Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that the North Miami Beach Mayor and Commissioners know how to count to 120.
Except for Daniela Jean and her new BFF, Lesley “The Loon” Kaplan, who apparently believe that counting is racist.
Miami Herald reporter Raisa Habersham (or at least, her editor) seems to be able to count to 120.
Michael Joseph’s lawyer, Max Eichenblatt, not so much.
He began his presentation by saying:
The language of the Charter states, “If any Commissioner fails to attend a meeting of the City Commission for a period of a hundred and twenty days, the seat of such Commissioner shall automatically become vacant.” The key language in this phrase is “fails to attend.” It does not say, “If any Commissioner does not attend a meeting of the City Commission for a hundred and twenty days.” Which tells us all we need to know about how to properly interpret it.
Lawyer Eichenblatt then pulled out his handy-dandy poster board in a lame attempt to explain that Michael Joseph’s 120-day MIA clock started on December 20, 2022, the date of his first missed meeting, as opposed to October 18, 2022, the date he actually last attended a meeting before he was forced to show up on March 21, 2023 under Court Order.
Any normal person with the capacity to think can clearly understand that the time span between October 18, 2022 until March 21, 2023 is at least 120 days.
In fact, it’s actually 154 days, in case anyone’s interested.
But, counting is apparently above Lawyer Ken Doll’s pay grade.
Lawyer Ken …, er, we mean, Max Eichenblatt closed by admonishing the Mayor and Commission that the City Charter did not grant them the authority to remove a sitting Commissioner. He further chastised them that the decision should be made by the Judge presiding over the case.
City Attorney John Herin responded to Eichenblatt’s “inference that if it’s not stated in the Charter then you don’t have the authority to do something, otherwise there would be, the suggestion is that there would be chaos. I’m here to tell you that that’s not the case.”
Mr. Herin continued, “Your Charter very specifically states what powers you have, and what are the limits of that power, and it’s found in Section 1.4 of your Charter, and it states, ‘The City of North Miami Beach shall have all available governmental, corporate and proprietary powers and may exercise them except when prohibited by law.'”
The City Attorney further explained that this language is almost a direct quotation from “the Florida Constitution and the corresponding language in Chapter 166 of the Florida Statutes, which is the Home Rule Power Act.”
In other words, the Mayor and Commission have the authority to remove one of their own members.
Attorney Michael Pizzi, who represents Commissioner Jay Chernoff in his lawsuit to remove Michael Joseph from the Commission, came up to speak. He first referenced Lawyer Ken Doll’s insistence that the Mayor and Commission should not have this public hearing, but leave the decision to the Courts.
“So, I want to read to you what Max Eichenblatt said to the Court,” Mr. Pizzi began reading. “This should not be in Court yet because the City failed to satisfy all conditions precedent. In light of the City’s ‘Pierre Precedent,’ the Plaintiff was obligated to at least attempt to schedule a Special Commission Meeting and provide for an opportunity for the allegedly offending elected official to speak and present rebuttal at that meeting before seeking relief with the Court.”
Check …
… Mate.
The Mayor and Commission finally had their chance to verify that, much to the chagrin of Lawyer Ken Doll, math is not hard for them.
Other than Daniela “La Princesa” Jean, of course, who said that math is racist.
Okay, just kidding.
She didn’t say that.
But, math is probably the only thing she doesn’t think is racist.
She did, however, ramble on about “fairness and democracy are values,” “significant turmoil,” “leaders are elected to serve and uphold principles of justice and equality.”
Never mind that she contributed to the significant turmoil by boycotting meetings and refusing to uphold any principles whatsoever.
Without any hint of irony, Daniela had the audacity to say that “the removal of a leader should not be based on personal vendettas or political vendettas, but rather on a clear and objective assessment of their performance and conduct.”
She seemed to have forgotten her participation in the attempted coup of the City Commission by trying to oust the Mayor because of a political vendetta.
And finally, Daniela wants you to know that “in addition, the process of removal should be transparent and accountable” and that “the decision to remove a leader is grounded in the interest of the broader society, rather than the interests of a particular group or a faction.”
Once again, Daniela seems to have forgotten how she and her co-conspirators, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and Paule Villard, were a faction for the last two years as they effectively silenced not only Mayor DeFillipo, Commissioner Fortuna Smukler, and former Commissioner Barbara Kramer, but every single resident who spoke out against their wasteful spending, self-promoting vanity parties, and especially, Paule Villard’s taxpayer-funded campaign events.
