I tried to ask Crazy Joe a question recently at a press conference.
It didn’t surprise me that someone as paranoid as Joe Carollo refused. He hid behind his unsubstantiated claim that Community Newspapers’ columns and videos about his anti-democratic management style and strong man instincts were about money.
The truth is that anyone that voices a different opinion from the Dictator-In-Waiting is called a communist or a paid troll. Neither is farther from the truth.
Our family has been in the media business for over 60 years. My brother Michael and I been in the newspaper business for over 38 years.
I grew up in a family where truth and punching the powerful in the jaw, when necessary, was the order of the day.
The bottom line is that we don’t have to answer to shareholders. We are private, family-owned and family-run media company with 11 newspapers, more than 400,000 subscribers to our newsletters and 40,000 “likes” on Facebook. We have weekly podcasts that feature Miami’s movers-and-shakers.
And, what have you’ve got to show for yourself? Since you won’t answer my questions, I’ll answer for you. You are the lead clown of a never-ending clown show that is turning Miami into the laughing stock of the state. There is a push to recall you that is gaining steam because you are a loudmouth bully with no method to your madness. Your bad temper and deviousness is like Russian roulette, you never know when you are going to go off, which degrades our discourse and undermines democracy.
Nobody is paying us off to go after you. We’re doing it because it’s our civic duty.
And frankly, it’s our pleasure.
Nobody else seems willing to take on your narcissism, your boorishness, and your corruption. (By the way, we know who paid YOU.)
You are a magnet for lawsuits. For some reason, the City pays for your outside counsel. In 2018, it looks like your legal tab cost Miami over $120,000. Let’s see how close you can push that total to 7 figures and how many more times a process server shows up at your door in 2020.
You pushed out Ultra and now they are back. So, what did you accomplish by forcing them to Virginia Key? You were either wrong then when you said they shouldn’t be downtown or you are wrong now to let them back.
If the other media outlets in town won’t call you out, they can hold our coats.
So, Joe, blow until your cheeks crack! Rage on. Blow!
We’re not backing down.
