Implications and Imprecations

Julianna Strout

The fallout from the commission's unjustified decision to drive out Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton, the last adult in the room in our government, continues to dominate our elections.   

For those who don't know what happened. on September 11th, the mayor and vice mayor teamed up to take a Commission on Ethics complaint written by the mayor and  present it as founded in order to insult and bully Yvonne Hamilton out of her position as Village Clerk.  The key piece of information the mayor withheld, even when directly asked, was that the Commission on Ethics found that the complaint was not justified and there was no reason to take any action.  You can read the results of that investigation here.  

In a second and equally disturbing attack, the mayor and vice mayor also went after Ms. Hamilton because the candidate for commissioner at large, Julianna Strout, and commissioner from Harbor Island, Marvin Wilmoth, were filmed submitting their campaign qualification documents to the Village Clerk.  According to Strout and the videographer, they had received permission to do so by Ms. Hamilton and in the same account, this was cleared with Village Attorney Norman C. Powell.  But even had they not, the public is entitled to record most government business transactions, with specific exceptions in criminal matters and involving children, in the State of Florida.   Hamilton neither speaks nor displays any message of support for the candidates and in fact, does not speak at all on the video.  

Well that was enough for our Vice Mayor and Mayor to throw around wild accusations that somehow in exercising their right to record government transactions, North Bay Village Candidates Julianna Strout and Marvin Wilmouth were being supported by the Village Clerk and the clerk needed to be fired immediately.  

This is normally the point where the Village Attorney might step in, remind the dais that per Jose Arrojo of the Commission on Ethics that it was hard to imagine even the most expansive reading of the ordinances governing officials and elections could not support the view that a crime had occurred.  That did not happen.  Instead our Village Attorney sat back and told the dais that the issue had been referred to the State Attorney's Office for investigation, which it had.  No mention was made of the CoE emails to the village about the absurdity of it, and later Arrojo was quoted as saying he did this "out of an abundance of caution."  My guess is he did it under pressure from the Village Administration.  

Vice Mayor Jackson and Mayor Kreps failed at the September 11th meeting to fire Hamilton but a toxic work environment and a hostile atmosphere led to her decision to resign and accept a settlement of five months salary for her mistreatment.   There's only so much a dignified professional can take.  

Mayoral pretender and faux commissioner Laura Cattabriga even had the cara dura to lie straight up as she enthusiastically voted to settle in lieu of a lawsuit that this was just a nice thing to do for a long term employee, kind of a bonus, when in fact it was an agreement not sue over a hostile work environment.  Cattabriga!  She has such a unique perspective.  

Back to our story.  Like the time that Cattabriga et al decided to create a media frenzy over the Hurricane Party, where several of our police had already been disciplined for their conduct during Hurricane Irma, someone decided to go to the media with the story of how Julianna Strout and Marvin Wilmoth were involved in this totally legal video.   In the article, the dead on arrival allegations that the video somehow violated state law and the North Bay Village charter are restated.  Jose Arrojo again brings in his view that even under an expansive reading of the law, it's hard to see how there was a problem.   

So with Hamilton gone, what's the purpose of pushing this false narrative?  

I'm worried.  And you should be too.  This narrative that Julianna Strout and Marvin Wilmoth were wrongly exercising their rights as citizens of Florida to somehow undermine an election is not supportable, but in North Bay Village, our top employees are worried about their lucrative positions come November when it looks to all reasonable observers that Cattabriga will lose the mayoralty and that two commission seats will be filled by people who get that North Bay Village needs to be run for the benefit of the residents not the employees.   

The Village Clerk, now occupied by an interim sure to be confirmed, plays a key role in our elections process.  I am concerned that since it has become clear that Julianna Strout does not face serious opposition since her opponent has not made any campaign moves, and since Marvin Wilmoth is unopposed in the At Large race, there will be an unhealthy and extralegal move made on them to fill the seats with commissioners more to the liking of the top employees whose livelihood depends on the current commission makeup.  

Think I'm crazy?  Okay, I'll go with that but maybe I'm not wrong.   Just consider what's happened this year:

• In spite of the clearly spelled out provisions in our charter (Section 307.b) as how a commission seat forfeiture should be handled, the commission voted in a sneak attack to remove Doug Hornsby.  The lawsuit is working its way through the court but there is little question that his removal was illegal. 
• In spite of strong state laws protecting whistleblowers, the administration fired Carlos Noriega, our police chief, and the two detectives who were investigating corruption in our village.  The lawsuits are working through the courts now.  
• In spite of there being no such obligation, Village Manager Marlen Martell was given $127,000 in payments not to sue the village for her treatment.   Deputy Manager Yolanda Menegazzo got $22,000 after 30 days employment  not to sue, Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton got five months salary not to sue and the same offers were given to others who did not take the money.   
• In spite of there being no precedent, our village attorney has a four year contract and a pre-agreement of nearly a year's salary, you guessed it, not to sue.  

The list goes on so it's not hard to imagine that when the election turns out the way the village residents want, these same underhanded tactics might be used to create a commission friendlier (read: in debt.) to the current paid employees.  

I could be wrong.  I hope I'm wrong.  

