Pretty simple formula, right? Talk a bunch of crap about someone and then find yourself getting sued for slander. That's exactly what happened during a recent City of South Miami commission meeting where commissioners Josh Liebman and Valerie Newman made the following remarks about their fellow commissioner Robert Welsh:
Liebman stated, "Commissioner Welsh is responsible for distributing another racist flyer featuring Dr. Price as the Queen of Spades, three monkeys representing three Black commissioners, and the Star Spangled Banner which was written in Ebonics".
Now, if true, that would have been a horrendous and terribly racist thing to have done. Commissioner Newman then went on to affirm the allegations by commissioner Liebman by saying..."Mr. Welsh distributed the flyer of the three monkeys".
Now, I don't know Commissioner Welsh all that well but I think I know him well enough to know that he would not put together a flyer with defamatory racist images such as the ones his fellow commissioners described.
So what's a reasonable person left to do under these circumstances, let alone a sitting city commissioner? Mr Welsh took the initiative this past Tuesday at the city commission meeting and served the two commissioners who made the racist and slanderous allegations against him with a nice lawsuit for slander and defamation. Check it out...
The real question that begs to be asked though is whether or not the City of South Miami is going to have to pick up commissioner Liebman and Newman's legal bills for this lawsuit.
Should put forth a resolution to censure south miami commissioner valerie newman and vice mayor josh liebman
ReplyDeleteSeems like extraordinarily bad timing on Commissioner Welsh's part, since he voted to censure himself for distributing his most recent flyer, "Forty Acres and a Pool" - in that very same meeting.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant timing. Welsh stated honestly what he did do and what he did not do. Welsh even passed a polygraph test. The public gets to contrast Welsh taking full responsibility for his actions with Liebman who denied responsibility for his false statements, going on to blame former Mayor Anna Price. Will she confirm or refute Liebman's statement in court? If she confirms it, then she is liable too. If she denies it, then Liebman is toast.
ReplyDeleteLiebman said defense of himself and Newman will cost the taxpayers.
ReplyDelete(1) Once again, he shirks responsibility for his behavior. If he were as honorable as Welsh, he'd take responsibility for his actions and offer to foot the legal bill.
(2) If the court upholds section 6 of the complaint posted above, that Liebman and Newman acted with malice or wanton disregard of the truth, then the city would not be liable for their defense costs.
2. Truth in government. No County or municipal official or employee shall knowingly furnish false information on any public matter, nor knowingly omit significant facts when giving requested information to members of the public.
ReplyDeleteLiebman says he repeated what Price told him. Did she furnish false information behind closest doors? She sits on the CRA board. Could this be three violations of Truth in Govt and a Sunshine violation? Ethics Commission could score a triple play here on Newman, Liebman, and Price.
ReplyDeleteIs it not ELECTION time in South Miami????
ReplyDeletePicture it - 2013 City of South Miami, elections are approaching and a commissioner who has for all of his appointment as a city commissioner - supports the equality of actions, development (pool) and many other items. This same commissioner has an artist compose a cartoon of a mule in beach chair relaxing - in a pool. The words to describe this event of over-coming a 40 year old challenge of a community pool state, "40 acres and a pool".
The commissioner takes this poster to what has been referenced as the heartbeat of the CRA community barbershop, but the owner Mr. Rodney Williams is not there, so the commissioner takes it to the barbers home. Rodney is not there either, but four other man are and tell the commission that they think this is funny and good work, and they are not offensive (these are younger man) and Mrs. Williams, Rodney Williams mother of 70 years or more keeps quiet and does not offer her advise at all.
Mrs. Williams a lady of some maturity has seen first hand and witnessed racism; water fountains were Blacks or Negro are not allowed to drink water, cafeterias were blacks/coloreds are not served food, hotels were blacks/colors are not allowed to sleep, and most likely many of the illegal arrest of blacks, and perhaps even a lynching or two. Hell the City of South Miami only had it's ordinance removed of segregation – what 20 years ago? Ok, so this is a women who is most likely still afraid to speak up and she tells her son, Rodney of the incident when he returns to his home.
While at the Gibson Bethel Park, Rodney tells Mayor Stoddard of this concern and Mayor Stoddard recommends that Rodney should address this item with Welsh. Rodney finds commissioner Welsh at the community park (Gibson Bethel) and addresses it with him. And Welsh tells Rodney that four of the younger black males thought it was funny, and that if his mother got upset about it he would not take it a step further. So some time goes on but what we don't know until the CRA meeting is that Rodney in the meantime has shown this post to Dr. Anna Price, who in turn has shown it to many others, like Levy Kelly. Kelly is also a man of some age.
Dr Price while at the November CRA meeting addresses this item as a women of 70+ years also. She too has witness decades of awful injustices and wrong doing to the blacks. Newman and Lieman, take this situation and run like hell with it.
