Just when you thought North Miami Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Joseph couldn’t plunge the depths of depravity any lower, he outdoes his own diabolical self.

He was incensed when Antonio Ortega filed in January to run against him, and he’s only gotten more desperate since then.

So desperate, in fact, that he illegally nailed his campaign sign right on top of Mr. Ortega’s on the side of the road right on Biscayne Boulevard.

There literally are no words fit to print here to describe how despicable that was.

Needless to say, Mr. Ortega had Michael’s illegal sign detached from his and removed.

But wait, THERE’S MORE!

Antonio Ortega presently works for Jacobs Engineering Group, the company that has been running the city’s water utility for three years until recently. Prior to that, Mr. Ortega was a City of North Miami Beach employee. Another Jacobs employee, Liliya Spektor, has decided to run against Michael’s close friend, Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond.

In a recent Miami Herald article, Michael Joseph had the audacity to accuse Jacobs of “pulling the strings for Ortega’s and Spektor’s campaigns.”

“Voters should be upset that the water contractor appears to be running their employees against commissioners who sided with residents and voted to terminate their management agreement,” he told the Herald.

Except, as usual, Michael Joseph is lying through his teeth.

Mr. Ortega filed to run on January 10, 2020, a full eight months before Michael convinced four of his colleagues to terminate the contract with Jacobs on August 4, 2020.

Ms. Spektor filed to run on August 11, 2020, one week after the deal was already done.

Jacobs had absolutely nothing to do with its employees’ decision to run for office. Furthermore, as the Herald reported, “Jacobs has made it clear that they won’t be allowed to continue working for the company if they’re elected.”

But that fact didn’t deter Michael Joseph from committing slander against the city’s former vendor. Hopefully, Jacobs has already instructed its attorneys to seek legal remedy.

It’s not as if the company doesn’t already have enough ammunition to go after Michael.

Sources have told us that within days after Antonio Ortega ran for office, Michael threatened the principles of Jacobs with termination of the city’s contract if they didn’t pressure its employee to drop out of the race. Jacobs refused to be blackmailed and Antonio Ortega continued his campaign.

Eight months later, Michael followed through on his threat.

Extortion is just another one of Michael’s dirty campaign tricks.

But, wait. THERE’S MORE!

If that isn’t heinous enough, Michael is now inciting a race war in North Miami Beach.

In the first instance, he placed his campaign sign on the property of a local business without asking permission from the owner. When the owner of the business saw the sign, he removed it. This business usually does not allow campaign signs on his property. He did, however, make an exception for Mayor Tony DeFillipo because they are close friends and because the Mayor was instrumental in bringing this business to North Miami Beach.

Instead of acting like a grown man and contacting the owner to ask about his removed sign, once again Michael Joseph used a surrogate to do his dirty work.

Michael had his good friend and personal lawyer, Stephen Hunter Johnson from the firm Lydecker | Diaz, trick Commissioner Fortuna Smukler into telling the business owner that “people are saying they’re racist.”

Yes, you read that correctly.

Needless to say, this ruse didn’t turn out well.

Obviously, Michael invented all the imaginary “people” making imaginary statements.

The owner is fuming over false accusations of racism.

Fortuna is understandably upset at being duped by Michael’s trickery.

We totally get it. Michael did the exact same thing to me two years ago.

One day he called me with a “tip” that then-Commission candidate Paule Villard said something unethical on Haitian radio. As we reported in Devil on the Dais! The Twisted Duplicity of Michael Joseph, Part 1:

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.

Of course, I was furious at Michael for what I now know was a set up.

And now he’s done the same thing to Fortuna Smukler.

Michael Joseph turned a simple misunderstanding over a freaking campaign sign into a war between the City of North Miami Beach and an established business.

THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH IS THAT RACE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!

The owner also refused to allow Michael’s opponent to put his campaign sign on her property, but once again, Michael pretended to be a victim because he happens to be black.

But, wait. THERE’S MORE!

As further proof that Michael is instigating a race war in North Miami Beach, check out this text message that NMB voters received just this evening:

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!

Once again, Michael Joseph has invented imaginary “voters” making imaginary claims.

Despite Michael’s wild imagination, North Miami Beach has never been a city divided by race.

As an aside, Michael has once again violated Florida Statute 106.143(3), which states, “A candidate for nonpartisan office is prohibited from campaigning based on party affiliation.”

The last time a North Miami Beach city official played the fake race card was Frantz Pierre. And he’s currently defending himself on criminal charges for eleven felonies.

In 2010, former City Manager Kelvin Baker heard rumblings that he was about to be fired. So he invited the NAACP to a budget hearing, and sent messages to the black residents of NMB that if he was terminated it was because of “racism.” Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have forgotten that he was hired and then fired by the exact same elected officials, three of whom were black. Oops!

Despite the obnoxious race-baiting by those two long-forgotten public officials, the residents of North Miami Beach have always stood united, as one community, and worked together for the greater good.

Mayor Tony DeFillipo told VotersOpinion, “Instead of being a leader that unites our community, Michael Joseph is a destructive individual who has done nothing but divide not only our residents, but also my colleagues on the dais. His lies, deception, and unethical actions in the past, and even today with this despicable text message, show that he’s childish and unfit for public office. Michael Joseph should not be representing the City of North Miami Beach.”

Don’t let Michael Joseph’s obnoxious race-baiting destroy the goodwill and unity that North Miami Beach residents have enjoyed for as long as anyone can remember.

Fortunately, NMB voters have a choice.

ON NOVEMBER 3, 2020, FIRE MICHAEL JOSEPH!