During the campaign, Laura Cattabriga supported by her campaign consulting firm, who not incidentally are the chief lobbyists for unfettered development and strip clubs, will spread rumors, disinformation and wild accusations to try to secure her election.  Watch for it.  It's coming.  

Kevin Vericker

October 2, 2018

Norman Powell Dragged Through The Sunshine - North Bay Village Loses

On Broadway, there is a thing called the 11 O'Clock number, the big dramatic song or monologue that stops the show.  And like any good show, this one had an 11 O'Clock.  

Presenting Commissioner Andreana Jackson weeping loudly in her hit number "Don't Cry For Me, North Bay Village."  Watch as Ms. Jackson enraptures the audience with her simulation of a frustrated, decent person.  

This critic would have found her performance more powerful except that leaves unexplained her own role in the savaging of former Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton, former Village Attorney Robert Switkes (although in a stunning new development, Jackson speaks for the first time publicly about why she voted to fire him), her fabricated allegations against a resident of threats and her knife in the back to Eddie Lim.   Perhaps in the sequel?

Anyway, three members of the commission courageously aligned themselves with the right of former strip club lobbyist Norman C. Powell to collect the $204,000 plus extras annually and run rampant over the Village.  They were unelected Vice Mayor Marvin Wilmoth, along with Commissioners Mary Kramer's Husband and Andreana Jackson, who clutched their collective pearls and voted to keep Norman C. Powell in place on the grounds that:

• It's ever so mean to talk about these things in public.  Why can't the elected officials do like previous administration and discuss the problems out of the public view and against Sunshine Law, you know like the way politics really should run?  It worked really well when the previous commission got rid of Switkes, Hornsby, demoted Lim and lynched Hamilton.
    
• What will the neighbors think?  Seriously, this was Wilmoth's big concern.  That potential employees watching this public discussion would say, "Oh, me, oh, my, I don't want to go to North Bay Village.  I mean I keep reading about how awful their Village attorney is in the Herald but that they are discussing it?  The nerve.  Well, it's Opa-Locka for me."
  
  
• Julianna Strout has an exhaustive, well researched list of missteps and straight up bad moves since the "probation" was announced.     But you know, she's blonde...

The meeting went past midnight, again, just to prove that Norman Powell is untouchable.

It was no surprise that Mary Kramer's Husband voted to keep him on the dais.  Nor that Ms. Jackson did.  Given the extent of their political debts and Norman Powell's assistance to Ms. Jackson on resolving her credit card debts, they owe him big time.

But it was a surprise that Marvin Wilmoth who as a candidate and as member of the dais argued passionately that the Village needs to get beyond all the drama and move forward, did not share  his reasoning on why he thought keeping Powell was a good idea.  He simply voted not to fire him.  So the Village is stuck.

That's not to say completely.

Commissioner Julianna Strout was well prepared with the list of issues Powell has created since the last meeting. 

The director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics was there.  He had written a personal opinion that Powell needed to recuse himself and the commission needed independent counsel to discuss his employment.  Mr. Arrojo emphasized "personal" as the CoE is still working on a formal position. 

Mayor Brent Latham brought up that the recent confusion over the firing of Bryan Miller Olive and the retention of Weiss Serota as labor counsel had resulted in several contradictory explanations from Mr. Powell. 

These were all well presented and discussed by Ms. Strout and and Mr. Latham. 

But it was clear that it fell on deaf ears.

After the refusal to fire Powell, the three, Wilmoth, Jackson, and Mary Kramer's husband, tried to stonewall against putting any conditions on Mr. Powell's probation but Latham and Strout kept at it until they reluctantly agreed. 

Remember, the key objections to this process as stated are:

1.)  It's being done publicly as required by Sunshine.  Jackson found this to be "coming at you with daggers."

2.)  It's being done publicly and people might not want to work here.  Wilmoth was most concerned about this but there were at least three attorneys present willing to work so I think it won't be much of an obstacle. 

My take.  Unless Marvin Wilmoth steps up and acts like the reformer he claims to be, we're doomed.  It may be time to just shut the Village down.   We're so far in a hole, I don't see how we climb out.

Kevin Vericker

Jan 10 2019

In Unity, Nothing Is Accomplished

If there was a theme, besides cognitive dissonance, at last night's commission meeting it was that at long last the Commission has managed to find better ways to ignore what's happening right before their eyes.  By 11 o'clock, the commission was simply repeating how happy they were now that they were unified and calm.  It was totally delusional but that seems to be where they are at.  

Okay, so a summary of last night's meeting, Tuesday June 12, 2018.  

It started promptly at 7:30 PM (Special note:  from now until further notice, commission meetings will start at 6:30 PM.)  The mayor led the pledge of allegiance, then presented an award to our previously unknown FPL Liaison and the commission recognized the long, valuable service of our police dispatcher who is retiring.  

During Additions and Deletions, the mayor put an item under new business regarding Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton's employment.

The mayor wants to fire Ms. Hamilton and at that point believed she had three votes to do so.  This was following her now long standing tradition of pulling these moves late at night at the end of the meeting.  