So, no, Daniela doesn’t get to lecture anyone on “fairness and democracy.”
Or “moving forward,” especially when she and her cohorts held the City back for the last five months because they didn’t like the results of the November 2022 election.
But, enough about La Princesa.
The important thing is that the City Commission voted to approve that 120 days is equal to 120 days and that Michael Joseph did not show his face at a meeting of the City Commission for at least as long as that.
They also voted to hold a special election to fill the vacant seat on the Commission.
In full disclosure we must state that despite the catchy title of this blog, we have no idea if Michael actually cried at the news that he was fired from the job he refused to do anyway.
We do know, however, that Michael is not normal, so it’s anyone’s guess how he reacted.
We’d like to say this is the end of the story, but as expected, this morning Michael Joseph had his lawyer, Benjamin H. Brodsky of Brodsky Fotiu-Wojtowicz, file his Renewed Verified Motion for Temporary Injunctive Relief, which incorporated the same fuzzy math his firm’s junior associate, Lawyer Ken Doll, a/k/a Max Eichenblatt, unsuccessfully utilized at the Commission meeting.
We have absolutely no idea if this flawed logic will work on the Judge, so his final decision remains to be seen.
Let’s just say, we personally wouldn’t be rushing out to open a campaign account just yet.
What does not remain to be seen, unfortunately, was the inevitable jabbering by Motor Mouth McKenzie Fleurimond, who just had to make one of his infamous “points of personal privilege” at hour 4:28:24 of the meeting video.
He babbled on about how he wanted to move the City forward, that the ex-City Manager and ex-City “Attorney” were “ready to move on,” but “their tenure here extended well beyond probably even their own intentions.”
McKenzie then claimed that he didn’t come to meetings because “I felt that it was necessary to exercise my right to protest.”
Never mind that his “right to protest” apparently trumped the residents’ right to have a functioning government.
And never mind that McKenzie’s “right to protest” still included receiving a taxpayer-funded paycheck from October 18, 2023 through March 21, 2023 without having to earn it.
Must be nice.
McKenzie then flat out lied by stating, on the record, “My attorney did not tell me not to come to meetings, my City Manager did not tell me not to come to meetings. In fact, it was just based on opinions that we received that I made my decision not to show up, and make my decision not to participate.”
Oh, really?
That’s not what he told Channel 10’s Glenna Milberg when she finally nailed him down for an interview last February.
“I did not attend at the advice of my city attorney. I do plan on continuing to follow the advice of my city attorney.”
WATCH!
@momster1957McKenzie Fleurimond is a Liar♬ original sound Stephanie K
It’s almost as if McKenzie doesn’t realize that the internet is forever.
Another completely clueless wonder is Loony Lesley Smiler Kaplan, who is insanely obsessed with “The Blogger,” and who never misses the opportunity to make a fool of herself.
You will remember that Krazy Kaplan’s years-long one-way feud with the City of North Miami Beach about her imaginary roof problem opened the door for ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard to be able to take advantage of Lesley’s vulnerability and tenuous grip on reality.
Because Lesley has no real friends in her pathetic personal life, she has latched on to the only people in North Miami Beach who view her as their useful idiot — the same corrupt elected officials who have spent the last two years ransacking and pillaging the City coffers for their own personal benefit.
As a result of her complete inability to think for herself, Lesley Kaplan clings to the mistaken belief that Paule, Michael, McKenzie, and Daniela consider her a friend, instead of the fawning lapdog they can count on to defend their corruption.
Normally we don’t include civilians in our commentary about public corruption but despite our warnings, Lesley has publicly and continuously defamed “The Blogger,” so we consider her fair game.
At the Tuesday night meeting, Lesley the Loon was particularly unhinged as she attacked “The Blogger” for calling the criminals criminal, and for causing all the problems in the City.
Even after the Mayor told her to cut it out, she became even more enraged and attacked his colleagues for being friends with “The Blogger” and allowing her to, well, blog.
When the Mayor asked a police officer to escort her out, the City Attorney attempted speak, and she cut him off, too.
Yeah, she’s that nuts.
Lesley’s performance at hour 4:32:47 of the meeting video was as hilarious as it was pathetic.
WATCH!
Also, as expected, outsiders from North Miami and beyond showed up at the meeting to warn the Mayor and Commission that they can’t unseat Michael Joseph because it’s Haitian Heritage Month and it would be racist.
