Remember when Hallandale Beach City Attorney Lynn Whitfield got fired a couple years ago for using her official position to help a Commission candidate with his campaign?

Good times!

Just last month, the North Bay Village Clerk of nearly three decades, Yvonne Hamilton, abruptly resigned after the Miami State Attorney opened an investigation into her allegedly using her official position by getting involved in a Commission candidate’s campaign.

Well, get ready for the latest edition of “Candidates and City Officials Behaving Badly!”

Some background first.

Florida Statue 104.31 (1)(a), (2) and (3) regarding the political activities of state, county, and municipal officers and employees, is very specific.

(1) No officer or employee of the state, or of any county or municipality thereof, except as hereinafter exempted from provisions hereof, shall:

1. Use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or a nomination of office or coercing or influencing another person’s vote or affecting the result thereof.

And:

(2) An employee of the state or any political subdivision may not participate in any political campaign for an elective office while on duty.

(3) Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

Furthermore, Florida Statute 106.15 (3) and (5), regarding prohibited acts by candidates, reads:

(3) A candidate may not, in the furtherance of his or her candidacy for nomination or election to public office in any election, use the services of any state, county, municipal, or district officer or employee during working hours.

And:

(5) Any person violating the provisions of this section commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

Considering the negative consequences that the public employees of  Hallandale Beach and North Bay Village suffered for their malfeasance, you’d think that North Miami Beach city officials and Commission candidates would know not to commit the same violations while campaigning.

Well, you’d be wrong.

Like his campaign “running mate,” David Templer, Mayoral candidate Ray Marin, a 20-year career politician, seems to believe he’s above the law.  In the process, however, he has endangered the job of Interim City Manager Esmond Scott, a well respected, long-time North Miami Beach employee.

VotersOpinion has obtained copies of text messages between Ray Marin and Esmond Scott, that are disturbing on so many levels.

For starters, Ray Marin seems to forget he’s not the Mayor anymore, even though he’s been out of office for over 9 years.  Channeling the despicable behavior of his own successor, Ex-Mayor/Convicted Felon Myron Rosner, Ray Marin apparently thinks it’s perfectly fine to issue orders to Mr. Scott about what he should do and who he should fire.

Even worse, Ray has co-opted the services of the Interim City Manager during working hours for his own personal campaign.

See for yourself Ray Marin’s arrogance in its full glory:

Here’s the thing.

Ray Marin has absolutely no business ordering Esmond Scott to “terminate immediately” an employee of the City of North Miami Beach!

As a North Miami Beach resident, Marin has every right to speak during the Public Comment session of Commission Meetings.  But for him to demand that a City Manager jump at his command is absolutely unacceptable behavior.

The sheer nerve of him!

Obviously, Mr. Scott has way too much class to tell Ray to mind his own business.  But, a City Manager should never be subjected to this type of bullying.

More egregiously, however, is that Ray Marin has now put Esmond Scott in a very precarious situation.  Because he demanded information from the Interim City Manager via text message (instead of going through proper channels via the Clerk’s office), Marin violated Florida Statute 106.15, thereby using Mr. Scott’s official position in furtherance of his own campaign.

Ironically, the equally self-unaware Commission candidate David Templer scolded the Interim City Manager in an email dated September 25, 2018, by admonishing, “Possibly the employees should be told that they are not to take orders from residents without first having the resident follow the proper channels.”

Apparently, the rules that we mere mortals  have to live by don’t apply to Ray Marin or David Templer.

In any event, thanks to Ray Marin, Esmond Scott violated Florida Statute 104.31, even if inadvertently, and is now at risk of losing his job and being investigated by the State Attorney and the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Way to go, Ray!

In our opinion, however, the most heinous part of this whole sordid affair is that Ray Marin’s ruthless quest for power resulted in his callous betrayal of a 44-year friendship, which is now permanently destroyed.

Ray Marin met Kenny DeFillipo in 1974 when Kenny first moved to North Miami Beach.  They became fast friends.  Ray was first elected as a North Miami Beach Councilman in 1989 and then as Mayor in 2005.  Kenny became a Councilman in 1994 after former Councilwoman Sally Heyman stepped down to run for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.  Their friendship remained intact even after Kenny lost his seat in the 2007 election and Ray was voted out of office two years later.

In a family where public service is a time-honored tradition, Kenny’s son, Tony DeFillipo ran and won a seat on the City Council in 2013.  After serving on the Council for a few years, Tony made no secret of his aspiration to eventually become Mayor.

Ray Marin, who literally watched Tony grow up from the time he was a toddler, was one of the driving forces in Tony’s desire to serve the residents of the City of North Miami Beach – initially as an activist and then as a public servant.  Ray Marin had always encouraged his presumptive “protégé” to run for office.

Tony’s goal to run for Mayor was hastened by the unfortunate forced resignation of former Mayor George Vallejo earlier this year.  Nevertheless, Tony decided it was time to step up and follow his calling.

Instead of putting his full support behind the mayoral campaign of his lifelong friend’s son, someone who was like family to him, Ray Marin sold them both down the river by announcing his candidacy.

Those of us who view loyalty as the most revered of all virtues, cannot imagine anything more despicable than betrayal.

Ray Marin would have you believe that if elected, he will bring “ethics, honesty, integrity, trust of you and for you,” as he brashly crowed at a recent candidate forum in Washington Park.

Oh, REALLY?

How trustworthy is a man who can so cavalierly coerce a city employee into breaking the law and stab a friend in the back for political gain?

Ray Marin also boasted that there were no scandals or corruption at City Hall while he was in office.

We beg to differ.

Stay tuned.  More to come.

Stephanie