Regardless of the ridiculous narrative being pushed by three North Miami Beach Commissioners about why they aren’t attending meetings, the truth is they are holding an entire city hostage because they’re butt hurt that they don’t have a majority vote anymore.

As usual, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and Daniela Jean are playing the race card.  They want you to believe that their former colleague, Paule Villard, lost her election because she’s black.

Or Haitian.

Or something.

The truth is that, as we’ve proven time and time and time again, Paule Villard was voted out of office because she was the most corrupt, most obnoxious, most arrogant, and most ignorant elected official ever to sit on the dais at North Miami Beach City Hall.

She was an absolute embarrassment and she needed to be ousted.

Thankfully, the newly elected Commissioners, Fortuna Smukler, Phyllis Smith, and Jay Chernoff, were sworn in on December 1, 2022.  They were ready, willing, and able to do the people’s business at their first Commission Meeting on December 20, 2022.

But the remaining three Criminal Commissioners, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and Daniela Jean, were determined to do everything in their power to overturn the results of the election.

And they are counting on their corrupt City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot to make that happen.

As history proves, they have every reason to believe that Hans will “fix” everything.

After all, for the past nearly two years, their taxpayer-funded personal “attorney” has worked against the residents of North Miami Beach by conspiring with, and outright covering up for, the unethical and illegal behavior committed by Michael, McKenzie, Daniela, and especially, the ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard.

Here are just a few examples.

On Election Day, November 3, 2020, Paule Villard committed outright election fraud.  A North Miami Beach resident went to vote at her precinct in person at the Marjorie & William McDonald Center, which is located at 17051 NE 19 Avenue, North Miami Beach, Florida 33162.  She saw Paule and walked up to her to ask her a question about Code Enforcement.

Before the voter could even speak, Paule led her inside the precinct, stood with her while she received her ballot, and then led her to a voting booth to vote.  She then took the ballot and filled in three bubbles on the witness/victim’s ballot, presumably for Paule’s three co-conspirators, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and Daniela Jean, who were all running for office that year.  After illegally filling in the voter’s ballot for those three races, Paule waited until the voter finished voting, then waited until the ballot was inserted into the tabulation machine.  Once her “task” was completed, Paule walked out of the precinct and never looked back.

The voter was understandably upset and contacted me through a third party.  With the voter’s permission and willingness to testify as a witness, this blogger filed a complaint with the Public Corruption Unit of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which was investigated and presented to the Miami State Attorney’s Office.

We eventually received a copy of the FDLE Investigative Report, which has been redacted to protect the identity of the victim/witness, who is in fear of retaliation and potential physical harm, or worse, by Paule Villard and/or her surrogates.

Not surprisingly, North Miami Beach City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot ran interference, claiming to be Paule Villard’s personal “attorney,” and stating that his client “declined to be interviewed.”

Also not surprisingly, Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle refused to prosecute election fraud once again.

You will recall that during the 2011 municipal election, Rundle gave then-Commissioner/now-Convicted Felon Frantz Pierre a pass when a sting operation caught him dead to rights — ON VIDEO — in possession of five illicit absentee ballots.  Law enforcement officers were at the scene, ready to make an arrest, when Katherine Fernandez Rundle ordered them to stand down and declared that she was not going to prosecute for absentee ballots “under double digits.”

Nine years later, Rundle was handed absolute proof of election fraud on a silver platter, with a victim willing to testify in a court of law,

Also not surprisingly, within twenty-four hours of receiving the FDLE Investigative Report of Paule Villard’s committing election fraud, Rundle instructed her Assistant State Attorney Johnette Louis Hardiman to decline to prosecute.

Regardless of Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s refusal to do her job, the bigger issue was Hans Ottinot’s jumping in to protect and cover up for Paule Villard in a criminal matter instead of doing his job as City “Attorney” by protecting the integrity of an election on behalf of North Miami Beach residents.

Seven months after her criminal act, in June of 2021, Paule asked City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey to spend an unbudgeted $100,000 from the General Fund to buy Publix gift cards to give away in a self-promotional vanity project.  Despite the fact that this was an illegal expenditure, as usual her three co-conspirators voted for it.

Although the municipal attorneys we consulted were shocked that North Miami Beach City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot allowed Paule to pursue this illegal gift card scheme, we weren’t surprised in the least.  When the Mayor directed him — twice — to obtain an opinion from the Florida Attorney General, he refused.

In order to secure votes for the upcoming November 2022 election, Paule held another Publix gift card giveaway in December of 2021 and again in October 2022, less than a month before the election on the very same day the absentee ballots were hitting voters’ mailboxes.

Once again, instead of protecting the integrity of an election on behalf of North Miami Beach residents, as well as safeguarding their tax dollars, Hans enabled Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard to violate Florida law so she could use public resources to buy votes.

During the campaign for the November 3, 2020 municipal election, then-candidate Michael Joseph was consistently late in filing his Campaign Treasurer’s Reports.  Page 6 of the 2020 Candidate Handbook lists the due dates for each of the Reports, as well as the penalties for filing them late, which are mandated by Florida election laws.  The law also states that these fines “must be paid from the candidate’s personal funds – not campaign funds.”

On May 7, 2021, the City Clerk finally sent letters to Michael assessing fines for the late filing of Campaign Treasurer’s Reports G1, G2, G3, M2, M3, M5, and M6.  Three weeks later, on May 28, 2023 she sent him a letter RESCINDING ALL LETTERS IMPOSING FINES!

Not a single one of those Reports were filed “timely,” yet the City Clerk allowed herself to be bullied by Hans Ottinot into lying and rescinding the fine letters that she would never have sent in the first place if Michael’s Reports had been filed on time.

And once again, instead of protecting the integrity of an election on behalf of the residents of North Miami Beach, he’s protecting Michael Joseph from the consequences of his own wrongdoing.

If you’re sensing a pattern here, then you are absolutely correct.

Hans Ottinot has now taken his inherent corruption to a whole new level.

Instead of protecting the integrity of an election, Hans is now thwarting democracy by trying to overturn the results of the 2020 municipal election by attempting to unseat a Mayor duly elected by the voters of North Miami Beach.

To be continued …

Stephanie