Spoiler Alert:  It didn't happen.  At midnight, when the subject finally came before the dais, the mayor realized that she did not have the three votes she thought she did and so instead spent a few minutes ranting about how she, the mayor, had, unprovoked and illegally, given Ms. Hamilton a negative performance review and that further, Ms. Hamilton had not signed some bullshit called a "loyalty oath"  (Special note:  The mayor may have been referring to the "Honor Code" in section 38.37 of the Village Code but since that mentions ethical behavior, well, we don't have to get Dr. Freud out of his comfortable grave to explain that slip.)

Freudian Slip

After some soothing from Norman C. Powell, it was agreed that the Clerk will enter discussions about an employment agreement which the mayor pretended was what she was hoping for all along.  

Back to the meeting and the jam packed agenda.  

Well, it wasn't that jam packed.  It was mostly the mayor detailing her recent trip to Boston to attend a meeting of mayors where she learned all sorts of interesting things like inclusion, communication matters, meet residents where they are, residents expect honest answers.  Basically, all the things she has failed at and why she is so terrible for the village.  

The mayor then went on to ask the Village Manager when the streets will be repaved ("Maybe next year?  But no commitments." replied the manager.  I suspect the new manager will be the mayor's next target) and a few other things.  

Throughout the meeting the mayor continued her rambling monologues and elaborate self justifications but in complete fairness to Crazy Eyes, she did not lose her place on the agenda until 9:30 when she began reading off an item that had already been voted on, and then kept sequentially synched almost to 11:57, when she failed to call a vote on a motion to extend the meeting until 12:30  so the meeting technically was over. 

(Don't believe me?  Why should you?  Check the video at 4:26:00 and you will see that after Commissioner Alvarez was reminded via text that there was a motion needed to extend the meeting, Mayor Kreps made the motion, then had to explain that in spite of the extra dais communication about not firing Ms. Hamilton, she was still going to discuss it and then never took a vote to extend the meeting which means everything from 11:59 PM on was illegal.)  

Norman C. Powell - Incompetent or Playing a Long  Con Grift?

Which brings us to the next administration member, former strip club lobbyist and now North Bay Village Attorney Norman C. Powell, currently raking in the paper at a base of $204,000 plus bonuses to keep the dais out of jail.   

The question is:  Is Norman Powell the worst Village Attorney imaginable or is he is the best grifter we've seen in North Bay Village's history?  

Powell's services are terrible.

Let's start with the smallball - the above mentioned failure to be an effective parliamentarian.  Not a great mishap but had the mayor succeeded in her plan to fire Hamilton, it would have been illegal anyway because the meeting was illegal and that's the sort of thing that leads to expensive lawsuits and leads to increased billings from Norman Powell.  So, incompetent or grifter?

Let's get a little bigger.  Regular readers of this space know that there was a bogus accusation placed against Commissioner Eddie Lim, Finance Director Bert Wrains and former Village Manager Frank Rollason, alleging that they had conspired to steal $15,000 from the Village to pay for a personal home improvement for Rollason.  The whole allegation was quickly disproved but Powell has attempted to keep it alive for no good reason.

Well, Eddie Lim asked Powell point blank if he (Lim) was still under suspicion and Powell, who claims he has turned over the investigation, assures Eddie he is not.  Powell is in no position to discuss this if there is a real investigation so the question is, is Powell lying about the investigation being real or is he lying about his knowledge of it?  Incompetent or grifter?

Let's go even bigger.  Village Manager Mayhem Martell hired an Assistant Village Manager who is also head of Human Resources.  Now Martell apparently has never checked the hiring policies as specified in the charter, Section 4.01, and so was not sure if her hire needed to be submitted to the Village Commission for confirmation.   Martell mentioned this at the Village meeting and inquired meekly if she needed confirmation.  Again Martell should have known this and didn't. 

When she brought it up (8 minutes and 29 seconds in), Powell just sat there as the meeting went on.

Powell either didn't know what Section 4.01 of the Charter says so here it is:  Section 4.01 Paragraph G, Section 2:  "He (my note: sexist use of pronoun but refers to the Village Manager) will submit appointments of new department heads to the Commission for confirmation."

Because of this lack of confirmation, the new head of HR, the Assistant Village Manager, is not legally confirmed to that position.  This is exactly the sort of ambiguity that causes courts to look askance when an employee claims illegal actions on the part of the employer and puts the Village in a bad position at a time when we are already in high conflict.

It's also the sort of thing that leads to very lucrative billings from the attorneys representing the Village in these lawsuits.

Three major legal errors in one meeting with big implications.

And let's add in a bold faced lie.  During the discussion about a strong mayor, which Crazy Eyes claims she wanted to know more about because "a Herald reporter asked her", Andreana Jackson at 4 hours and 9 minutes inquired if the Charter Board had discussed lengthening the mayoral term to 4 years.

The correct answer was yes, twice.  And Board rejected it

Powell does not mention that although he was there and deliberately answered a question not asked by explaining that the commission can add things to the ballot.  But never mentioned what the Review Board had discussed.

The pattern continues - the illegal vacuuming up of Homeland Security Data, his pressing the Fencemaster investigations, the leaks to NBC 6, the illegal removal of Hornsby, his approach to the police chief firing.  It's bad and getting worse.

Incompetent or master grifter?

I come down on the side of he doesn't know what he's doing, he has no experience at this, and he sees his job as being the Village paid defense attorney for a mayor under investigation.  But maybe not.

