the lives of innocent people and their families?  

I guess when you're someone like the chief somehow perhaps the power has gone to your head and you get a feeling of being untouchable.  I suppose that feeling of being untouchable must give the chief the license to fuck with people the way he does.  With all the rumors swirling around of the chief being fired or even the more laughable rumor of the chief resigning if the city of South Miami buys out the remaining term of his contract, I got a piece of advice for the chief.  After your friend and protector, Hector Mirabile, gets thrown out on his ass today, sit back and think about what you've done over the last few years, think long and hard and realize that it's in your best interest to walk away and do so rather quickly.  

See chief, you have no idea what I have on you and I'm just getting started.  You think you have a chance at beating the ethics case and keeping your job?  Think again.  I got enough to keep Joe Centorino and his gang busy for months and months to come, some of which I know is going to rise to the level of criminality.  So do yourself a favor, walk away now cause what's coming down the pike for you is no good, bad enough where even your friend over on NW 12th Avenue isn't going to be able to help you out.  

So think on it chief, think back on how we've gotten where we are, think long and hard about the three girls whose lives you turned inside and out, think about how you railroaded Warren Papove and who knows how many other people who are too scared to come forward and tell their stories.  And last but not least, think about the harm your antics have caused your good buddy Hector who is going to walk away in disgrace this afternoon with a permanent shit stain on his resume.

Stay tuned, we'll update as soon as we have news from the hearing this afternoon.

Major breaking news from the City of South Miami!

City Manager Hector Mirabile

It looks like the end is near for the mafia that runs the City of South Miami.  Last night we're told that the City of Miami Commission attempted to vote to fire city manager Hector Mirabile, the vote was thwarted by Commissioner Valerie "he's a scumbag" Newman who pulled out some obscure statute that delayed the vote till Friday.

If city manager Mirabile doesn't survive the vote on Friday, then guess who's next?

We'll update as soon as we have more details!

Enough with the election bull$hit and an update on our grave robber story.

I'm sick to my stomach of the election and all the garbage that comes with it.  Now on to more important news, I drove past the cemetery, Evergreen Memorial Gardens, that was the subject of one of our posts last week where we found some unsavory folks going through one of the above ground graves.  As you may recall when we went back to get a closer look the grave robbers had taken off and this was what we had found...

When I drove by yesterday that same grave looked like this...

As you can see, someone did a half ass job of putting the casket back into the concrete box then put back the broken lid.  WTF?  This was no way for the deceased to exist, so I drove around looking for an office or a phone number for the cemetery in order to make some sort of complaint to the owners or managers of the property.  

After driving around the perimeter of the property I found nothing other than a broken gate and the old washed out sign from last time...

Since I couldn't find any contact info on sight, I did a quick search on Sunbiz to see who's responsible for the cemetery and found that the people that own the run down old decrepit cemetery are actually the owners of the Miami Times newspaper.  

WTF?  I know that the print media is going the way of the dinosaurs, I have to admit, owning a cemetery is a rather bizarre way to diversify!

At the very least I guess the half ass attempt at fixing the grave is better than nothing but it's still not good enough.  The poor man or woman that's in that grave deserves to have a proper burial after the looters disturbed their grave.  I guess I'll be making a call over to the Miami Times today to see if there's some way they can do right be the person whose grave was looted.

The shit's hitting the fan over at the City of South Miami PD!

The details are sketchy at the moment, so bear with  us.  Here's what we've heard so far, City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro ordered a subordinate to impound a car illegally.  When the subordinate refused, the Chief grabbed him and some sort of altercation broke out.  From what we're told the subordinate told the Chief to back off of him otherwise he'd write him up.  From what we're told there were three police witnesses to the altercation as well as the car owner, we're also told the Chief Martinez de Castro is doing everything he can to keep this incident quiet and under wraps.

WHOOPS!  I guess the chief's efforts to keep this incident quiet were not very effective!  I'm waiting for my sources within the City of South Miami PD to get me the details of this altercation, I'll update as soon as I have more information.  If indeed this altercation did happen, it's going to be the end of the line for the Chief and perhaps he won't be around long enough to go through a public hearing at the Miami Dade Ethics Commission to answer for his alleged ethics violations.

On another note, I know we've had a lot of City of South Miami content lately, don't fret though, I'm working on a huge story where I'll detail step by step how to swindle Miami Dade county out of nearly ten million dollars.  Trust me, this one is brilliant and just another example of how the tax payers keep getting screwed over and over again.

