Move over, Frantz Pierre.

There’s a new Devil in NMB!

Fireworks were set off late into the night at Thursday’s North Miami Beach city commission meeting when Commissioner Barbara Kramer asked her colleagues to censure Michael Joseph for his “reckless and malicious behavior by spreading pure propaganda inside and outside these city chambers.”

As we reported last week in Shades of Frantzie! NMB Commissioner Mike Joseph’s Déjà Vu Moment, the Shifty Commish was caught on camera furtively sneaking around outside the Commission Chambers to place a stack of papers on the visitors’ table next to the printed Agendas for members of the public to pick up.

You may be wondering what was in those papers and why Michael was trying to hide the fact that he was the one placing them on the table.  Not surprisingly, this is not this individual’s first act of underhanded cloak-and-dagger manipulation under the guise of anonymity.

Michael Joseph’s duplicitous behavior started long before he campaigned for office last November.

In fact, it all began in the spring of 2018 when three seats on the dais became vacant after Mayor George Vallejo and Commissioner Marlen Martell left office and Frantz Pierre was removed from office for neglecting his duties, leaving the Commission without a quorum and unable to hold a meeting.  After much drama and confusion, Frantz Pierre was reinstated for the sole purpose of appointing a replacement commissioner so that the government could once again get back in business.

Michael Joseph, who unsuccessfully ran against Commissioner Phyllis Smith in 2015, saw his chance to finally sit on the dais and put his name into the hat to be appointed, along with several other aspiring appointees.  That’s when his despicable machinations kicked into full gear.

And it all started, of all things, with his exploiting this blogger’s friendship in a devious attempt to knock out the competition for the appointment.

With a quorum finally in place, the Commission took applications from fifteen individuals wishing to be appointed, including Michael Joseph.  The first commission seat was filled by the appointment of Fortuna Smukler on May 10, 2018.  Michael, of course, was not happy that he wasn’t chosen, and especially that he never even made the first round of selections.

On May 15, 2018, the Commission appointed then-Commissioner Beth Spiegel as Mayor, but there were still two commission seats to be filled.

Michael, along with 16 other applicants, once again put in an application for the appointment to be made at a special meeting scheduled for June 14, 2018.  This time, however, he wasn’t leaving the decision up to chance if he could help it.

About two days before the meeting, Michael Joseph called me with a “tip” that one of the other candidates, Paule Villard, had announced on Haitian radio that she was going to be appointed to fill the next vacancy on the dais.  He also claimed she invited the audience to attend the meeting to help celebrate her appointment.

While Michael admitted that he didn’t personally hear Ms. Villard’s alleged comments, a friend of his who was listening to the show called to tell him what she said.  I pressed Michael over and over, asking him to call his friend at least twice to verify exactly what he heard.  Twice Michael called me back to tell me his “friend” swore up and down that it was true.

Angered by the possibility of Sunshine Law violations, I made the huge mistake of firing off an email to the Mayor and Commission, with copies to the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, accusing Ms. Villard of having “insider knowledge that some sort of deal has been struck behind closed doors.”

Once a recording of the radio show was obtained and verified that Paule Villard did not say any of those things, I certainly had egg on my face.

I was furious at Michael for what I now know was a set up.  But I was even more angry at myself for not taking the time to contact the radio station and verifying this story before rushing to judgment.  I have since apologized to Ms. Villard for my egregious mistake, and I can only hope she will find it in her heart to forgive me.

When I called Michael the next day to let him know he caused a lot of trouble for me, he merely brushed it off as “bad information,” never even apologized, and never said another word about it.

Worse, Michael was only too happy to let my close friend Ketley Joachim (and at the time, his supporter) take the fall for his outright lie, whom many in the community believed was my source despite my repeated denial to everyone who asked me.

While Ms. Villard did not get the appointment, neither did Michael Joseph.

On the evening of June 14, 2018, then-Commissioner Tony DeFilippo picked Michael in the second and third rounds.  However, Michael never made it to the final round.

Furious at being passed over yet again for an appointment, Michael was especially incensed with Commissioner Kramer for not choosing him in any of the rounds.

The Commission finally appointed Ingrid Forbes, who wasn’t even on Michael’s radar for destruction.

Keep in mind that both Tony and Barbara supported Michael Joseph over their own colleague, Phyllis Smith, when he unsuccessfully ran against her in 2015.  While Tony did at least attempt to appoint Michael, he was only one vote and there were many qualified candidates to choose from.  Barbara however, made what Michael considered the unforgivable blunder of choosing Ingrid Forbes, the candidate she felt was best suited to temporarily fill a commission seat.

That’s when things got really ugly.

Michael turned to his go-to person, Hector Roos, to help him get even with Barbara Kramer.