Why I think Marlen Martell will soon be fired.  

There is a truly revelatory exchange at  3 hours and 18 minutes.  It was during a break and Mayor Crazy Eyes was seething over the commission's rejection of a plan to have July 4 fireworks.  Mayor Kreps says, "I want to go out with a BANG."

Now everyone wants fireworks but the plan as presented was for fireworks between Benihana's and Shuckers, no plan was in place for residents to use the lots to watch them, no plan for police presence was in place and it's probably too late to get community funding. 

Laura Cattabriga voted against it and Connie would have none of it.

During the break, she can seen and heard berating Cattabriga who is trying to tell the mayor that sometimes they might not agree.  About two minutes into Connie's rant, Martell comes over to Connie.  Connie tries to push her away saying "I don't want to talk about it!" but Martell informs Connie that her voice can be heard through the chambers (and on the recording) and that Martell is just trying to help her.  "Your voice is sounding all the way over there.  I'm doing this to help you.  Please.  Watch your thing (points to the microphone)" and walks away.  Connie then tries pushing buttons randomly and Cattabriga gives up.

This is typical of the mayor.  There can be no disagreement that is not personal and does not require retribution.   I think she will go after Martell.

And Then The Police Chief 

Police Chief Lewis Velken spoke on the item whereby the Village is seeking police accreditation, something that was already in process under Noriega.  Velken decided to contract out the process to a consulting firm and we are at back at square one.  Now Velken may have good reason to redo the whole process but he did not discuss that.  Instead, he and the commission talked about how a "civilian" was in charge of the internal accreditation and Velken had removed him.  

Well, that's truthy.  The "civilian" in charge was a retired FBI agent with extensive certification experience so it was not an off the street temp hire.  It was a small, petty slam at the previous chief for no good reason and it was dishonest to mention one fact, he was a civilian, and not bring in the full picture.  I hate that an apparently good man, Velken, is getting caught up in the crazy.  

In her enthusiastic endorsement, Mayor Crazy Eyes thanked the new chief, proclaimed her happiness with him and hopes that he stays many years.  

I would caution Police Chief Lewis Velken that Kreps made similar declarations of admiration to Police Chief Bob Daniels, later fired, and Chief Noriega, later fired.   She doesn't understand it and it's part of her process of a hero to save her.  

So the meeting ended finally around 12:30 AM on Wednesday morning.  

It ended the way it started, with the Mayor dominating and ranting and  getting nothing done.  

• No information on when our streets will be paved
• Another failed series of basic meeting procedures and practices
• No fireworks
• No firing of Yvonne Hamilton (my opinion: good.  I'm very thankful that didn't happen.) 
• No planning for the future. 
• No prep work for the budget. 

Mayor Kreps should leave now. 

Kevin Vericker

June 14, 2018

The First Commission Meeting

The first commission meeting of the new administration, held on Tuesday, December 11, was a failure. 

The newly installed commission members, Mayor Brent Latham and Commissioners Marvin Wilmoth and Julianna Strout need to get some slack for it being their first day on the job and facing a hostile, paid professional staff is never easy, but they failed to coalesce to restructure the Village administration to one that works for the residents and not the highly paid Village attorney. 

In the end, it was clearly Marvin Wilmoth's fault.  In what he presented as an attempt to reasonably evaluate the attorney, he joined with  Andreana Jackson and Mary Kramer's Husband to protect the Village attorney by proposing that instead of firing Norman Powell, he be put on a "probation" period without specifying what the terms of the probation are, what the results might be, and what actions should happen next.  It was sad to watch this. 

It's probably important to note that last September, in Andreana Jackson and Connie Kreps' attempt to fire Yvonne Hamilton, our longest serving, highly respected civil servant, Wilmoth was caught in the cross fire and the same attorney he is now "evaluating" forced a complaint implicating him in a criminal violation of state law, long after it had been established that no such violation existed.  This could have derailed his political ambitions and hurt his career. 

It's not "rising above" to propose keeping the same attorney, it's driving off a cliff with political expediency to avoid a difficult decision. 

Wilmoth needs to step up.  We don't have time for political games. 

If there was any doubt about how bad the situation with Powell is, watch the video of the consideration to terminate him.  Powell acted as both counsel to the commission and as opposing counsel to defend his position.  

In most people's eyes, this would be a serious violation of ethics.  We'd expect our attorney to advise the commission that they should seek different counsel because of the obvious conflict of interest, not act on both parts to his own benefit. 

Then yesterday, Powell fired our labor attorneys.  The people we rely on for advice about things like "probation" and "legality of contracts."  Whether this is legal under the Village ordinances is an open question, but it sure looks like a retaliatory firing.  You know, to the untrained legal eye that most decent people have.  But the result is that we do not have an independent labor attorney to help us with the issues around Powell.  

If He's So Bad, Who Supports Him?

Well, the list of supporters at the meeting was scant but loud.  

Laura Cattabriga got up and explained that during her unsuccessful election bid, a crash and burn operation, the message she heard from the voters was "Don't fire Powell."  That may be why she lost.  The voters were saying "You destabilized the administration."  

Powell's longtime partner in strip club lobbying, Mitch Edelstein, attested to Powell's abilities and pointedly reminded Commissioner Andreana Jackson that she owes him since he pulled off the miracle of getting her elected.   Jackson obligingly paid her political debt.  Edelstein also lobbies for every developer in North Bay Village.  

