A City Attorney who can’t comprehend his own municipal charter is a special kind of stupid.

Then again, when the city is Opa-locka, and the attorney is Vincent T. Brown, anything is possible.

This is the same ethically challenged and fiscally irresponsible City Attorney who has a history of “misfiling” legal documents, disclosing confidential information, being reprimanded and suspended by the Florida Bar, and using public money to pay personal legal bills.

Little wonder he thought he could get away with removing two legitimate mayoral candidates from the ballot, despite the fact that doing so is a direct violation of the Opa-locka City Charter.

This latest act of terminal stupidity earned Mr. Brown a much needed bitch-slapping by a Circuit Court judge.

On Friday, the Honorable Maria de Jesus Santovenia ruled against the City of Opa-locka in a lawsuit filed by Vincent T. Brown, Esq. on August 30, 2018 in an attempt to prevent Dorothy Johnson and Rose Tydus from running for Mayor in the upcoming November 6, 2018 election.

Brown argued that since each of the Defendants had previously served as Commissioners for two consecutive four-year terms (Johnson from 2006 to 2014 and Tydus from 2004 to 2012), they were ineligible to run again in accordance with Section 2.1.1. – Term Limits of the City Charter.

It appears that Mr. Brown failed reading comprehension class in grade school.

Section 2.1.1.(a) specifically states, “No person may appear on the ballot for re-election to the office of mayor or city commissioner of the City of Opa-locka if, by the end of the current term of office, the person will have served (or, except for resignation, suspension, or removal, would have served) in office for eight (8) consecutive years.”

Since Mr. Brown apparently has a reading comprehension problem in addition to all his other issues, he apparently missed the part that clearly says, “by the end of the current term of office,” Since the elected terms of Ms. Johnson and Ms. Tydus ended in 2014 and 2012, respectively, neither of them were currently in office at the time they filed to run for mayor.

In their Motion for Judgment, the powerhouse legal team of Michael A. Pizzi, the indomitable Benedict P. Kuehne and Douglas J. Jeffrey pointed out that the “unambiguous language of the City Charter” only applies to “current office holders” and NOT to “non-incumbent candidates who had a break in service.”

For good measure, Mssrs. Pizzi, Kuehne, and Jeffrey broke out the Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary  and the Black’s Law Dictionary  to school Mr. Brown on the definitions of “incumbency” and “incumbent.”

Judge Santovenia obviously agreed since, contrary to what Vincent T. Brown might believe, reading is fundamental.

Michael Pizzi told the Miami Times that Opa-locka filed the lawsuit “as a way to whittle down the pool of candidates.”

Four candidates had already qualified to run for Mayor.  In addition to Johnson and Tydus, current Commissioners John B. Riley and Matthew Piggat are stepping down after serving only two years in office to vie for the head seat on the dais.  By filing a lawsuit to oust Johnson and Tydus from the race, City Attorney Vincent T. Brown was obviously attempting to narrow the field of candidates for the benefit of the two incumbents.

Michael Pizzi told VotersOpinion, “This was a great victory for the right of all citizens in a democracy to vote for their candidate of choice.  It is a shame that the great City of Opa-Locka is not receiving correct legal advice.  The attempt by the city attorney to remove Johnson and Tydus from the ballot was motivated by politics and is not in the best interests of the people. Finally, every citizen in Opa-locka can be grateful for the wisdom of the Court in upholding democracy.”

Even more shocking, at the last meeting on September 26, 2018, the Mayor and Commissioners rewarded City Attorney Vincent T. Brown for his incompetence by giving him a lucrative contract extension, proving yet again that you can’t fix stupid.

Opa-locka residents deserve better.

Stephanie