Newman a woman who has stated in writing “FUCK THE BLACK VOTE” is now the In-Charge man while leading the demand to censure Welsh? WTF
And Lieman who thinks he is the best thing for this city, while in the same breath continuously called other commissions out of their names, and damn near every commission meeting this man makes a ass of himself?
Anna Price and Rodney Williams are responsible for disseminating that damn stupid poster of Welsh. He left the poster at Rodney Williams house for input! And Rodney took it to Price and on and on and on it went in the CRA Community.
Welsh on the other hand does not know when to stop, and that he is not being funny.
Ultimately it is the citizen's of South Miami's fault for electing these nimrods to the City Commission.
ReplyDeleteBicycle Bob: evidently he doesn't have anything better to do with his time than draw stupid pictures that are racially insensitive, and then has the ignorance to distribute them to see if the community likes them?
Liebman: whatever promise he held as a good public servant has fallen by the wayside. For someone with such a thin resume, he's whiny, holier than thou and completely self-absorbed.
Valerie Newman: the evil, repugnant toad now wants to run for Mayor? What's her campaign slogan? "Elect me and I'll promise to bring to bring back Hector Mirabile as City Manager"
Unfortunately, the atmosphere at the City Commission meetings is so toxic and irrelevant, no qualified person in their right mind would want to run for public office here. Let's wait for that pillar of good government, Michael Miller, to recommend Armando Oliveros, who will campaign on a platform of ethics and honesty.
The choice two years ago was between Welsh, Oliveros, and the unknown Gabriel Edmond, a Haitian-American high school teacher of history and government. The citizens voted for a well-known eccentric over a well-known felon. Gabe Edmond is better known this time round, and is running on a credible platform of anti-corruption, clean government, and local education enhancement. Seems like the stand-up kind of guy that fans of The Straw Buyer could get behind.
DeleteWhat the people of South Miami should do next election is to start with a clean slate. Do not elect the official that we have now. There is to much Drama and BS flying all over the place in SM.
ReplyDeleteIt is called the city of incompetency
Deleteyou stated-"a nice lawsuit" and previous to that comment you wrote you barely know Commissioner Welsh. If you think we believe that, you must think we are as ignorant as Mayor Stodard thinks we are. You are apparently best buddies with Stodard, Welsh, and Harris, it shows in your slanted blogs. You also know so called comments were made at a city commission meeting so without a doubt the city's insurance will foot the bill at a tune of a 200,000 deductible. Comm. Welsh knew that when he filed the ridiculous lawsuit, which shows everyone in this city his apologies are meaningless and he has no regard the residents of the city's money. Comm. Welsh is a loose cannon and a detriment to the City of South Miami, we are awaiting Gov. Scott to remove him, hopefully. When he is shown the door it will be wide enough for his mentor the Mayor and the commissioner who never knows where he is half the time, Commissioner Harris
ReplyDeleteSo a commissioner Welsh should take the slander the Lie-man Liebman and Newman made to avoid the tax payers the cost of $200,000 deductible???
DeleteWelsh has a right under law to address this slander, and the city commission has to vote on paying the legal bill of Lie-Man Liebman and Newman. Its not just a given!
Question, why don't you see a problem with the behavior of your beloved commissioners and their awful behaviors while on the dais, that continue to bring legal actions against them and the city. Another one to watch for is Donna Shelly - she will be a great regret for all also!
Comissioner Welsh has convenient memory loss. Perhaps he should have remembered that he slandered one of the current commissioners at the table before he he initiated his personal vendetta lawsuit. I only hope the commissioner he slandered takes the initiative to file a lawsuit against Welsh. It will come back to bite brainless Bob because we all know how cheap Bob is, so cheap he doesn't hire an attorney but writes the legal lawsuit himself. If he does get hit with a slander suit from a fellow commissioner perhaps than he will realize his tactics, lies, and meaningless apologies have come to the end of the road and the residents of South Miami, all of them, CRA included, will see that despicable man sleeping on the lawn of one of his blighted rooming houses.Too bad that sorry excuse of a Mayor and brainless Harris aligned themselves with Commissioner Welsh, it will come back to hurt them when people vote in February. People see through the shenanigans of the three muskateers and they are not fooled and not happy. One can lie for just so long and at the end it will bite them in the buttocks
ReplyDeleteThere are days, albeit not many when I miss my crazy little city. Now that I have left the City of Pleasant Living for the West Coast of the State, I have to admit... As much as people criticize South Miami, it is by no means alone or unique in its dysfunctionality or absurdity. Still it is nevertheless a thoroughly crazy (and very entertaining) place. I miss you my little nut farm...
ReplyDeleteHector C. Fernandez