Folks, it’s that time again.  The three candidates running for Mayor in the North Miami Special Election have filed their third Campaign Treasurer’s Reports.

I’m not sure I can contain my excitement, but I’ll try.

I spent over three hours studying these Campaign Treasurer’s Reports, examining the contributions and expenditures, trying to find something scandalous, unethical, illegal, anything.  You name it, I looked for it.

Unfortunately for me, there were no surprises.  Kevin Burns raised the most money in actual contributions totaling $11,370.00.  Smith Joseph loaned his campaign an additional $25,000.00 and raised $8,475.50 in cash and checks (including three anonymous cash donations of $10.00, $20.00 and $1.00).  In third place, Jean Rodrigue Marcellus raised $3,360.00 in contributions, received $1,000.00 of “in-kind” radio advertising, and loaned his campaign another $1,000.00.

I did find a couple of minor questionable items.

Still, nothing worth filing a complaint over.

So, yeah, that was three hours I’ll never get back.

Kevin reported a contribution of $500.00 from “Collins Ave. Corp,” which is located at the same address as “151st Holdings LLC,” 555 NE 185 Street, Miami, FL, so it’s probably a related corporation.  “Collins Ave. Corp” is not listed on The Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation website, sunbiz.org.  That doesn’t mean it’s a bogus company.  It just means that Kevin probably got the name wrong.  He should look probably check his records and make a correction.

This reporting period, Kevin got a bit more serious about advertising.  In addition to another $465.00 for signage, he shelled out $2,100.00 for media, and a total of $475.00 for event supplies and staffing.

And, of course, $100.00 for gas.

Smith Joseph received his contributions mostly from doctors and medical facilities, plus a couple of lawyers, an insurance agent, an accountant, a police officer and a pastor.  He also received contributions from several people whose occupations are listed as “Info Requested.”  Nothing else out of the ordinary, though.

Of his monetary expenditures of $30,207.97 (WOW!), he spent $7,993.40 on signage and other campaign materials, $350.00 on consulting, $1,000.00 on a campaign coordinator, $197.00 in travel reimbursement, $5,805.00 on canvassing, $1,820.300 on office expenses (rent, internet, phone), $2,207.19 on a kick-off event, and a whopping $10,705.72 on media.  The dude is serious about media, right?

Five of Jean Marcellus’ contributions came from a store manager, a car salesman and three “regular” people.

Two of his contributors, however, are corporations that don’t appear to exist.  At one time there was an A & B Professional Consulting, Inc. in Oxford, Florida, but that corporation was administratively dissolved September 22, 1993.  There also was a Car Clinic, Auto Repair, Inc. in Miami, Florida, but that corporation was administratively dissolved on August 25, 1995.  There are several other variations of companies with the words “Car Clinic” in their names, but some are long defunct or are not listed at the address 7751 NW 7 Avenue.

We already know that Jean isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he got the names wrong.

Just saying.

Yeah, he needs to fix that mess.

Marcellus spent a total of $1,832.60 on:  Campaign printing materials ($492.60), Campaign t-shirts ($440.00), and two Campaign workers ($900.00).

Yeah, his campaign is chugging along nicely.

No signs, no media, no Haitian radio.  WTF?

Marcellus also didn’t bother to get supplies or telephone service for the office/campaign headquarters that he leased for $950.00 on July 4, 2014.

He obviously still doesn’t have a computer since his reports are still hand written.

At least they’re legible.  I’ll give him that much.

There you have it, folks.  I know none of this is hardly earth shattering or newsworthy.  But, I still felt compelled to give you my report.

But since I’m also compelled to entertain you, I’ll end this blog with a cute joke I heard not too long ago.

What do you call two Haitian men walking down the street?

A pair of Jeans.

Well, I thought it was funny.

Okay, STFU!

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”