Phyllis Smith, Her Majesty the Baby

(Originally published 6/7/11)

Tonight’s North Miami Beach pre-council meeting, a/k/a Council Conference meeting, was barely called to order when the new Mayor George Vallejo announced that the seating arrangement on the dais had to be discussed. WTF? This issue is one that your little ol’ dirt digger has known about for several weeks now, but since the folks involved were hoping it would just be dealt with privately and quietly (and preferably, just go away), I decided not to blog about it unless it became public knowledge. It is now. And you can thank none other than councilwoman Phyllis “I Can’t Shut Up” Smith.

Mayor Vallejo had already decided that he was going to seat to his left Councilman Philippe Derose and to his right Councilwoman Barbara Kramer. Next to Mr. Derose, he assigned Phyllis and then Frantz Pierre, and next to Barbara, he assigned Councilwoman Beth Spiegel and newly elected Councilwoman Marlen Martell. Everyone was just fine with this arrangement except for Phyllis, who demanded that she be seated next to the Mayor. She’s been whining about this for weeks ever since she found out about it, and doing her damn hardest to get her way. Wah! Wah! Wah! Someone get that woman a pacifier!

Now, I imagine that the Mayor had his reasons for wanting Councilwoman Kramer by his side, not the least of which is the fact that, UNLIKE PHYLLIS, Barbara supported him from Day One of his campaign! Phyllis, on the other hand, SUPPORTED GEORGE’S OPPONENT, MYRON ROSNER! She did so publicly, and yet LIED ABOUT IT when I asked her. I now have not one, but two, sources who verified this, both of whom are infinitely more believable and honest than Phyllis. Secondly, during the run off election when some of the candidates were trying to work together to try to reach out to the community and lobby votes for each other, Phyllis announced that she was going to walk the neighborhood of Skylake by herself because, as she put it, “I work alone.”

Oh REALLY? She works alone? That’s pretty funny considering she spent the first three months of the campaign whining to me, of all people, that she had no help and that she had to run her campaign with only the help of her husband and daughter. Now, all of a sudden, when she had the opportunity to have help from fellow candidates and some of their supporters, she WORKS ALONE? Yeah, right!

The truth is that Phyllis is nothing but an opportunist. She plays to her audience, and she will tell them whatever she thinks they want to hear. And then some. In fact, she’ll talk you to death. But, not to digress, my point is that I would bet the rent that Phyllis wanted to walk Skylake by herself because it would give her the opportunity to campaign for herself and whichever mayoral candidate she thought would help her personal cause. If the resident had a Myron sign on the lawn, she’d push Myron, and if they displayed a George sign, she’d talk up George. She would do any pandering necessary to make sure she got that resident’s vote! Phyllis is only all about Phyllis.

Bottom line is that Phyllis NEVER supported or endorsed George Vallejo for Mayor. Barbara, on the other hand, risked every last iota of her political capital by throwing her support behind and giving her official endorsement to George. If Myron had won the election, Barbara would be sitting in the broom closet instead of on the dais!

Aside from whatever reasons the Mayor has for seating Councilwoman Kramer to his right, the fact that Phyllis cannot graciously accept reality has not escaped me or anyone else. At tonight’s pre-council meeting she tried to convince everyone in the room it has always been city protocol for the council person with the most seniority would be seated closer to the center of the dais. She whined that every NMB council has done that from the beginning of time since dinosaurs walked the earth. City Attorney Darcee Siegel advised Phyllis that there is NOTHING IN WRITING that ensures this so-called “protocol,” and more importantly, that the Mayor cannot assign seating. Undaunted, Phyllis threw a temper tantrum and demanded that the council vote on whether or not the Mayor has that authority! EXCUSE ME? Hey, Phyllis, HE’S THE MAYOR … AND YOU’RE NOT! Since Beth Spiegel was not present tonight, Phyllis further demanded that this vote wait until the next pre-council meeting so that it can be voted on by all seven council members.

Being the gentleman that he is, Mayor Vallejo conceded and said, “Fair enough.” Phyllis is soooo freaking lucky I’m not the Mayor, ‘cuz, well, let’s just say that she’d be in the broom closet.

Can anyone out there think of anything more petty and childish than what Phyllis is doing? I know I can’t. This city has enough problems to deal with, yet she thinks she’s entitled to the coveted seat on the dais next to the Mayor. PUH-LEEZE!

For the past couple of weeks since she found out she’s not sitting next to the Mayor, Phyllis has been frantically calling everyone she can think of to plead her case. She’s been especially calling people who she believes has some sort of “pull” with George to get him to change his mind. From what I’ve been told, she has found very little, if any, sympathy for her cause.

What we can expect for the next two weeks is that Phyllis will be burning up her cell phone minutes calling residents and asking them to lobby the council to vote against giving the Mayor the power of seat assignment. And THIS is the woman who had the audacity to enact that ridiculously insane Civility Resolution! Can you think of anything LESS civil than to lobby against your own Mayor right out of the box? I know I can’t!

So, I’m going to “pull a Phyllis,” as it were, and ask all of my readers to burn up your cell phone minutes and call the Mayor and Council (excluding Phyllis, of course) and tell them to STAND WITH THE MAYOR! By doing so, we will show the Mayor and Council (excluding Phyllis, of course) that we support the Mayor that we just elected, and that Phyllis needs to shut up already! We just got rid of an obnoxious, temper tantrum throwing mayor, and that we will NEVER AGAIN stand for such behavior unbecoming a council person of the City of North Miami Beach.