Newspaperman Gideon John Tucker once wrote “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” In South Miami, that maxim could be rewritten to say: “The City treasury’s not safe with Philip Stoddard in office.”
Readers of this paper are well aware of Stoddard’s ethics problems. He was fighting two complaints made against him before the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and the Public Trust.
The latest one involved his debating and then voting on a resolution to have the City cover the costs of his attorneys’ fees in the first ethics complaint. Stoddard threw in the towel on that one, admitting that there was probable cause to find that he violated the County’s ethics ordinance which should have kept him from participating in the vote on his legal fees.
The Ethics Commission voted to issue a “strongly worded” letter of instruction to Stoddard educating him on the law and admonishing him not to do it again.
Stoddard is still struggling with a way to pay for his legal fees on the first ethics complaint when he wouldn’t allow a citizen to speak because he feared what might be said could damage him politically in his reelection bid.
The Ethics Commission found probable cause that he violated both the County and City Charters with the very real possibility that it could lead to his removal from office. Phil refuses to settle and is insisting on a full evidentiary hearing.
And that’s going to cost money — a lot of money. Led by Commissioner Josh Liebman, the Commission, with Phil out of the room this time, voted not to fund his defense.
That led Phil to contact the City’s insurer and put in a claim. He’s no stranger to the insurance policy. The insurance company is already providing him with lawyers in two cases where he is alleged to have defamed persons on his personal blog.
For the newest claim, the insurance company said that there might be coverage. The catch? The City had to put up $75,000 to cover the deductible.
In the light of the vote by the Commission not to pay for his defense, that seemed like an easy call. But nothing is ever easy in the City of Pleasant Living.
City Manager Steve Alexander arranged for the City to hold a meeting of the Commission on October 22nd out of the sunshine, using a quirk in Florida law that allows closed meetings in certain cases.
Sources tell me that Alexander told the Commissioners that the City would be paying the $75,000 deductible to the insurance company, because that is what Phil Stoddard wanted. The Commissioners had no say in it. And the City would pressure the insurance company to hire Stoddard’s lawyer, Benedict Kuehne, rather than using one of the firms the company normally uses.
The reason? Alexander told the Commissioners that Stoddard knew that Kuehne has a good relationship with Ethics Commissioners and could get him a better result. That, evidently is why the City will be paying $75,000. To keep Phil in the Mayor’s chair, whether he belongs there or not.
To Stoddard, it’s not about what he did. It’s about who his lawyer knows.
There’s one catch in all of this. The City is only allowed to meet out of the sunshine when it is a party to litigation. But the City isn’t a party to the Ethics Commission complaint — only Stoddard is.
The hidden discussion they had should have been done out in the open and broadcast on the City’s cable system. Hiding it was illegal. Here’s hoping someone comes forward and sues, making the City cough up the transcript so we can all read what went on for ourselves.
And the Commissioners who were pulled into that meeting should put another resolution on the agenda and tell the City Manager not to write a check for the deductible.
It’s time that Phil Stoddard, and not the City’s taxpayers, pay to clean up the Mayor’s mess.
On October 31, 2018, the city manager of South Miami, Steven Alexander, sent in the following email:
The statement from your recent story implies that I recommended the payment due to the Mayors wishes is not true. I request a retraction or correction.
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