We already know that North Miami Beach Criminal Commissioner/Crony Capitalist Michael Joseph is in the pocket of Big Development.
Apparently ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard is following in his footsteps.
The latest text assault asking North Miami Beach voters to put Paule Villard in the mayoral seat on the dais was paid for by a dark money PAC by the name of South Florida Accountability Project. Contributors to dark money PACs know that money is shuffled back and forth between political committees in attempt to obfuscate the source of the funding. They can try to hide, but if one painstakingly follows the money trail, the names of the donors can be revealed.
The South Florida Accountability Project was registered on August 15, 2018 by Fort Lauderdale attorney Jason B. Blank, who is also the Treasurer for at least another 24 dark money PACs, as evidenced by a March 24, 2023 letter from its attorneys, Meyer, Blohm and Powell, PA, to the Florida Elections Commission appealing a $25,000.00 fine for the late filing of financial reports. These PACs are:
Curiously, that same law firm, Meyer, Blohm and Powell, PA, also represents Michael Joseph and Paule Villard in separate complaints against them filed with the Florida Ethics Commission.
Coincidence?
We think not!
Jason B. Blank’s partner Jason B. Haber, who is the Chair and Registered Agent for South Florida Accountability Project, also runs a slew of dark money PACs, some of which funnels money back and forth to all the other PACs run by Blank.
Unfortunately, almost all political committees registered in Florida do the exact same thing. They are set up in a way to hide the sources of dark money behind political campaigns. Donors contribute to these committees with the intent to push a political agenda on the unsuspecting public for their own financial benefit. They support candidates for office who they believe will pass legislation to enrich their own portfolios. If you can follow the money trail, the dots can be connected.
In an ethical world, these dark money PACs would be outlawed. But this will never happen as long as the politicians in Tallahassee are able to win their campaigns with dark money, so it’s a self-perpetuating circle of corruption.
A quick perusal of the list of contributions to the ironically named South Florida Accountability Project reveals that the vast majority of contributors are Big Developers. In the four months leading up to the contentious 2022 election, this PAC received:
- $66,500 from Dezer Development, Inc.
- $100,000 from Yacht Club by Luxcom, LLC
- $122,000 from Florida Real Estate Value Fund LP
On October 27, 2022, days before the November 8, 2022 election, this PAC also received a contribution from Jordan Zimmerman, CEO of Zimmerman Advertising, LLC.
During that same time period, South Florida Accountability Project directly contributed money to only two candidates for office, Erin Dunne for Brevard County School Board and Charlie Crist for Governor. However, this PAC “donated” hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple other dark money PACs in order to help elect candidates to office with zero accountability whatsoever.
Even if you spent hours and hours following the money trail of these dark money PACs, chances are you would only discover more “donations” to other PACs, and you’d never find out which candidates directly benefited from the contributions.
It has not filed a report for October 31, 2023, so we have no way of knowing what companies or other PACs have contributed in time for the North Miami Beach Special Election, or what expenditures were made toward Paule’s campaign. We do know, however, that as of September 30, 2023 South Florida Accountability Project still had a war chest of $97,262.45 from the deep pockets of Big Development.
One of those Big Developers who donated big to this PAC, and several other committees that South Florida Accountability Project received and/or gave money to, is Dezer Development.
As we reported two years ago:
“At the September 24, 2020 Commission Meeting, Michael voted for the controversial Ordinance No. 2020-07 and Ordinance No. 2020-08 to allow Dezer Development, LLC to redevelop the Intracoastal Mall, located just outside the residential Eastern Shores community.
According to a September 16, 2020 Miami Herald article, “Dezer Development wants to transform the site over 10 years by building a 250-room hotel, 2,000 multifamily units, 375,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, and 200,000 square feet of office space. Towers would be up to 40 stories tall. A canal would be dredged through the middle of the property.”
That project passed with a 5-2 vote, including the four Criminal Commissioners, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, when they still held a majority on the Commission.
At stake right now is the approval of the site plan for this monstrosity, and Dezer Development needs a majority vote, which would be guaranteed if Paule were to be reinstalled on the dais.
In addition to Big Development, we know that Andre Pierre, the head of the North Miami Circle of Corruption Snake, is also funneling money into Paule’s campaign through various other PACs in the hopes of retaking control of North Miami Beach. Andre was the puppet master of the four Criminal Commissioners and he’s chomping at the bit to be able to steal more of your tax dollars.
