Desperate to hang on to his plum, and very much undeserved, gig as the North Bay Village attorney, Strip Club Lobbyist Norman Powell filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics against a potential rival for his job.

No stranger to the filing of frivolous complaints, including a groundless lawsuit against local blogger Kevin Vericker for telling the truth about Powell’s municipal law experience (or lack thereof, to be precise), Powell has now decided to lash out at veteran municipal attorney Jose Smith.

Start popping the corn.

According to a Miami Herald article just published, Powell is whining that Jose engaged in “unregistered lobbying in an effort to take his job.”

With his chief enabler, the termed out Mayor Connie “Crazy Eyes” Leon-Kreps, out of the picture, Powell’s position is on the chopping block thanks to an entirely new Mayor and Commission voted in last month, as reported on Monday by the Miami New Times in North Bay Village Is Tiny, but Absolutely Looney-Tunes Crazy.

Like her thin-skinned crony Norman Powell, Connie also served Vericker with a cease and desist letter and threatened to sue him last year for revealing “reports that Mayor Kreps and Commissioner Alvarez are under criminal federal investigation for using the US mail to extort a fellow commissioner into either resigning or complying with their demands to fire the village manager.”

Vericker rightfully refused to be bullied by the former Mayor’s threats, which went absolutely nowhere.

He’s also not backing down from Norman Powell’s slimy tactics aimed to silence him from exercising his First Amendment rights, or as the Miami Herald previously reported, “the growing trend of public officials taking bloggers to court for posts they see as harmful to their personal or professional image.”

Powell apparently didn’t think it through before filing his lawsuit since he will now be required to produce documentation in an effort to prove his allegations, including his medical and mental health records regarding his alleged “emotional distress,” as well as three years’ worth of his tax returns, all of which will become a public record.

Keep that corn popping.

Powell’s bigger problem right now is holding on to his tenuous position as the Village Lawyer.  He was granted a temporary reprieve at Tuesday night’s commission meeting, when the newly elected officials voted to give him “three months probation, at the end of which the commission will consider soliciting bids to replace him,” according to the Herald article, which also reported:

Powell was appointed city attorney by the previous commission in November 2017, and though he had worked closely with cities in the past, had no experience as city attorney. He oversaw a series of expensive terminations of high-level staff members, and in one case, the termination of the former police chief, which resulted in a whistleblower suit.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, Mayor Brent Latham and Commissioner Juliana Strout, both newly elected, accused Powell of giving the commission bad legal advice.

Ya think?

Not surprisingly, Powell followed his own “bad legal advice” by tangling with the blogger.

He made an even bigger mistake by messing with Jose “Take No Prisoners” Smith, who will undoubtedly make him regret ever drawing his sword.

More popcorn, please!

Powell’s ethics complaint against Smith, whose firm Bryant Miller Olive is currently under contract with North Bay Village, includes text messages and emails to commissioners expressing his “desire to be village attorney” should the position become available.  By doing so, Powell asserts that Smith is engaging in “unregistered lobbying.”

Oh, really?

The same “unregistered lobbying” that Corruptocrat Lawyer/Politician Joe Geller has engaged in by attempting to score municipal jobs in multiple cities in South Florida, including North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa-locka, El Portal, Miami Lakes, and Golden Beach, to name a few.

That would be the same “unregistered lobbying” done by Weiss Serotta Helman Cole & Bierman to work for the cities of North Miami, Bal Harbour, Coral Gables, Medley, Doral, and others.

And the exact same “unregistered lobbying” that Norman Powell himself did when he finagled the interim attorney job at the Village of El Portal.

Or, as the North Bay Village blogger coined his moonlighting gig, Norman’s Side Hustle.

NEWS FLASH, NORMAN!

It’s not called “Lobbying.”

It’s called “Seeking Employment.”

Which you’ll be doing in about three months.

Village (Idiot) Attorney Norman Powell may not be deserving of his municipal job, but he is most definitely deserving of the VotersOpinion Douche Nozzle of the Year Award.

Mazel Tov!

Stephanie

UPDATE:

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust already issued multiple opinions on Miami-Dade County 2-11.(s)-Lobbying, one of them specifically with respect to a law firm not being required to register as a lobbyist.

In response to an inquiry by the firm Weiss Serotta Helfman Cole Bierman, former Director Joe Centorino wrote, “Attorney Chad Friedman of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman inquired regarding whether a meeting held with municipal officials preliminary to submitting an unsolicited proposal to town officials, and prior to anything being put on paper or formulated as a proposal to the municipality, would require lobbyist registration under Section 2-11.1(s). I informed him that as long as nothing was pending before the municipality; no proposal had been formalized or written; the issue was in the conceptual stage preliminary to deciding whether to submit a proposal; then the meeting would likely be considered a ‘meet and greet’ preliminary meeting, which would not necessitate the lobbyist registration requirement of Section 2-11.1(s) of the Miami-Dade Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance.”

In response to another inquiry by former County employee Louis A. Noriega, now seeking schedule meetings with County Staff to discuss the services of his privately owned company, Mr. Centorino opined that certain activities do not constitute lobbying, including (a) Appearances at meetings or communications with staff or an elected official at the department or elected official’s request or a description of materials or services available in response to a departmental request; and (b) Meetings or communications to provide staff or elected officials with general information regarding a firm’s background or expertise.

In addition, according to the Ethics Commission’s Frequently Asked Questions about Lobbying in Miami-Dade County, anyone engaging in “‘meet and greet'” discussions of ideas for possible future proposals, prior to submission of any such proposal to the County, and prior to any County solicitation or bid” is not required to register as lobbyist.

But good luck to Norman Powell in his futile mission to waste the time of the Ethics Commission and the tax dollars of Miami-Dade County residents.