Marie Steril really just can’t help herself.  It would seem that the North Miami Councilwoman believes she’s immune to scrutiny by the very taxpaying voters who put her in office.

First there was the unfounded allegation by former Mayor Andre Pierre’s nephew/felony defendant (for charges stemming from his arrests in 2011) that Marie “rigged a $5 million dollar bid to benefit a friend,” according to a 2011 Miami New Times article.

Then she conveniently accepted a total of $2,000.00 in campaign donations from principles of Waste Pro, a private garbage company for which she voted to outsource the city’s sanitation department, an action which the esteemed Chief Assistant State Attorney Jose J. Arroyo decisively denied (à la his predecessor Let ‘Em Go Joe Centorino) was either illegal or unethical.

Marie Steril also became infamous for her Friends & Family plan when she was able to secure six months of rent-free housing for her friend Martine Saint-Aime in 2010, and then managed to obtain HUD financing so her mother could buy a home, billing the taxpayers for a $154,000.00 plus fine for her not disclosing that the borrower was, in fact, her mother.

Fast forward to 2012, despite the fact that Marie Steril was advised by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust to recuse herself from voting on any matters regarding Biscayne Landing, the very next month she “forgot she was supposed to recuse herself” when a Biscayne Landing issue was on the table.

And now Marie “Antoinette” Steril is back in the news again!  What, you may ask, has she done this time?  Understating the obvious, a just posted Miami Herald article claims Ethics Commission: North Miami councilwoman may have exploited her position.

Ya think?

It appears that the good old Ethics Commission FINALLY found probable cause that Marie Steril did something – are you ready, folks? – UNETHICAL!

Are you still sitting?

I know you’re not shocked that Steril may have exploited her position, but the fact that the COE found probable cause about anything is jaw-dropping.

That the Commission called out a politician from North Miami should be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Okay, now that we’ve recovered from our shock, here’s the dirt.  Marie Steril has been accused of “seeking preferential treatment for her mother” by insisting on “upgrades” worth “nearly $8,000.00,” courtesy of the same North Miami taxpayers that helped Marie’s mom buy the house in the first place.

We now anxiously await the Ethics Commission’s decision.  Let’s hope Joe & Co. have gotten their collective act together by now.

You will recall that when North Miami Beach EX-Mayor Myron Rosner was tried on accusations that he [drum roll, please] may have exploited his position, one of the five Commissioners decided to conveniently recuse himself from voting after the lengthy trial, which ended up deadlocked in a 2-2 split decision.  As I suggested to COE Communications Director Rhonda Sibilia after that disaster, maybe, just maybe, Kerry Rosenthal (whose father Alan Rosenthal, Esq., seems to represent a majority of the businesses that come before the NMB City Council asking for stuff) should have recused himself before the trial if there was any question whatsoever that his sitting on the panel would be a conflict of interest.  Just a thought, right?  I also suggested to Rhonda that the Commission should have considered “conflicts of interest” as a possibility and appointed an alternate in the likely event* that one of them had to recuse him or herself.  Well, DUH!

*I say “likely event” because many of the COE’s members already have ties of some sort to the County’s politicians against whom complaints are typically filed.  Yeah, it’s a racket.  Don’t get me started.

In any event, North Miami Councilwoman Marie Steril is about to face the music.  Grab a seat, folks.  This could get interesting.

Or  not.

Regardless of the outcome, it should at least be entertaining.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”