Apparently, Hector was only too happy to oblige.

A month later on July 22, 2018, City Attorney Sarah Johnston was the recipient of an email from one “Ike Runner,” accusing Barbara Kramer of not maintaining residency in the city when she sold her home on October 31, 2017, and moved to another residence in Eastern Shores.  “Ike Runner” also copied a slew of residents and reporters from local media, including this blogger, apparently hoping one of them would pick up this “story” and run with it.

Here are a few excerpts of “Ike Runner’s email to City Attorney Johnston:

• “We can be certain that she did not live in the same residency [sic] we all thought she had been living at in [sic] Eastern Shores. Can we be certain that she maintained a residency in the city of North Miami Beach after October 31, 2017?”
• “The city of North Miami Beach charter and code of ordinances No. 2-32.1 reads, ‘Should any Board, Commission or Committee member move outside the City limits during the term of his appointment, he shall automatically immediately be removed from the position he holds.'”
• “As it is your duty as interim city attorney to enforce the city charter, could you ask Commissioner Kramer to demonstrate with her voter registration card, her driver’s license or a utility bill, that she still maintained a residency in the city without interruption following the October 31, 2017 sale of her only home in North Miami Beach.””
• Signed, “A concerned resident of 28 years.”

After researching this “Ike Runner,” and discovering that such a person did not exist, I felt it my civic duty to defend Barbara Kramer, who was being falsely accused of a charter violation by some anonymous internet troll for nefarious and mysterious reasons.

Of course, I hit “reply all,” and responded with:

Hey, Douchenozzle!  Barbara Kramer moved to 16498 NE 26 Avenue, #12, North Miami Beach, Florida 33160.

If you bothered to look at her Campaign Treasurer’s Report, which is posted on the city’s website, you would have known this.

Since you don’t have the cojones to use your real name or email address, it’s obvious that someone put you up to this for political purposes, and that you’re hiding behind anonymity to do so.

In my book, that makes you a COWARD!

I’d have a lot more adjectives to throw at you if this weren’t a public record.  Suffice it to say, you’re a liar and an unscrupulous SOB of the worst kind imaginable.

Next time I’ll tell you how I really feel, Schmuck!

Stephanie Kienzle  <<<<<  My real name!

Several back and forth responses ensued which are of no importance to this story, but suffice it to say, absolutely nothing came of this vicious, baseless attack against Commissioner Kramer.

I recently uncovered irrefutable proof that the real identity of “Ike Runner” is none other than Hector Roos – Michael Joseph’s campaign strategist, best friend, best man at his wedding, and godfather of his child.

Sensing an ally in Commissioner Tony DeFilippo, who was preparing to run for Mayor, Hector Roos sent Tony a draft of a proposed letter he had prepared to be signed by a person yet to be determined (possibly Tony), along with an email giving Tony talking points for the press “after this is submitted.”

Because of the sensitive and personal nature of this email attack, we will not reproduce it here.

However, suffice to say, his allegations include malicious comments, such as:

• Barbara may come back and prove her residency anyway but we are going to clear the air at least.
• Attached is a copy of the warranty deed and the email text with instructions for how to send it. This should be sent first thing in the morning for the press to have time to catch up.
• [Do you support her opponent?] I will support anyone running to unseat her. I have only seen Henry Dubé running against her.
• [What do say about the rest of the commissioners?] The rest of commissioners serving on the dais have demonstrated they have no idea what they are doing when they fired our city manager and attorney. Especially Barbara Kramer.
• [Do you have plans to run yourself? Do you have any other plans?] The only plans I have is focusing on making sure the public knows about Barbara Kramer and that we should elect someone else with a clean financial history is vital, important, essential!

When Tony refused to go along with this Machiavellian scheme against his colleague, Hector proceeded on his own with the invented pseudonym of “Ike Runner” in the hopes of derailing Commissioner Kramer’s run for re-election in November.

Unfortunately for Michael Joseph, and his surrogate Hector Roos, Barbara went on to smoke her opponent and win by a landslide.

Fortunately, despite all the political pollution in the air during this dirty city election, and despite Michael’s duplicitous actions, Tony and Barbara were able to salvage their long-standing relationship to this day.  In fact, Tony revealed to Barbara early on the true identity of “Ike Runner.”

Even though Michael finally won his first election, he has carried a grudge against Barbara for not appointing him to the commission more than a year earlier – and not a day goes by that he doesn’t let her know how he feels.

In the face of all his hostility, Barbara politely kept her cool …

Until that fateful day last May, when Michael pushed her over the edge, and she finally exploded.

WATCH!

If you think these evil stunts perpetrated by Michael/Hector are diabolical, wait until we reveal the rest of the shocking story.

Stay tuned for Devil on the Dais, Part 2.

Stephanie