It’s common knowledge that North Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Joseph is a lying, scheming, conniving piece of work.

But we had no idea he was also an award-winning actor, too!

From the moment this smarmy politician filed to run for office on April 13, 2018, and literally betrayed every single person who befriended and supported him, it became apparent that this man would do anything to get elected.

And he’s only gotten worse since he got into office.

We’ve documented some of his sleazier antics so far, including:

• Michael gave a fake tip to this blogger about then-candidate Paule Villard in order to knock her out of the competition as an appointee to fill a vacated commission seat.
• During the 2018 election, Michael conspired with his best friend, Hector Roos, to anonymously besmirch Commissioner Barbara Kramer in an email to City Attorney Sarah Johnston – copying dozens of city employees, NMB residents, and the media! – using the fake identity “Ike Runner.”
• Michael and Hector also created a fake mailer, fraudulently using AFSCME’s logo, to slander then-Commissioner Anthony DeFillipo, who was running for Mayor.
• Michael filed an “anonymous” complaint against City Attorney Sarah Johnston in an attempt to have her fired and replaced with his own candidate.
• He was then caught on camera furtively distributing to the public his manufactured evidence backing up the false allegations he made in the complaint against Ms. Johnston.

We’re happy to report that, despite all of Michael’s despicable machinations, City Attorney Sarah Johnston was categorically cleared of all wrongdoing by the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

No surprise there!

While the fabricated cloud of suspicion is no longer hanging over Ms. Johnston’s head, Michael Joseph’s problems have only just begun.

Michael’s latest troubles began last spring during a May 22, 2019 Strategic Planning Session when he had a very public, very histrionic, meltdown over a controversial, and now long-forgotten Facebook post.

POP SOME CORN AND WATCH!

The best part (and by best, we mean most hilarious) begins at minute 1:16 of the video, when he bursts into a fit of rage, while ranting:

I got calls dragging my family … MY FAMILY! … because of certain comments.  VOICEMAILS!  That I’m sure people who don’t look like me didn’t get calls about.  So, we have a lot of power.  And I hold a lot of things in because I want to have what we [intelligible].  I didn’t go to the cops like I should … like I could have.  LIKE I SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE I SHOULD HAVE!  [Pounds fist on table for effect.]  LIKE I SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE I SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE I SHOULD HAVE!

BRAVO!

Michael Joseph may have trouble keeping track of his own lies, but the internet is forever!

Especially public government meetings that are recorded and posted on a public government website for posterity.

At the meeting, Michael claimed that he and his family received death threats, and that the alleged perpetrator left a voice message of this threat on his phone.

Beginning at hour 2:40:03 of the full meeting video, Michael stated that Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond heard this voicemail threat.  McKenzie did not deny hearing this message.

In fact, he even acknowledged it by saying “right” to Michael’s comment that the message was about about “hanging and everything else.”

When Commissioner Phyllis Smith asked if he saved this message, Michael replied, “Oh, I have them.”

You can read the entire exchange, which we transcribed verbatim, by clicking here:  Strategic Planning Meeting Transcript re Voicemail

On September 9, 2019, we made a public records request for a copy of the voicemail message.

After several emails to City Clerk Andrise Bernard requesting a status update on our request, we finally received a response seven weeks later on October 28, 2019, advising us that she “was informed by Commissioner Michael Joseph, that there are no records responsive to this request.”

After Michael Joseph publicly stated that this voicemail message exists, after he publicly acknowledged that McKenzie Fleurimond heard this message, and he publicly admitted to Phyllis Smith that he saved this message …

… We are now advised that “THERE ARE NO RECORDS RESPONSIVE TO THIS REQUEST?”

A second review of our public records request revealed that we made a typographical error.

So on December 3, 2019, we sent an email to the clerk explaining our mistake and revising our public records request.

Imagine our surprise once again on December 5, 2019 when we received an email from the City Clerk dated on December 5, 2019 stating, “In response to your Public Records Request, I attempted to retrieve the voicemail message but it is no longer available.“

We have since written back to the Clerk asking if Michael erased the alleged “life threatening” voicemail message, but we have not yet received a response.

Here’s the thing.

According to the Miami-Dade County Citizens’ Bill of Rights, paragraph (A)2. Truth in Government., “No County or municipal official or employee shall knowingly furnish false information on any public matter, nor knowingly omit significant facts when giving requested information to members of the public.”

According to Florida Statute 119.01, “It is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person.  Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency.”  Furthermore, Florida Statute 119.07(1)(a), which states, “Every person who has custody of a public record shall permit the record to be inspected and copied by any person desiring to do so, at any reasonable time, under reasonable conditions, and under supervision by the custodian of the public records.”

If Michael Joseph was an honest and ethical public official, he’d admit to doing one of two things:

• That he flat out lied about receiving death threats, in which case he is knowingly in violation of the Citizens’ Bill of Rights, and will be subject to penalties that may be imposed by the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Pubic Trust; or
• That he has destroyed a public record he already publicly admitted he had in his possession.

But, as we’ve already seen, he’s nothing but a con artist and a liar.

Michael Joseph might be one of the sleaziest politicians we’ve ever known, but unlike quite a few elected officials in South Florida (especially in North Miami), he’s certainly is no dummy.

No doubt he’s fully aware that the destruction of public records is a violation of Florida Statute 119.7(1)(i), which states, “The absence of a civil action instituted for the purpose stated in paragraph (g) does not relieve the custodian of public records of the duty to maintain the record as a public record if the record is in fact a public record subject to public inspection and copying under this subsection and does not otherwise excuse or exonerate the custodian of public records from any unauthorized or unlawful disposition of such record.”

However, Florida Statute 119.7(1)(h) states, “Even if an assertion is made by the custodian of public records that a requested record is not a public record subject to public inspection or copying under this subsection, the requested record shall, nevertheless, not be disposed of for a period of 30 days after the date on which a written request to inspect or copy the record was served on or otherwise made to the custodian of public records by the person seeking access to the record.”

Unfortunately, our original public records request containing the “Elizabeth Joseph“ typographical error was made on September 9, 2019.  By the time we realized our mistake and corrected our request to read “Elizabeth Judd,” Michael Joseph had apparently seized on that 30-day window of opportunity to legally destroy the public record we requested.

Yeah, Michael Joseph really is a lying, scheming, conniving piece of work alright!

But, we can’t help but wonder …

If this alleged voicemail message was so threatening to the lives of Michael and his family, why didn’t he call the police …

“LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE!  LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE!”

If that were the case, Michael Joseph could have filed a police report, if not immediately, surely within days or even weeks of his receiving the alleged threatening voicemail message.

Instead, as soon as we made our public records request for this alleged threatening voicemail message, he chose to destroy it.

It’s almost as if he knew he was about to be caught in a bold-faced lie.

Yet again.

In any event, as we’ve done with so many crooked politicians in South Florida for nearly a decade, we fully intend to keep a close eye on Michael Joseph and his shady ways for as long as he remains in office.

Which, hopefully, will only be until next November.

Just saying.

Stephanie