Some out of town guy whose multiple North Bay Village Code violations were magically erased expressed that he doesn't like me so Powell should stay.  Also, apparently I terrify him.  

Former mayor Connie was sitting ominously in the back row, looking like someone just dropped a house on her sister, letting us all know that she is still here.  

And that was about it.  

Nevertheless, money and legal impunity are great motivators and for the moment they prevailed.   

What Happens Now?

I understand that one commissioner, Julianna Strout, has called for a special meeting to fix the broken resolution by at least doing the minimum of establishing the terms of the probation.  

It requires another  commissioner to also request and in the end three have to show up.  

I hope Wilmoth has the intestinal fortitude and integrity to be there.   I hope he doesn't weasel out under the guise of "being busy."  He broke it.  He needs to fix it.  

And Now For Your Amusement and Pleasure

Heavily edited because that top

makes me look fat...I mean because

it's obscene.  

An anonymous video, always the best kind, was circulated yesterday to various unwilling residents, mostly in the Bayswater, under the subject "What's Really Wrong With North Bay Village" where my face is superimposed over a clip of a surrealist ecdysiast doing a strip tease.   

Yeah, that is the best place to get your news.  

I'm not sure what fever-driven demented mind thought this was somehow relevant but it's part of the nasty pattern of anonymous attacks that have prevailed in this Village since 2010, when Connie Leon-Kreps first sued her way on to the commission and then bullied her way into the mayor's seat.  

Unfortunately, you can no longer see it on YouTube as they have judged it obscene.  But like the incels over at LeoAffairs (no, I'm not linking.  Find it yourself), they shroud their identities under anonymous IP's and names and then have the chutzpah to criticize their betters, who post with names, dates, pictures and contact information, to spread their lies and filth.  

In other news, Marvin Wilmoth was selected as Vice Mayor, nominated by Andreana Jackson, and is poised to step into the mayoral seat if the attacks on Latham succeed.  

Kevin Vericker

December 15, 2018

The Coverup Is Worse Than The Crime

By now, even the most committed of Mayor Kreps' supporters have to be shaking their heads in disbelief.   

Last month at the commission meeting, Eddie Lim brought up for discussion whether or not the village should remove appointed board members if they have been charged with felonies.  

Andreana Jackson said something about "innocent until proven guilty" and the mayor deferred to the Village Attorney who reminded the mayor and the dais that board members serve at the pleasure of the dais and the dais can remove them at any time.  

Mayor Kreps did not take the hint and the item died for lack of a second.  

And so Ana Watson, currently under arrest and facing trial for four counts of defrauding her co-op with false checks remained on the Charter Review Board and the Community Enhancement Board.  

The Miami New Times wondered why and published an article detailing the close links between Watson and the mayor along with the news that while Watson has been allowed to stay on the boards, the cop in charge of the investiation, Tom Columbano, was summarily fired, allegedly in retaliation for investigating the Mayor's close personal friend.   You can read the article here.  

Before there are outraged cries of "Isn't she innocent until proven guilty?", let me explain why the state of Florida suspends elected officials following a felony arrest.  

There is reasonable concern that someone facing a serious charge will use their position to influence investigations and to obstruct evidence.  

It is not to declare them guilty without trial.   It is a sensible legal precaution and Norman Powell should have advised the commission that their best interest is to remove Watson or anyone else charged with a felony, particularly one investigated by that same government, from positions of influence and information.   

I have little doubt that Columbano was fired because of his investigation of a close mayoral confidante.  I have not spoken with Columbano but indications are that this is part of the pattern of the dais to suppress information and investigation that could touch the dais.  

What pattern you might ask?  

Two days before Columbano was summarily dismissed, another North Bay Village detective  named Sam Bejar was called in and fired.  

Bejar had been investigating an anonymous complaint that former Village Manager Frank Rollason, in collusion with Village Finance Director Bert Wrains and then Vice Mayor Eddie Lim had used village funds to pay for a personal home improvement project at his property, the construction of a fence.  

The "anonymous" complaint was sent to Village Attorney and Registered Strip Club Lobbyist Norman C. Powell and was accompanied by a series of check registers, obtained by one Maria Posada, that made the above allegations.  

The whole thing was easy to debunk.  There were no checks that matched the amount of the fully permitted fencing project at the Rollason property and one Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son of a Gun Frank Rollason had all the invoices and the receipts from his project showing the money was paid from personal funds.   In other words, there was nothing there.  

But some strange things came up in the investigation.  

• The anonymous complaint came from an email address "nbayvillage@gmail.com" and the sender IP was not masked.  That sender IP is the same one in the embezzlement case.   Reading the memo prepared by Sam Bejar (available here) points pretty clearly to involvement by the same person facing trial for embezzlement.  
• Norman C. Powell, the actual complainant, refused to cooperate with the investigation.  

What happened next is as the kids say, "Skeezy AF".   After Bejar briefed the new chief on his intention to close out the investigation as "UNFOUNDED", Bejar was summoned to a meeting with the Village Manager, Marlen Martell, Village Attorney and Registered Strip Club Lobbyist Norman C. Powell and new Police Chief Lewis Velken and fired.  

