Okay, so maybe David doesn’t actually  kick puppies, but judging from his irrational behavior of late, it would not surprise us if he did.

Besides, we’re taking our cue from the former Councilman and current Commission candidate, David Templer himself.  His campaign newsletters – which is chock full of lies, vitriol and hyperbole – sport National Enquirer-like headlines…

We figure turnabout is fair play.

Oh, and for the record, David – former Mayor George Vallejo was never arrested.

Apparently, David thinks it’s perfectly fine to repeatedly attack George Vallejo, as well as Commissioner Anthony “Tony” De Fillipo, but, when he gets the same treatment …

He stomps his foot and cries foul!

Unfortunately for David, the “substantive truth” about his condescending disregard for NMB voters and his 20-minute diatribe on the dais were publicly documented.

And, contrary to yet another one of his many lies, no one is hiding behind a “fake name.”  This mailer was distributed by “Moving NMB Forward,” a legitimate political committee duly filed with the Florida Department of State.

David Templer is well known for his abrasive temperament, which has only escalated since 2007 when he was voted out of office after one short term.  He is very much an arrogant, elitist, and nasty bully — and he’s proud of it!  (More on that in a moment.)

On October 5, 2018, he sent out another campaign email replete with lies, misinformation and half truths, entitled Selective Enforcement of Code & Ordinances, depending on who you know…, in which he claimed that George Vallejo “manipulated and orchestrated the removal of some candidates yard signs and the placement of an opposing mayoral candidate’s yard sign.”

Templer’s fictitious narrative continued:

Vallejo’s dirty hands (a “hook”) seemingly remain deep inside City Hall. In an unprecedented move, without any Notice of Violation issued, both the Deputy City Manager AND the Director of Community Development telephoned the landowner and threatened him with fines if he did not permit Code officers to enter his private property and remove the signs. Caught off guard, the landowner acquiesced. But that is NOT the worst of it!

While the Code officers were on-site, Vallejo conveniently showed up and laughingly placed an opposing candidate’s sign on the property. Nothing wrong with that you say? Well, Vallejo placed the opposing candidate’s sign IN VIOLATION OF THE EXACT SAME CITY CODE and the Code officers watched!   This City (sign) Code bears Vallejo’s personal signature so he is keenly aware of its terms. It was enacted under his watch!! Corruption. Influence over City staff. Not so different from Zoning-for-Sale, part of what brought Vallejo to plead guilty to criminal charges.

And then, Vallejo went home and the Code officers drove away.

But it’s not even remotely close to the truth.

To find out what really happened, we interviewed George Vallejo, who told us the sequence of events that actually occurred on September 25, 2018.

1.  At 1:02 PM, George called the owner of a property located at the southwest corner of NE 35th Avenue and 164 Street for permission to place Anthony “Tony” DeFillipo’s mayoral campaign signs on his property.  Vallejo showed us his phone records as proof of the time of his call.
2. George then contacted Deputy City Manager Candido Sosa-Cruz to review the City’s political sign ordinance.   George also asked him if it was permissible to place Tony’s sign on the same wood structure on which David Templer’s and Ray Marin’s (who is also running for Mayor) signs were posted, to which Mr. Sosa-Cruz responded it was not.  At that point, George told Mr. Sosa-Cruz to register this as a code violation complaint.
3. At approximately 4:30 PM that same day, George returned to place Tony’s signs on the property, which were perfectly in compliance with the code, and drove away.  A few minutes later he drove back along the street, at which time he saw two Code Enforcement Officers taking pictures of Templer’s and Marin’s illegally placed signs and removing them.

And that’s the whole story, folks.

Contrary to David Templer’s histrionic and fabricated tale of woe, George Vallejo did not “manipulate” or “orchestrate” the removal of anyone’s campaign signs, nor did he place any signs “in violation of the exact same city code.”

Unlike George Vallejo, who followed the letter of the law, Templer and Marin violated the City Code with their illegally placed signs.

In addition to that code violation, Ray Marin never obtained permission from the owner to place a sign on his lot, so there’s that.

But, that’s not all.  It gets worse.  Much, much worse.

Remember we said David is proud of being a bully?  Well, here ya go …

In that same October 5, 2018 email, David also wrote, “Because my sign was one of the signs that Vallejo orchestrated the removal of, no punches were pulled. I very angrily and directly called out the offender working inside the City Manager’s office See my email to him here.”

In this email, David proudly claims that he was “responding to an email from Candido Sosa-Cruz,” in which he angrily told Mr. Sosa-Cruz to “quit pounding your chest“ and to “spare me the bullshit.”

Nice!

He also closed by angrily threatening Mr. Sosa-Cruz with, “You still with me Candido? I strongly resent your self-righteous, indignant tone. So let’s me and you have a face to face conversation. Your office is fine. What time? What day?”

Earth to David:  The only person who is self-righteous and indignant is you!

We found it curious that David only posted his response to Mr. Sosa-Cruz, but did not reveal the Deputy Manager’s original email (or David’s angry emails preceding that one).

So we obtained a copy of the chain of emails, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here:  Candido Sosa-Cruz email 09-26-18

As you can clearly see, contrary to Templer’s false allegations, Mr. Sosa Cruz was hardly “pounding his chest” and “bullshitting” anyone.