Local civic activist and Straw Buyer follower, Denny Wood, passes away...

Denny Wood

It looks like last week, local civic activist and advocate for the handicapped, Denny Wood, passed away.  Chuck Rabin from the Herald wrote a nice piece about him...

Denny Wood, crusader for the disabled, dead at 68

By Charles Rabin

Denny Wood, who spent decades fighting for the rights of the disabled after losing the use of his legs in an Ohio silo accident almost a half-century ago, was found dead of natural causes last week in the Palmetto Bay T-shirt shop where he lived, of an apparent heart attack.He was found dead on a bed in the back room of a T-shirt shop he owned at 9855 E. Fern St., by a customer. Wood was 68.
Wood made a name for himself as an irascible defender of the disabled, whether it was blocking entrances that lacked disabled ramps while in his wheelchair, or several failed runs for public office.
“He had been pretty sick and hospitalized recently with heart trouble,” said Paul Kruger, a friend of Wood’s who lives in Interlachen, Fla., near Gainesville. “A lot of people misunderstood Denny. He kind of had a chip on his shoulder, but if you knew him, he had a really big heart.”
Wood was every bit a loner, so much so that more than a week after his Oct. 22 death, police continue to have trouble tracking down next of kin. In search of family members, Miami-Dade police have posted messages on a couple of Wood’s websites asking the public to call them with information.
In the meantime, Wood’s body remains in the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office. It will stay there until all leads are exhausted, at which time the county will cremate the body and bury him in the West Miami-Dade public cemetery.
Cantankerous and pesky, Wood didn’t believe in limits. His most recent attempt at public office was an August run for Miami-Dade mayor, where he finished well off the pace. But Kruger said Wood had “no expectation” of winning, and that “it was just a way to get his platform for the disabled heard.”
Wood was so far down the totem pole that he wasn’t invited to the table during several of the mayoral debates. Still, he’d wheel about outside the building complaining of structures that didn’t meet American With Disabilities Act requirements to those who would — and wouldn’t — listen.
Twice he has run for state legislative seats and lost. A popular face in Tallahassee for legislative sessions, Wood claimed to be instrumental in passing more than 20 Florida legislative bills.
Yet he had a darker side: He’d been arrested at least eight times since 1977, twice for writing bad checks. In two other instances he was arrested for pulling guns on people during disputes. Each time he received probation.
Over the years he’s railed against the South Dade Busway, and how difficult it was to cross U.S. 1. He also fought a funeral home on U.S. 1 over perceived violations of the ADA.
A profile on Wood that ran in The Miami Herald almost 14 years ago explained how he lost the use of both legs in a fall from atop a grain silo in Ohio in 1964 while he was attending Mennonite College. He came to Miami in 1969 after becoming a certified scuba diver.
At the time of The Herald story Wood had been dating a woman named Marcene Rigsby for five years. She spent time working with Wood in his T-shirt shop, and often accompanied him on missions up and down U.S. 1 in search of businesses not in compliance with ADA requirements. The two later separated. Thursday she chose not to comment on Wood’s death.

Police would like anyone with information, especially relating to Wood’s next of kin, to contact them at 305-471-2400.

I have no idea why Mr Rabin would need to go into Mr. Wood's run ins with the law in his article.  Those of you who've followed our blog over the last few years know all to well of the beefs we've had with Mr. Rabin, I think there are other aspects of Mr. Wood's life that are worth mentioning.  For instance, after becoming papraplegic as a result of his fall from the silo, Mr. Wood moved down to Florida and became the first paraplegic to be a certified SCUBA diver.  Besides his achievements in diving, Mr. Wood went on to fight tirelessly for the handicapped in Tallahasse, during his first legislative session he managed to get no fewer than 11 bills passed.  

Over the last year or so, Mr. Wood has left several comments on our blog and has also made several posts in our defense whenever a local media outlet would cover our stories.  The real problem now is that Mr. Wood seems to have no next of kin and as the Herald article states, if no one comes forward, his body will be cremated and buried by the county.  If any of our followers know anything about Mr. Wood or his family, please contact Detective Raphael at the Miami Dade Police Department 305-471-2214 or his Mr. Wood's friends at 386-916-5600.  

Rest in peace Mr. Wood, it was a pleasure knowing you.