Bejar was instructed to close out the investigation but while trying to do that, his computer was taken over a 3rd party and he watched as files were being deleted.  

This is an email that Bejar wrote to the chief on April 24 in lieu of a closeout report.  Let me warn you right now.  Bejar has perfected the economical writing style of a detective and although the email is only 4 pages long, each sentence is packed with information.   It's a dense read and if you just skim it, you will lose the thread quickly.  Here is the email, a public record.   BEJAR EMAIL.

It is increasingly obvious that this is not about one case of financial fraud.  The mayor, members of the dais, the Village Attorney and the Village Manager are in active collaboration to derail any and all investigations, including the one at the core of all of this, the Hornsby matter, that threatens to implicate the dais in criminal actions and they are not going to stop.   

The Scorecard so far stands:

Chief Carlos Noriega was fired for filing a complaint about illegal copying of Homeland Security information and open investigations by Xact Data Discovery at the direction of Village Attorney Norman Powell. 

Detective Tom Columbano was fired for investigating Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps' ally and friend.  

Detective Sam Bejar was fired because his investigation could not be used against a former Village Manager.  

But stay tuned.  On Tuesday May 8, Mayor Crazy Eyes has put a discussion item on the agenda regarding Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton's "employment agreement".  Kreps makes no bones that she dislikes Hamilton and Hamilton's insistence on doing things legally.   Kreps will move to fire her.  

Kevin Vericker

May 3, 2018

Laura Cattabriga and the Debate

If you're looking for a report piece by piece on last night's debate, you're not going to find it here.   

The entire debate is online at the Village Website and you can watch from the comfort of your own streaming device.   

My purpose today is to unpack the questions and the statements made at the debate and I will start with Laura Cattabriga.   

I have written before that Laura Cattabriga is a master of the loaded question and innuendo while never providing answers herself and last night, her performance as the idealistic public servant confused by what she characterizes as hostile opposition shone through.   

Fabrications

Please note that I am using "fabrications" and not "lies".  Fabrications are carefully crafted stories based on disparate facts to build a conclusion.   And Laura is a master of this.   Say one thing, jump over the middle thing, add an unrelated third thing and then wonder how anyone can contradict her?  It's a classic evasion practiced by politicos and bunkum artists selling questionable products.   

Cattabriga claims to have a "natural curiosity" and "critical thinking" skills.  Seriously, she said that.  She may be all that but just doesn't understand answers very well.  

Let's look at how Cattabriga used this method last night.   

The Big Doubt.  

Cattabriga wondered if Brent Latham even lives here.  She based her question on the following facts:

• His children attend South Pointe Elementary.   
• He inherited a property in 2017 in Miami Shores, left to him by his grandfather, and the homestead exemption for the property still showed in 2017.
• Had anyone ever seen him in North Bay Village before July?   

Latham answered these questions directly:

• His children, like Laura's, attend South Pointe because they are enrolled in a program available only at South Pointe.  
• The Miami Shores property showed the homestead for the tax year 2017.  This is the legal requirement as the owner, Brent's late grandfather, lived there and filed it. It was cleared in 2018, when homestead was no longer appropriate.  
• Among the people who have known Brent for the last 5 years on North Bay Island are Cattabriga and her family.   

Not content to leave the doubts there, Cattabriga took a swipe at Brent's wife because she is president of the PTA at her kids' school.  

That in the process, Cattabriga disrespected a recently deceased family member, used his memory as a way to imply criminality on her opponent's part, took a swipe at his kids for being in school (seriously leave kids out of it!) and Latham's wife.   

All so she should could put out the fabrication, which will be coming to a mailbox near you shortly. 

Complaints

Cattabriga said she only had been on the dais for only 8 months so it wasn't fair to complain that she did not do any of the things she now says she will do if only she becomes mayor.  

• She's totally committed to combating sea level rise and it's not her fault that there are $0 for resiliency in the budget. 
• She is wide open to communication and she can't help it if residents don't know when the sewer project will be done and the streets repaved.  They could call "Village Hall" and someone would surely tell them plus there are things on the web that might help.   
• People throw their every grievance on her and are disappointed because she hasn't responded.  

Latham pointed out that a mayor, who is of equal power, has only 24 months and apparently Cattabriga wasted her last 8 months.   

Misinformation

Cattabriga said that Latham's promise to recuse himself should the lawsuit by a campaign donor come before the commission showed that Latham didn't understand government because you're not allowed to recuse yourself.  

This is a bit of crazy spread about the current mayor who swears that she heard it somewhere.  

It is, oh how to put this, the exact opposite of the truth.  In fact, commissioners are obligated to recuse themselves when there is conflict.  

This piece of nonsense was put out because Cattabriga has been eagerly soliciting donations from village contractors and developers and has no intention of recusing herself when their issues come up.  

"My Opponent's Supporters and Why I Took The Seat"

Okay, buckle up.  This part is rough.   Cattabriga masterfully fabricated her role in the Hornsby lawsuit by saying that she was only interested in getting at the truth of Hornsby's eligibility to serve.  Cattabriga failed in her lawsuit but she did not mention that.  Instead, she brought forth an opinion from the elections department that Hornsby needed to reregister and completely ignored the part that required the commission to follow our charter procedures to hold a hearing on the subject, which the commission did not do.   Then she claimed Hornsby's seat for herself.   