We’ll leave you with these thoughts.
If you don’t want your City to be run by criminals …
If you don’t want your City to become a concrete jungle …
Please vote responsibly!
On December 5, 2023,
VOTE FOR EVAN PIPER FOR MAYOR!
Stephanie
Thank you, Stephanie, for more in-depth reporting on the unreportable. Over here on the New Left Coast of Florida, we actually saw a dramatic flip in local elections. Last week in the city of Venice in Sarasota County, two Democrat (I know it’s supposed to be non-partisan but the developer supporting partisan Democrats and partisan Republicans have joined hands in pushing into local offices developer candidates. One who is on public recording commenting that “all women are skanks.” So city of Venice voters flipped two newly minted Republicans via DemocRat-Line to two authentic Democrats. In city of Punta Gorda just south of Sarasota County, in Charlotte County, an incumbent was flipped by a newcomer. People over here are p-i-s-s-e-d about the overdevelopment and loss of green space. Let’s hope you win a majority to finally get rid of Big Developers and their puppet proxies who have ruined Florida.
There is no doubt that the PAC money is mainly backed by developers and their lobbyist (including lobbyist that have contracts with cities) who control the candidates and commissioners that promise their loyalty to these projects.
Without revealing my source, many years ago, a city commissioner was advised that if any commissioner didn’t approve their project, they wouldn’t serve in their city again and they’d make sure to support their opponent. I have no doubt, after reading this blog, which now reminded me of the conversation with that commissioner, this is more real than I could have imagined.
The public needs to be more informed on the hidden monies in PAC’s which is an acronym for Political Action Committees. Thank you for this public service announcement. It’s one thing for a candidate to be open about their platform, it’s more than another thing, when they’re not. In most cases, they pretend to be open until you dig further and you find candidates/elected officials are beholden to everyone other than their constituents.
Let’s not be stupid enough to think that the sprinkling of gift cards, raffle prizes, turkeys and events hide the true intent behind these corrupt politicians.
I’ll vote for Evan Piper, he’s not a politician and seems to be entering politics for the good of the people. His track record of volunteerism and business sense seems to be evidence enough.
You are so right. Dark money PACs have way too much influence on elections, especially municipal ones. Voters need to pay attention to political literature they receive and read the fine print at the bottom, which states who or what entity paid for the ad. Then question EVERYTHING!
I know the lobbyist you are referring to, and he’s a really bad person. Keep in mind that none of these developers or their lobbyists live in North Miami Beach! They do NOT care about your quality of life, no matter how much money they promise to throw at “green space,” the library, or even the police department. All they care about is the bottom line and their bank accounts. They don’t care if they put corrupt crooks in office who will steal the taxpayers blind. Once the project is built, they hit the road and never look back, and you are nothing but collateral damage.
Paule and her co-conspirators DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! They want to keep voting to give themselves more and more raises, throw extravagant parties to showcase themselves, hire dozens of their friends and family members for City jobs they aren’t even qualified to do, take vacations on your dime, campaign for re-election on your dime, and use your City as a mere stepping stone to higher office. None of them even have a remote idea what public service is really about.
PLEASE VOTE RESPONSIBLY! VOTE FOR EVAN PIPER FOR MAYOR!
I’m sure you know more than I would. I don’t remember a name being thrown out there, but I remember thinking, if this happens here, what must happen all over. This story brings it all together.
Corruption eats away our communities. Sad.
Paule Villard actually thinks she’s not corrupt, which only proves how stupid she is. She is literally the most corrupt (and dumbest) person to ever sit on the NMB City Commission in the history of the City.
Dear Michael Joseph,
An astute reader alerted me to a few “anonymous” posts where the commenter said each time “Make NMB Great Again.” I didn’t really pay attention at first, but then it became clear that you were baiting me. I deleted your posts, but now I know what you’re up to. The same way you sent out fake texts claiming that Jay Chernoff was a “MAGA Republican” when Criminal Candidate Paule Villard was running last year, you’re going to try to pull that nonsense again.
Michael Joseph, you are a duplicitous asshole and everyone knows it. No one but the morons in your echo chamber can stand you. Ditto for Paule, who is literally the dumbest person on the planet. Consider yourself outed once again.
Watch what happens next.