The Deputy City Manager was correctly documenting the code violation, defending the work of his Code Compliance Department, and confirming that his employees were precisely following the letter of the law.

Mr. Sosa-Cruz also noted that Article XIII, Sec. 24-147.2(D) of the City’s Code of Ordinances regarding the rules for political signage, which reads:

1.  Residential Zoning Districts. Temporary political signs shall not exceed six hundred sixteen (616) square inches per sign on any residential property. Furthermore, signs shall only be displayed with the consent of the owner or tenant. No more than one (1) sign per candidate per residential property shall be allowed, unless the property is on a corner, then the property may have up to two (2) signs per candidate. Double-sided signs shall be considered as one (1) sign. No sign shall exceed three (3) feet from the ground. The maximum height to the top of the sign, including posts, other sign membranes or appendages shall not be more than three (3) feet above the ground in residential areas.
2. Nonresidential Districts. Temporary political signs displayed in any nonresidential area shall not exceed sixteen (16) square feet per sign. A candidate for public office may display signs of a size not to exceed sixteen (16) square feet per sign on nonresidential private property with the consent of the owner or tenant. No more than one (1) sign per candidate per nonresidential private property shall be allowed, unless the property is on a corner. Corner properties may have up to two (2) signs per candidate. No more than twenty-five (25) signs of any size exceeding six hundred sixteen (616) square inches per sign per candidate shall be allowed in nonresidential areas citywide, including signs placed on nonresidential private property, bus benches, bus shelters or street furniture. Double-sided signs shall be considered as one (1) sign. No sign shall exceed six (6) feet from the ground. The maximum height to the top of the sign, including posts, other sign membranes or appendages shall not be more than six (6) feet above the ground in commercial areas.
3. Placement on Utility Poles, Trees, Fences, Buildings, or in Public Right-of-Way. No sign, poster, banner or placard of any type shall be affixed, painted, tacked, or nailed to any utility poles, trees, fences, or buildings, or otherwise displayed, placed or located on any state, County or City rights-of-way and/or median strips within the City limits.

In his email, Deputy City Manager Candido Sosa-Cruz also included photos of Templer’s and Marin’s signs illegally attached to a wooden structure …

As well as other signs illegally posted to a fence …

All of which were removed by Code Enforcement Officers.

As you can also see, folks, David Templer’s accusations of “selective” code enforcement are entirely unfounded and, as usual, completely fabricated.

Worse, David viciously attacked a highly respected Deputy City Manager (and decorated U.S. Marine) for doing his job, and defamed him by falsely accusing him of criminal activity.

Nice!

We are sensing a pattern that David Templer has serious anger issues, some of which stems from his irrational, consuming obsession with George Vallejo, whom he has envied and despised since George was first elected as Mayor in 2011.

In fact, David Templer has such animosity toward the former Mayor, he viciously attacks anyone even remotely connected to George … including his wife who, for the last year, has been undergoing aggressive chemotherapy for stage four cancer!

Just five days ago he dashed off yet another angry email to the Eastern Shores Property Owners Association in an attempt to have Sandy removed from the Board.

What a guy, huh?

David Templer constantly brags about his “record” of:

• No criminal investigations
• No Florida Bar investigations
• No professional licensing issues

Considering all his (self-admitted) anger issues and ethically questionable campaign practices, we’re pretty sure that’s all about to change.

It’s also a lie, since he’s already been the subject of a criminal investigation.

Assistant City Manager Candido Sosa-Cruz felt so threatened by David’s “meet me in the alley” email, he filed a criminal complaint against Templer with the North Miami Beach Police Department.

Mr. Sosa-Cruz also sent a letter to city officials, stating, “Due to Mr. Templer’s intimidating behavior, I am respectfully requesting that for the time being, our interactions be minimized to the extent possible.  The City’s HR/Risk Management Director is being copied on this email given that it relates to my safety as a municipal employee.  I continue to feel unsafe and am only trying to get back to a normal and peaceful work life.”

In response to Templer’s threatening email, interim City Manager Esmond Scott was compelled to advise his staff that, “The email below is never one to which any one of us should be subjected … Emails like those from Mr. Templer – especially the most recent – are totally off base, offensive, and personally abusive.”  Mr. Scott apologized to his staff “for being subjected to this.”

Of course, David claimed innocence and blamed his angry outburst all on a “misunderstanding” and “that he did not intend to harm Mr. Sosa-Cruz or pose any type of threat.”

While the State Attorney’s Office deemed there was “insufficient evidence to support a criminal charge,” we’re pretty sure the Florida Bar, which regulates lawyer conduct, might not look too kindly on such behavior.

Just saying.

Yet another example of David Templer’s arrogance is his continuous use of the Official Seal of the City of North Miami Beach in his emails and campaign material, which is a violation of Article III, Sec. 2-73.2 of the City’s Code of Ordinances, and which “shall be punishable as provided in Sections 775.082 or 775.083 of the Florida Statutes and shall be a second degree misdemeanor.”

Also, just saying.

Needless to say, David Templer is not worthy to hold the office of North Miami Beach Commissioner.

We’ve already seen that he lies, breaks the law, and is such a loose cannon, it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do next.

North Miami Beach residents deserve better.

Stephanie