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NUMBER 12- - NOVEMBER 26, 2018

PHOTO OF THE DAY - COULD A VILLIAN FROM A BATMAN MOVIE BE LOOSE IN MIAMI MASQUERADING AS THE CHIEF OF POLICE? ONLY THE MAKEUP ARTIST AND HIS TUBE OF BRYLCREEM KNOWS

QUESTION OF THE YEAR

Where did the Mayor of Miami get the money to cover the $309,000 down payment and closing costs on his house?

2018'S MOST CORRUPT POLITICIAN

There are always a lot of contenders for this title, but no one could come close to matching Joe Carollo this year when it came to demonstrating that the documented examples of his previous vicious, mean spirited and cunning behavior have only gotten worse with age.

While bemoaning the level of corruption he claimed he discovered upon returning to the City Commission, the truth of the matter is that in every respect, Carollo was describing his own behavior in the following video.  

Carollo's behavior will only get worse, and unless Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and the other  commissioners decide that enough is enough and take Carollo on, then 2019 is going to be a very rough year for the City of Miami.

THE POLITICAN MOST IN NEED OF A TESTICULAR IMPLANT IN 2019

Every person I've spoken with in the last week who has seen the below video has described the experience as either painful or cringe worthy.  

Respect is something you earn, and the failure of Francis Suarez to understand that, or to behave in a manner that would earn respect is indicative of just why at the end of the day, he failed to convince the voters in Miami to bestow upon him the powers of a "Strong Mayor."

Unfortunately, Suarez has always been a lightweight, and his failure to stand up to Carollo's bullying will only embolden Carollo and undermine what few controls exist that keep him now from turning the city into a true Banana Republic.

In 2019, Francis Suarez has 2 options: Man up and take Carollo on, or go and buy some knee pads, because once a guy like Carollo  senses weakness the only thing that he will do is double down.

As the scorpion said to the frog after he bit him, "I'm a scorpion, that's what I do."

THE STORY I WAS MOST PROUD OF WRITING THIS YEAR

This was my first story of 2018, and the last story in my series about the destruction of evidence and theft of 11 revolvers from the Miami Police Property Room. Of all of the stories that I've written over the last 10 years, the revelations of how poorly the Miami Police Department treated evidence, including the thousands of "Rape Kits" that went untested for years, was not only eye opening for me and hopefully for those of you who read the stories, but also continues to serve as the bench mark for just how piss-poorly the supposed "real" news media fails to cover the City of Miami.

You can read the above story HERE, and you can read the other stories in the series HERE.  For the remaining stories below, click on the image, and that will take you to the story.

STORIES I HOPE MADE PEOPLE THINK AND QUESTION HOW THE CITY OF MIAMI IS RUN

SOMEONE WHO NEEDS TO SHOW UP MORE OFTEN AT CITY HALL NEXT YEAR

IN 2018, KEN RUSSELL WENT FROM  COMMISSIONER "SELFIE BOY," TO UNELECTABLE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, TO COMMISSIONER "SELLOUT" AND NOW TO THE CITY COMMISSIONER MOST DESERVING OF BEING VOTED OUT OF OFFICE IN 2019

CHARLIE CORDA

RIP

OF ALL THE WAYS THAT THE RESIDENTS OF MIAMI GOT SCREWED IN 2018, THIS COULD TURN OUT TO BE  THE WORST

Contrary to those who would spend their time arguing that a golf course isn't a public park, they should devote their time and energy to figuring out who is going to pay for the removal of all the contaminated ash from the property - as of the posting of this Year End Edition, not a single representative from the Beckham group has yet set foot on the property - as well as the tens of millions of dollars in road improvements, and all of the other infrastructure costs that were conveniently left vague in the Term Sheet.

  Most importantly, who will end up paying for all the necessary improvements that will need to be made to convert the empty piece of land with grass and trees that is the only obligation the Beckham group made regarding the "park land" that they will donate back to the city.

There is still some hope that with the 4/5 vote needed to approve a contract, the Commissioners will reject this deal, but given the history of Miami politicians who've willingly sold their asses to support schemes that put some of them in jail in the past, don't think for a minute that one of these rocket scientists wouldn't flip for an opportunity to get on the game shows, Let's Make A Deal and/or The Price Is Right!     

Ken Russell took pandering to a new level this year with his shameful and obsequious behavior in providing the Mas brothers and David Beckham with the 3rd vote allowing the Melreese Golf Course referendum to be put on the ballot.

If that wasn't enough, his efforts in the West Grove to create a gerrymandered historic collection of old wooden houses was unappreciated by many of those residents, and his refusal to respect the property rights of those home owners will lead to candidates coming out of the wood work to challenge his reelection.

Ken Russell could have been a contender. Instead, he became little more that a self-promotional huckster.

Charlie was a man of many talents. He was a good soul, who was willing to stand up when he felt strongly about how government - especially the city of Miami - was screwing over it's residents.

Not mentioned in the obituaries about him was his activism and this legal action that he took on his own back in 2014. Although he was an architect, he did all the legal work on this case, and even though he lost the case, he was right to file it.

Charlie Corda will be missed!

IT'S MIAMI, BITCHES!

FINALLY THE YEAR WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN WHAT IT WAS WITHOUT THESE FOLKS

My sources inside City Hall

My sources inside the MRC

Erika Carrillo

Kathy Parks

Billy Corben/Cohen

David Cypkin

Doug Muir

Bill Fuller

David Winker

Lourdes Blanco

Frank Schnidman

My followers on Twitter

All the good folks at First Tee

All the people who throughout the year

who thank me for my efforts on elevators, on the street and even standing at urinals, and encourage me to keep it up

COLONEL KLINK IS IN THE CATBIRD SEAT FOR NOW

It is said that in war, politics and boxing, the best laid plans go out the window when the first punch lands.

There is no doubt that when Emilio Gonzalez agreed to become the City Manager of Miami, he and Francis Suarez sat down and came up with a lot of plans and dreams of how they wanted, or expected their first year together would work out.

You can bet the house that between Suarez's failure to win the referendum vote to become Strong Mayor, and the antics of Joe Carollo, some, if not most of all those plans and dreams have gone out the window.

We've learned since he's been the City Manager that the Colonel likes the perks of power, including the big SUV, the bodyguards - he's definitely into men in uniform who carry big guns - and he also likes having a photographer follow him around taking the photos that end up on his social media pages, and of course he definitely likes the $265,000, plus benefits that he's getting paid.

We've also learned that he's lazy, doesn't like to do the detail work, isn't squeamish about going along with scummy deals like the one that created the no show executive position for the President of the ASFCME union, and worst of all, besides showing a willingness to screw rank and file city employees he has also demonstrated that he will not support his own city staff, as evidenced by his failure to defend any of them publicly during the times at the Commission meetings when Carollo has attacked them by name and/or denigrated their work.

This behavior brings up the question of what happens in 2019, now that the thrill is gone?

Does the Colonel show loyalty to Francis Suarez by continuing to dance with the one who brung him to the party, or does he weigh his options, realize that Suarez is now so weak that he's incapable of mustering the 4 commission votes needed to fire him, and decides to switch allegiance and becomes a Carollo crony?

Rumor has it that the Colonel is planning on firing some staff members - an end of year practice in the city - and if that happens, then the key will be who gets fired.

The Colonel might not fear or worry about Francis Suarez, but there is no question that he doesn't like being one of Carollo's targets, and  if that means sacrificing people who Carollo doesn't like, then we might have to consider changing his nickname from Colonel Klink to Joe Carollo's Butt Boy.