This in her mind is supported by the fact that Sissy Shute hosted a meet and greet attended by over 100 residents and every major political candidate in Miami Dade.   The crowd was open, enthusiastic and  clearly not supporting Cattabriga.  So Cattabriga is attempting to tie this into a vast conspiracy of people unaccountably out to get her.  Poor Cattabriga.   

Cattabriga never explained why she thought she should take the Hornsby seat and never acknowledged how it looked.  

Cattabriga made sweeping misstatements about Latham's suporters while refusing to acknowledge that she has very sparse but powerful support, simply painting people who support Latham as "negative" unlike her bright positive outlook.   

Cattabriga never spoke about why the subcontracted village attorney Neil Kodsi donated to her campaign, or every developer, or other village contractors.   

Cattabriga.  

Everyone Does It - The Excuse

Following the commission effort to fire Yvonne Hamilton for appearing in a video campaign diary by a candidate, Cattabriga "tabled" the motion to fire while pronouncing herself "deeply disturbed."  

When confronted on her own use, without permission, of uniformed North Bay Village Police Officers and children in campaign materials, she smiled condescendingly and explained that "everyone does it."  

It's apparently enough to fire a 29 year employee but when it's her, well.  

Cattabriga Says She Is A Fresh Face In North Bay Village

No she's not.   Cattabriga might as well be Laura Cattabriga Kreps.    

Her campaign is being run by Strategic Campaign Consultants,  (see her finance reports), the same one man show who represents all the developers in North Bay Village, as well as strip clubs around the area, and who ran Connie Leon Kreps campaigns and Cattabriga is supported by the wife of Commissioner Jose Alvarez, the Vice Mayor and the Connie Leon Kreps herself, who sat in the front row next to a PR person.    

Cattabriga did not distance herself from the shambolic steps made by the mayor, including even defending legal services contracted without any comparison, is accepting donations from village contractors, and surrounds herself with the same people who have dragged the Village down to where it is now.  

She is not a fresh face, just the same one in different lighting.  

Cattabriga's Business

When the subject came up that Cattabriga never registered her several LLC's in North Bay Village for Business Tax Receipts, she explained that like many others, she serially starts LLC's and they usually don't make money but the one she was called out on, she registered last month.  So nothing there.  

Except it's not really borne out by the facts.  For one, she registered a company called Fixation Systems in 2014 to her home address.  Here's the document.  But she never paid business taxes on it.  Maybe because of the fraud lawsuit

VOLUNTARILY     

Excuse the use of ALL CAPS.  I got excited.  

Okay, I'm calm now.  

Laura Cattabriga signed the Voluntary Ethical Campaign Pledge which requires her to actively conduct a truthful and honest campaign.  It includes an obligation, not a suggestion, that the signer, again, VOLUNTARY, must not only adhere to the laws of the county, but must also not misrepresent facts (e.g. her opponent's residence), not allow her supporters to do so, and must condemn anonymous attacks on her opponent, among other things.  

So far

• Cattabriga continues to misrepresent where Latham lives, including in her mailing today.  
• Cattabriga's supporters have posted vile anonymous videos on Youtube attacking residents for the thought crime of not supporting her and has refused to condemn the same.  
• Cattabriga continues to misrepresent the facts about herself by claiming no business tax violation while attacking the opponent's marriage.   

Cattabriga!

Kevin Vericker

October 12, 2018

Clean Up At Village Hall

The election in November sent one resounding message.  North Bay Village is stuck and it needs new policies, new ideas and most importantly new people to get moving.   

Brent Latham, Julianna Strout and Marvin Wilmoth were elected to do exactly that.  Each of them has strengths and experience that can be of immediate benefit.   

But all of this could run off the tracks if they don't have an administration that they can trust to execute on their policies.  

And North Bay Village does not have an administration in place that can deliver.  

Tomorrow night at the regular Commission meeting, there is an item to discuss replacing the Village Attorney, Norman C. Powell.   Doing this is critical.  

Powell was never a good choice for Village Attorney.  The previous attorney was fired in a sneak move in the dead of the night in November 2017, Powell was brought in as interim with no discussion, the commission never issued an RFP for legal services and with next to no discussion directly negotiated an outstandingly generous contract with Powell who had never worked as a municipal attorney before.  The contract included a 4 year commitment on the Village's part which is not the norm, as well as substantial penalties for terminating the contract early.   

There's very little point in reviewing all of the areas that Powell has not performed for the Village as I have detailed them through the last year but I do not believe that his contract is valid.

Powell's lack of experience as a municipal attorney and his questionable actions could be the grounds that the commission needs to fire him for cause.   

Regardless of their approach, whether it be another painful payoff to go away or a stand to dismiss for cause, Powell has to go.   Now.  

The Village employees are unwilling to perform even basic functions without the specific go ahead from Powell.  This has meant depriving citizens of our rights and services unless this one unelected official decides we deserve them.  

All of our zoning decisions up until October are at risk because the property parliamentary procedures  were not followed, presumably due to ignorance of the law.  

