Flashback to the 2011 North Miami municipal election, when Carol Keys and Jacque Despinosse were both running to challenge the incumbent Mayor Andre Pierre for his seat on the City Council.

According to a March 21, 2011 Miami Herald Article, Mayoral candidates seek sign thief, all three candidates filed police reports when “dozens” of campaign signs went missing.

No arrests were ever made.  Not surprisingly, the only “witness” who came forward was Andre Pierre’s wife, Bernadette, with claims that she saw someone steal Andre Pierre’s sign.  She, conveniently pointed a finger at North Miami resident David Levin, an outspoken critic of the Mayor, and told police she “caught” him “pulling up one of her husband’s signs and stashing it in his car.”  She also told police that when she confronted Levin about the stolen signs, he cursed at her.

Levin denied both allegations.  Police investigated and found no evidence that Levin took Pierre’s signs or that he ever had a confrontation with the Mayor’s wife.

He did not deny that he supported Carol Keys for Mayor, and admitted that he “patrols the city in the early morning hours to guarantee Keys’ signs are secure and safe.”

Levin told the Herald, “Everyone knows I’m a supporter of anyone running against Mayor Andre Pierre.  This is an attempt to bloody my nose.  I am the leading obstacle in Andre Pierre’s way because I am constantly attacking him in public.”

Anyone who knows Andre Pierre knows he’s perfectly capable of causing trouble for anyone who criticizes him, and even those who don’t.

Take Andre’s own nephew, Ricardo Brutus, for example, who was set up by his Dear Uncle to take the fall for another one of his get-rich-quick schemes.

Although Andre told investigators that he had absolutely nothing to do with the bribing of local slumlord, Shlomo Chelminsky in exchange for a Council vote on a project, he vowed to “return contributions linked to the bribery investigation and Chelminsky,” according to an April 16, 2011 NBC Miami article.

Andre’s nephew, however, was arrested and charged with unlawful compensation and other charges.

Even though there was little, if any, doubt that Andre was the “brains” behind this corruption scandal, FDLE investigators tried but couldn’t find enough evidence to charge him for the crime.  His nephew, Ricardo Brutus, was left with no choice but to plead guilty and accept a sentence of 90 days in jail and four years probation.

But, stealing campaign signs was small potatoes for the politician who was first elected in May of 2009, and who two years later became the subject matter of a September 1, 2011 Miami New Times article, Indict North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre.

Then-Miami Times reporter Tim Elfrink, who is now the Washington Post Deputy Editor for political investigations, wrote:

The first warning sign was his handling of Biscayne Landing, a 193-acre former Superfund site near NE 151st Street and Biscayne Boulevard that is now home to a hulking 397-unit apartment complex. In April 2010, he backed a plan to let a company with no visible cash develop an indoor ski park there.

Why support such an idiotic idea? Well, the firm’s president was Marc Douthit, Pierre’s former law partner; and its vice president, Willis Howard, was his campaign manager. Pierre has denied any influence over the deal. “I didn’t make any calls. I didn’t lobby anyone,” he told the Herald. “Nothing here is questionable.”

A later New Times article published on May 15, 2012, a year after Andre was re-elected, listed “a few of the scandals to hit North Miami City Hall” during his second and final term, many of which we covered extensively in VotersOpinion.

According to the New Times article, Pierre has:

• • Used taxpayer money to order 43 fake police badges for use by his three-person staff.
  • Called a City Councilman’s daughter a prostitute.
  • Driven a $100,000 Porsche on loan from a donor without declaring it as a gift.
  • Stiffed the city on $29,000 of field rental fees from 78 games of soccer.
  • Presented a seminar on preventing home foreclosure while his own home was in foreclosure.
  • Had taxpayers foot the bill for secret cameras to be installed in his office.
  • Helped his former business partners work on a bid to build a giant indoor ski slope.

While no one believed that Andre Pierre personally stole his opponents’ campaign signs during the 2011 election, there was no doubt that in any anyone’s mind that he had others to do his dirty work.

Of course, stealing signs was mere child’s play in light of what happened next.

On March 29, 2011, CBS Miami reported that one of Carol Keys’ large signs was literally destroyed when someone cut two large circles right in the center of it, and she “decided to take matters into her own hands.”

She told the news station, “They destroyed 17 of my large billboards throughout the city and the ones they did not destroy was because they could not get to them.  A couple of them were behind a fence and one was under a camera.”

The article stated, “But instead of replacing her signs, Keys posted a sign over her vandalized sign that read, ‘Do you want the criminals who did this running North Miami?’”

Apparently, North Miami voters said, “Yes.”

Out of the 5,843 ballots cast for Mayor, Andre Pierre squeaked out a win with 51.69% of the votes, while Carol Keys received 43.66%.  Jacques Despinosse came in a distant third with 4.66% of the total votes.

