North Miami Beach residents started receiving a colorful mailer asking them to sign a petition for “fair representation,” and falsely claiming that “four out of the six commissioners come from one section of North Miami Beach.”
The “section” this mailer is referring to is Eastern Shores, where three of the seven elected officials live — Fortuna Smukler, Phyllis Smith, and Lyn Su.
By flat out lying that “four out of the six commissioners” are from the more affluent part of the city, the individuals who sent out this mailer are attempting to start a class war in North Miami Beach.
But we already knew that.
The shady political committee behind this mailer, Stronger NMB, was created a month ago by a Tallahassee political consultant named Christian R. Cámara, who is also the Registered Agent, Chairperson, and/or Treasurer for numerous political committees in Florida.
Mr. Cámara is a former Chief of Staff and Legislative Analyst for the Florida House of Representatives, as well as the former Regional Field Director of the Republican Party of Florida and the former Executive Director of the Republican Party of Broward County. Like a multitude of Tallahassee political strategists, he is not necessarily involved in the day to day operation of any of the committees he “represents,” but merely a paid figurehead for the actual characters who operate them.
According to Stronger NMB’s Statement of Organization of Political Committee, the real political operatives behind this shady political committee are North Miami Beach residents Ariel E. Vasquez and Edouard St. Hilaire, and North Miami resident Ketha D. Otis.
Interestingly, Ariel E. Vasquez, who is the pastor at 3rd Day Church, has filed to run for office in the North Miami Beach 2026 Municipal Election in an attempt to unseat Commissioner Phyllis Smith.
Even more interesting is what this inauspicious mailer is not advertising to the voters of North Miami Beach. And, of course, the backers of this petition do not want you to read the fine print.
According to the Proposed Charter Amendment for Single-Member City Commission Districts, “the signers of this petition, pursuant to F.S. § 166.031, seek to propose a referendum to amend the Charter of North Miami Beach to create six single-member commission districts with staggered terms and to retain an at-large Mayor, providing fair, neighborhood-based representation.”
At least, that’s what the shady petition pushers want you to believe.
The real goal of this Charter Amendment proposal is clearly spelled out in the last sentence of the Summary on page 1 of the petition, which reads, “District elections and new term-limit cycles begin in 2028.”
On page 2 of the Proposed Charter Amendment, a single sentence is added at the end of Paragraph B of Article IV., Sec. 4-2, stating, “For purposes of the term-limit provisions of this Charter, the calculation of consecutive terms for the Mayor and Commissioners shall commence with the general election held in 2028, and service prior to that election shall not be counted.
In other words, even if an elected official has served two full four-year terms and is slated to be termed out by November of 2028, their record of service will literally be wiped out of the books and they will get do-overs.
This is nothing but a shameless power grab by the three Criminal Commissioners on the dais, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and Daniela Jean, who will all be termed out of office in November 2028.
Furthermore, as we already told you, two of these miscreants are already illegally serving a third term as it is.
If they are successful in getting this Charter Amendment passed, all three of these corruptocrats will be eligible to run again in 2028 AND 2032, which means they won’t be out of office until 2036!
It’s bad enough NMB residents are stuck with these criminals for two more years. Just imagine what would happen if they were allowed to keep destroying your city for TEN MORE YEARS!!!
There is no way North Miami Beach will survive this type of corruption on such a massive scale.
The real irony is that these are the very same people who are warning that President Donald J. Trump is going to subvert the Constitution and run for an illegal third term in 2028.
And yet, here they are doing the exact same thing they think the President is going to try to do.
We strongly urge the voters of NMB to reject this bogus petition and send a strong message to the corruptocrats behind it that you won’t be fooled again!
More to come…
Stephanie
Technically, Lynn Su resides in a condominium building located in Western Eastern Shores, a separate subdivision from Eastern Shores. Fortuna Smukler is term-limited and will vacate her seat this November, thus leaving the seat open to anyone the residents elect. This leaves one seat left in Eastern Shores should Phylis Smith be re-elected.
So come November, there will be only one elected official still sitting on the dais from the “one section” that is being vilified by the shady operatives behind the petition.
Got it!
Class envy is ugly indeed.
Their merely unwise boycott takes a new form, ignoring the history of boycott backlash. Thank them and our now-Mayor for delaying the 2023 special election from October to December, prolonging the grief for candidates Evan Piper, Paulé Villiard, and myself while Local 10 WPLG looked for our voters at the Publix…in Skylake Mall? Their reporter mistook the Mayor’s lawyer for public comment. We have real class conflict, but Mail Fraud will not help.
This petition makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The current makeup of the City Commission is directly related to who stepped up and decided to run for office. No one is telling anyone they are not eligible to run. So, in reality the burden is on those “under represented districts” to find qualified candidates who will campaign and participate in an election like any other candidate. Problem solved. The accusation that there is any kind of deliberate inequality is just dumb (and unnecessarily divisive). Whoever is behind this petition shows a lack of common sense by not thinking it through and a lack of leadership by placing the blame on something they themselves can easily change during an election cycle. It’s called taking responsibility (instead of complaining and pointing fingers). Further, the scheme to extend the terms for current elected officials as far out as 10 years is outrageous. I do hope the residents of NMB do not fall for this fear mongering and propaganda.