Despite the obviously unethical, and possibly illegal, delay tactics employed by Joseph S. Geller, Esquire, the lawsuit filed against North Miami Beach “Councilwoman” Phyllis Smith is finally moving ahead.  In a few short days, she’ll be compelled to answer the allegations of absentee ballot fraud.

According to the Notice of Hearing filed by Juan Carlos Planas, Esquire, the Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery will be heard on Monday, September 21, 2015 at 9:00 AM.

As I’ve already pointed out, since Joe Geller is a State Representative, he’s been hiding under the skirts of Florida Statute 11.111, which states that any “proceeding before any court, municipality, or agency of government of this state … during any session of the Legislature and for a period of time 15 days prior to any session of the Legislature and 15 days subsequent to the conclusion of any session of the Legislature.”

Since this lawsuit was filed on June 1, 2015, two special sessions of the Legislature have been called.  The first was scheduled from June 1st to June 20th, and the second from August 10th to August 21st, both of which gave Joe a legitimate excuse to delay the court proceedings during the 31 days that the Legislature was actually in session, plus an additional 15 days before and 15 days after each of the two special sessions, or a grand total of 91 days.

While Joe did manage to sweat it out for approximately 35 hours of actual work during his court excused 50 days for the first session, as we all now know, he didn’t even attend the second session at all!

In fact, when Joe Geller filed his second Notice of Mandatory Continuance, which allowed him to delay the lawsuit for another 41 days, he already had been officially excused from attending the second special session.

In other words, he lied to the Court.

Allegedly,  of course.

Whether or not Joe Geller is guilty of a criminal act (perjury, anyone?) by fraudulently invoking FS 11.111 in order to avoid (or at least postpone) discovery, the overwhelming evidence collected by the Plaintiffs should ultimately prove beyond all reasonable doubt that voter fraud was committed in the North Miami Beach 2015 City Council election.

Despite any ludicrous red herring defenses of “racism” and “voter disenfranchment,” the truth is that absentee ballot fraud has been a serious problem in North Miami Beach for the past several election cycles.  Not so coincidentally, this trend first became noticeable in 2007, the same year Frantz Pierre took office.  It’s only gotten worse since then.

Absentee ballot fraud is not just a local problem, it’s a national one.  While no one in Miami-Dade County seems to care, it’s comforting to know that there are municipalities in this country where those who commit voter fraud are aggressively prosecuted and duly punished.

On September 2, 2015, after deliberating for less than an hour, a jury in Houston County, Alabama found “66-year old Olivia Reynolds guilty of 24 counts of felony voter fraud,” according to the Dothan Eagle.  Reynolds was arrested last year along with two other women who worked on a campaign to re-elect her boyfriend to the city commission.  The boyfriend, Amos Newsome, beat his challenger by 14 votes, including 119 out of the 124 absentee ballots that were cast.

On January 7, 2015, the Dothan Eagle reported that Newsome’s challenger Lamesa Danzey had contested the election, claiming that “37 absentee ballots were cast illegally for incumbent Amos Newsome. The voters’ names were listed in a court filing in Danzey’s contestation of the election.”

After the complaint was filed, District Attorney Banks Smith requested that the Houston County Sheriff’s Office investigate possible voter fraud.

WTVY reported that “some of the voters testified at trial how they never wanted to vote for Newsome yet their ballot was cast for Newsome anyway.”

The articled also noted that “several witnesses for the prosecution testified that Reynolds filled out their ballots, portions of their ballots or instructed them who to vote for.  Four of the witnesses testified they did not want to vote for Newsome, but did so anyway.”

Despite the fact that Olivia Reynolds and 50-year old Lesa Coleman were both convicted of felony voter fraud charges, 65-year old Janice Hart pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge, and felony charges are still pending against 38-year-old Daniel Webster Reynolds III, all for the sole purpose of helping Amos Newsome get re-elected, the commissioner is still  in office!

Several of his colleagues have spoken out, urging him to resign in light of the fact that his election was fraudulently won.  In an article updated September 15, 2015, the Dothan Eagle reported, “Three Dothan city commissioners are calling for the resignation of District 2 Commissioner Amos Newsome after a third worker from Newsome’s most recent commission campaign was convicted of voter fraud.”  One commissioner stated that “the convictions cast doubt on the legitimacy of Newsome’s victory.”  Of the other two commissioners, one claimed to be “concerned about the matter,” and the other said that “he did not believe it was the right time to comment publicly.”

Since Commissioner Newsome was not convicted of any crime, the only way he can be removed from office would be by a successful recall election.  He is apparently claiming he had no knowledge of his girlfriend’s absentee voter fraud scheme, but there is no doubt in anyone’s mind in Dothan, Alabama, that Newsome only won his seat back with the help of three, possibly four, now convicted felons.

Phyllis Smith has no such defense.

According to the evidence gathered by the Plaintiffs, Phyllis appears to have been directly involved in absentee ballot fraud in her runoff election against Michael Joseph.  Obviously, her daughter Susie Smith and her cohort Frantz Pierre were the alleged “brains” behind the scam.  Both of them are way smarter and far more devious than Phyllis, if you can believe that!

But, make no mistake.  Phyllis was a willing – and very active – participant.

The fact that she has also willingly – and very actively – avoided turning her campaign records over to the Court thus far should be a clue that Phyllis has something to hide.

There are two things worth noting about the Alabama case.

For one thing, the law in Houston County, Alabama requires that in order for an absentee ballot to be valid, two witness must be present and “actually watch the vote,” according to the District Attorney.

Even though the scammers would no doubt find a way to circumvent it, such a law would certainly help prevent absentee ballot fraud in Miami-Dade County.

I was also impressed that as soon as voter fraud was alleged by the challenger contesting the election, the Houston County District Attorney immediately asked the Sheriff’s Office to investigate.  The Sheriff obliged and the perpetrators were busted.  Both the DA and the Sheriff took this crime seriously.

Because Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle refuses to take voter fraud seriously, the integrity of North Miami Beach elections has been severely damaged.

By refusing to direct the Miami-Dade County Public Corruption Investigations Bureau to investigate the voter fraud problem in North Miami Beach when it was first brought to her attention years ago, candidates are now forced to file civil lawsuits in order to clean up the mess she created.

Since Katherine Fernandez-Rundle obviously doesn’t care about free and fair elections in Miami-Dade County, residents will continue to suffer corrupt politicians like Phyllis Smith and Frantz Pierre (and the cronies he’s grooming for 2017).

And the corrupt lawyers they hire to defend them.

Come Monday, Joe Geller may have to face the music for lying to the Court.

And come Monday, the Fat Lady may finally sing.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”