That’s all we have to say about those interlopers because we refuse to give them anymore ink than they deserve.
In conclusion, Michael Joseph may or may not have cried, McKenzie Fleurimond most definitely lied, and Lesley Kaplan is still as bat sh*t crazy as ever.
Hopefully, sooner or later North Miami Beach will get back to normal.
But, for now, keep the corn popping.
Stephanie
My jaw hit the floor when McKenzie said his absence was a personal decision. Didn’t Ottinot initially deny telling the 3 stooges not to show up at meetings and then admit it during his deposition? McKenzie and Joseph freely used that as an excuse for not showing up.
I think McKenzie’s size 60 Sansabelt slacks are suffering a 3-alarm fire.
OMG! Is Sansabelt still a thing?
Good riddance. Let’s hope the judge agrees.
Now, whose next? Weren’t there others who were not there for 120 days?
McKenzie and Daniela showed up at the December 20, 2022 meeting, but they didn’t stay long. Daniela pretended to be ill and left early because meetings are hard “for the only black woman on the dais.” (Her words, not mine.) She did not attend another meeting until May 16, 2023. The Clerk said that Daniela had an “excused absence” on March 21, 2023 even though she was Court Ordered to attend. She also had “excused absences” and did not attend the April 18th or 27th meetings. At the Pre-budget Workshop held on May 10th, she said she had been on medical leave for “four weeks,” yet the three meetings in a row that she missed covered a span of 5-1/2 weeks. We also know that even though her March 21st absence was allegedly “excused,” she attended two events at FIU on March 29th and 30th. Yet she’s been collecting a paycheck since the last full meeting she actually attended on October 18, 2022. Residents should demand answers.
As for McKenzie, he showed up at the December 20, 2022 meeting but deliberately broke quorum when a motion to fire Hans Ottinot was made. He then publicly told several reporters that Hans “advised” him not to go to meetings, and yet on Tuesday night he brazenly claimed that Hans never told him to do so. It’s shocking that McKenzie (and Paule and Duke, for that matter) can lie so easily and with such conviction, as if no one will ever notice. What kind of people are capable of doing that? Apparently ones with twisted, evil, corrupt minds. You cannot believe a word that comes out of McKenzie’s mouth.
But I digress.
Technically, McKenzie did miss 120 days if you don’t count his brief appearance at the December 20th meeting before he broke quorum and no legislation could be voted on. Opinions differ on whether or not that meeting should count, but the final decision rests in the Judge’s hands.
I question the need for a special election. Many times in the past vacant seats have been filled by appointment.
I thought an appointment would be warranted, as well, but the Charter is specific in that if a regular election is more than a year away when a vacancy occurs, it must go to a special election. It’s a waste of money, for sure. But there’s nothing that can be done about it if Michael needs to be replaced.
It’s amazing to me that the two remaining corrupt commissioners both want to “Move Forward” and forget about all the crap they did to shut down our city. Fake illnesses and lies about who told them not to attend meetings are all a part of their nefarious character. The thought of Moving Forward never crossed their mind before their losing election changed their world forever. It was funny watching the video of Jean telling the manager she needed her own aide (during a budget session) to answer her 100 messages and to book her travel arrangements. The manager took care of that request by cutting out her travel, all of it unnecessary and of no benefit to anyone but her. Commission Bloviator Fleurimond just can’t contain himself. Always wanting a point of privilege so he can double-talk his way out of what he is on record as saying. Like “My city attorney told me to not attend the meeting” and then claiming he never said it, What a sack of lying crap. Our residents deserve better,
You just nailed it all in one paragraph.
The voters of NMB must make sure neither of these two frauds get re-elected and send a message that public corruption is not welcome in North Miami Beach.
These meetings beat anything on television these days especially when all I have is basic cable.
I cannot believe some speakers had the nerve to basically call out racism and reach for the stars when commenting that the hearing was an assault on a black commissioner. I suspect some of these instigators were paid to be there or planted to raise that type of nonsense. I also could see who were actual residents and those that weren’t including speakers from other places. If the commissioner and the other commissioners that missed so many meetings were another race, I wonder what excuses would be used to defend them. I too, like many people speaking, see this fiasco being used to create division rather than it only being about NMB residents sick and tired of missed meetings, sore losers and juvenile behavior from these crooked politicians.
Judge: I sentence you to 20 years in prison for shooting the ice cream man.
Convicted Criminal: Hey Judge, can’t we just Move Forward and let me go home?