In a press release issued today, North Miami Beach City Council candidate Michael Joseph announced that his absentee ballot fraud lawsuit is moving forward.

On April 5, 2016, Judge Samantha Ruiz-Cohen finally signed an Order denying Phyllis Smith’s Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit filed against her on June 1, 2015.

In his statement, Mr. Joseph conveyed, “This is big news.  Finally, the people of NMB will get their day in court where we will expose once and for all the election fraud that has taken hold on our elections and never let go since the days of John Patrick Julien.”

Despite her numerous desperate attempts to delay the lawsuit in order to avoid complying with requests for documentation, Phyllis Smith has finally run out the clock.

On September 21, 2015, her lawyer Joseph S. Geller scheduled an October 6, 2015 hearing for his Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to name the North Miami Beach Canvassing Board as an “indispensable party” to the lawsuit.  This bogus claim was an obvious distraction to stall for time.  In response, the plaintiff noted that the complaint already named the individual members of the Canvassing Board as defendants, and that “there is no statute or relevant case law” that naming the individual members “carries any less weight than naming them collectively” as a body.

Judge Ruiz-Cohen agreed.

On October 11, 2015, the judge signed an Order granting Smith until November 13, 2015 to file a response.  By that time, Joe was already back in Tallahassee, and the case was stalled again.

Finally, however, in her freshly signed Court Order, the judge noted that “regardless of how the Canvassing Board is named … it is the factual allegations” that matter.  As such, she ordered that “the North Miami Beach Canvassing Board has been properly named as an indispensable party Defendant in this matter.”

Even though the defeat of his motion was inevitable, Joe Geller’s lies and deception had served him well so far.  Florida Statute 11.111 allows legislators to file mandatory continuances from court proceedings while they are in session, as well as a full 15 days prior to and 15 days following each one of those sessions.  As such, because he is a state representative in the Florida legislature, Joe Geller has been able to abuse this statute for the purpose of stalling this lawsuit for eight long months.

He filed a mandatory continuance prior to the first special session, which was held from June 1, 2015 to June 20, 2015.

Joe was excused again from court during the second special session held from August 10, 2015 to August 21, 2015, EVEN THOUGH HE NEVER SHOWED UP IN TALLAHASSEE!.

He was again excused for yet another 20 day special session of the Florida legislature that was scheduled to begin on October 19, 2015, which enabled him to delay the case by filing yet another mandatory continuance for the third time.

All this legal trickery had effectively halted any court proceedings until November 23, 2015.

By now, Joe was able to stall what was supposed to be an expedited lawsuit for FIVE MONTHS!

Yes, Joe Geller is that devious!

By the time Joe returned from the third special session of the legislature, the plaintiffs had scheduled a hearing for December 17, 2015, which Joe then mysteriously arranged to cancel with no explanation.

Nine days later, Joe conveniently filed his FOURTH Notice of Mandatory Continuance due to the 2016 Florida Legislative Session scheduled from January 12, 2016 through March 11, 2016.

This latest mandatory continuance allowed him to legally stall the lawsuit for ANOTHER THREE MONTHS until March 28, 2016.

Curiously, however, while Joe was still in Tallahassee, a telephonic hearing took place on January 25, 2016 so the judge could rule on Joe’s bogus Motion to Dismiss.

Even though Judge Ruiz-Cohen verbally denied his motion, Joe stubbornly refused to sign off on the wording of the Court Order for her signature, claiming he was still under the “mandatory continuance” umbrella until March 28, 2016.

Despite Joe’s desperate, and incredibly transparent, attempts to delay this case as long as possible, Judge Ruiz-Cohen finally signed the Order on April 5, 2016 – A FULL FORTY DAYS after she made her ruling.

Ironically, however, Joe’s oh-so-busy schedule in Tallahassee, however, didn’t stop him from actively litigating another case in Miami-Dade County!

On February 16, 2016, Joe filed an Emergency Notice of Hearing for a Motion for Temporary Injunction on behalf of another client, the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church.  Miraculously, Joe also managed to find time to sign off on the wording of that court’s Order granting his motion, which Judge Rodney Smith signed on March 1, 2016 – ONLY FOURTEEN DAYS after he made his ruling.

Regardless of his legislative duties in Tallahassee, Joe Geller moved heaven and earth to litigate a case that he wanted to be expedited.

Yet, in the case of Michael Joseph v. Phyllis Smith, justice delayed has been justice denied.

Fortunately, the wait is over!

As Michael Joseph so eloquently stated, “Despite the long delays, the evidence my team has collected will clearly indicate a pervasive and systematic conspiracy to defraud voters and steal our democracy.  In fact, delaying is the tactic being used to keep the truth out of light of our justice system — UNTIL NOW.”

Until now, because of a corrupt Miami State Attorney and her deliberate lax oversight of absentee ballot fraud, the criminals who have perpetuated this scourge in North Miami Beach for nearly a decade have thus far escaped prosecution.

Until now, the victims of this heinous crime have not had the resources to fight back.

But now, thanks to the fortitude of Michael Joseph and his tireless team of truth seekers, who went way beyond the call of duty, those victims will finally have their day in court.

And now, those victims will finally get the justice they deserve.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”