Unfortunately, Andre Pierre’s reign of terror set the tone for years of ongoing corruption in a City plagued with scandals such as the arrest of his successor, a psycho serial cyber-stalking cop, the shooting of an unarmed black man, the framing of a Police Commander by a corrupt assistant chief, fraudulent budgets, fraudulent bids, a Mayor who’s a sexual predator, just to name a few.

At this point, the City of North Miami is literally beyond redemption.

You may be wondering why we are bringing up all this ancient history.

After all, Andre Pierre has been out of office nearly a decade, and he hasn’t run for any other office since then.

That may be so, but Andre Pierre is still very much the consummate political player.

Not only is he still operating behind the scenes in North Miami, but Andre is also pulling the strings of the four Criminal Commissioners on the dais in North Miami Beach.

And he’s doing it with the collaboration of his former campaign manager/accomplice, Willis Howard, who was a North Miami Beach Registered Lobbyist in 2019, and who is not coincidentally, also Paule Villard’s current taxpayer-funded campaign manager under the guise of City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey’s $14,000/month “Consultant.”

Andre got his foot in the door in North Miami Beach on July 9, 2020 by registering as a lobbyist for Pro Transportation, Inc. [sic], d/b/a ProKel Mobility, in its bid to operate the City’s trolley system.  He already had the three reliable votes of Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and Paule Villard, and he somehow convinced Commissioner Fortuna Smukler to go along for the ride.  Fortuna eventually regretted her bad decision once she realized she had been snookered, but by then it was too late to do anything about it.

On October 28, 2020 Andre co-hosted a fundraiser with North Miami Councilman Alix Desulme and shady North Miami political operative Lesly Prudent for McKenzie Fleurimond in his bid for re-election.

As a result, McKenzie raised $7,745.00 mostly from “acquaintances” of Andre, all of which he deposited into his campaign account on October 29, 2020 as documented on his G7 Campaign Treasurer’s Report.

By now, McKenzie was now firmly ensconced in Andre Pierre’s pocket, as were Michael and Paule.  He also had no problem buying the then-future Puppet Commissioner Daniela Jean, whose campaign manager was none other than Willis Howard, with a $500.00 contribution to her run-off campaign on November 12, 2020 as documented on her 20-R01 Treasurer Report Summary.

Boy, did she come cheap.

As an aside, Andre is also the driving force behind Paule Villard’s re-election campaign, where she has already violated a multitude of election laws and municipal ordinances, which we’ll tell you about in another blog.

Meanwhile, once Andre Pierre was able to pull the strings of four Criminal Commissioners, he proceeded to take complete ownership of North Miami Beach.

The latest red flag was raised at the March 24, 2022 Commission Meeting, when McKenzie moved to table Item 10.1, for “Resolution No. R2022-44 NMB Place Site Plan Approval, described as a “Site Plan application to redevelop the property located 1959-1999 NE 164th Street to construct a 1,219,643 gross square foot mixed-use development consisting of two (2) twenty-eight-story towers with a total height of 314’-0”, with a combine total of 700 dwelling units, 11,540 square feet of retail, 6,810 square feet of office space, and 957 parking spaces with four (4) non-use variance requests.”

According to the Minutes of the Meeting, it was to be “deferred to the April 19th, 2022 Commission Meeting,” at which time, according to those Minutes of the Meeting, Michael Joseph made a motion, which McKenzie seconded, to defer the item once again.

Purely by coincidence we’re sure, on May 9, 2022 Andre Pierre became the Registered Lobbyist for — drum roll, please — “The Development of NMB Place, 1959-1999 NE 164th Street.”

It was placed on the Agenda for the May 17, 2022 Commission Meeting, but that meeting was canceled due to a lack of quorum.  It was, however, brought back at the June 21, 2022 Commission Meeting, where it finally passed according to the Meeting Minutes.

Despite the fact that Mitch Edelstein had been working as the Registered Lobbyist on behalf of the developer, Scott Greenwald, since June 24, 2021, McKenzie Fleurimond made sure the project was delayed long enough for Andre Pierre to step in — and on Mitch’s toes — to squeeze the developer for a hefty lobbyist fee for doing absolutely nothing!

In fact, we’re told that McKenzie threatened the developer that he wouldn’t vote to approve the Site Plan, which had been in the works for nearly two years, unless he hired Andre as his lobbyist because — in McKenzie’s own words — “no Haitian was involved in the project.”

Scott Greenwald should have reported this extortion scheme to the State Attorney’s Office, but because he didn’t want to risk losing his investment he agreed to McKenzie’s demands.

Unfortunately, with a four-criminal vote on the dais, he believed he had no choice but to cave.

Even more unfortunately, the word is also out that anyone who wants to do business in North Miami Beach has to hire Andre as their lobbyist.

Now that Andre Pierre is running North Miami Beach, strong armed robbery is a completely acceptable way to do business in your City.

The real question is, “Do you want the criminals who did this running North Miami Beach?”

If not, you can vote it out!

On November 8, 2022, please cast your vote for Jay Chernoff, Phyllis Smith, and Fortuna Smukler!

Please vote responsibly!

Stephanie