Most important is the trust.  In what looked like a highly political move, during the election Powell brought a video diary recorded by now Commissioner Julianna Strout to the Commission on Ethics claiming that the video was a de facto endorsement by the Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton and may have constituted a crime by Commissioners Julianna Strout, Marvin Wilmoth and Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton.

Powell then insisted on bringing the video, which did not contain any such endorsement, to the FDLE and speaking about it publicly at the commission meeting.  You can read more about it here.  

Powell's associates donated to Latham's opponent, a legal but questionable ethical move, and a company for which he is the registered agent also donated.  

However the commission does it tomorrow, it's imperative that he be replaced.  

There will be people against it.  

Police officers unhappy with being held accountable for their behavior support Powell.  

Powell and the main developer lobbyist Mitch Edelstein worked together for years lobbying for strip clubs in Miami and the developers know they have a friend in Powell.   Oddly, they also have a friend in the new commission but they probably don't see that.  

The former mayor and her cronies are probably worried about their legal exposure when Powell is removed and they are right to worry.  

The Village has been in trouble for a while and the solution is painful but necessary.  

Get rid of the principal in the bad decisions and build it right.  

The voters could not have been clearer and anything less will hobble the new commission right out of the gate.  

Kevin Vericker

December 10, 2018

Hornsby Extortion - The Origin Story

Here's something you probably have lost sight of.  The event which set off all of the purges was the extortion attempt on Commissioner Doug Hornsby, claiming he was ineligible to serve.  Everything that follows including the illegal behavior, the firings and Honsby's removal was not about Hornsby's conviction in Tennessee for cocaine in the 1980's but about extortion of Hornsby to get him off the commission.  

If you haven't been following the police firings, the removal of Hornsby and the whole sordid mess, start here and work your way back.   

There has only been one (1) (ONE) legal opinion on Hornsby's eligibility to serve as a commissioner in North Bay Village and that was in December of 2017 when the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics considered the issue and put forth the opinion that there was no evidence to support the claims that Hornsby was ineligible to serve as commissioner.  Read their conclusions here.  

As regards Hornsby's eligibility, there is nothing illegal.  The court cases sponsored by Marlene Brody and Laura Cattabriga et al were always false and the court tried to give them every opportunity to improve their case but the plaintiffs could not and wound up dropping the case.   

The removal of Dr. Hornsby was done when registered strip club lobbyist North Bay Village Attorney Norman C. Powell dishonestly misrepresented a discussion meeting to be a kangaroo court to remove Hornsby.  Powell was lying about the law and doing it because the courts were ready to throw the matter out.  

When Village Manager Marlen Martell fired police chief Noriega and replaced him with Lewis Velken, who in turn fired the two detectives investigating the extortion attempt, they did so to cover up crimes that seem very likely to reach the dais.   

When the Mayor tried to intimidate me from writing about the extortion attempts, it was to block information from reaching the public.  

The Core of the Hornsby Matter

In the late 1980's while living in Tennessee, Doug Hornsby was arrested and convicted on cocaine charges.  The guy had a problem.   

Hornsby was not the only Vietnam Vet to come home with a drug problem but his was an exceptional story.   

Hornsby served in Vietnam as an unarmed medic, having claimed conscientious objector status as he enlisted in the US Army.   He saw combat, saved lives, was wounded twice and received two purple hearts.   Hornsby never carried a gun.  

His service was mindful, courageous and principled.   

By the late 1980's however, he had developed a problem and the law intervened.   Hornsby served his time in prison and under the laws of Tennessee, his rights to vote were automatically restored.  

You read that right.  When Hornsby registered to vote in Florida, he had every reason to believe that he was eligible and no court has found otherwise.  

In between the time he completed his sentence in Tennessee and he moved to Florida, he completed a second medical residency at Harvard under a rehab program.  In North Bay Village, he developed a key radiology practice and he and his wife Sissy settled into the rhythms of life here in an almost 1950's domestic relationship with Hornsby practicing and Sissy dedicating herself to community causes.   

In 2016, he was approached by Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps who asked him to consider applying for the Commissioner At Large vacancy created when Jorge Gonzalez resigned.    Hornsby did.  

At no point did he hide from the mayor or anyone else his public record of conviction and imprisonment.  

The extortion attempt happened after Hornsby fell out with the mayor and her crew over the mayor's desire to fire Frank Rollason.   

The clumsy anonymous emails and physical snail mail threatened to destroy Hornsby's reputation by disclosing the already very public record and let him know "that's how this city runs." which I think means by threats and shaming.  

Since Hornsby had always preemptively disclosed his past, the threats seemed empty and designed to get him to leave the dais.   And he fought back by bringing the reports into the light of day or at least the light of the dais by disclosing the extortion publicly at a commission meeting.  

And since then, every action taken by our dais with regards to the firing of the previous village attorney, the hiring of an inexperienced registered strip club lobbyist as village attorney, the removal of Hornsby, the firing of the police chief, the firing of the two detectives investigating, the installation of Laura Cattabriga on the dais, the planned firing of Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton and the hiring of inexperienced village manager Marlen Martell all reek of a desperate attempt to kill the extortion investigation before it reaches the dais.   Nothing good has come of this.  

And Hornsby was never ineligible to serve.  

Kevin Vericker

May 5, 2018