Miami Beach Mayor 
Philip “Fix It” Levine is a millionaire media mogul who bought his election and, in his spare time, bullies bloggers, the general media and city employees.
Now, he’s also an author.
At a neighborhood breakfast meeting at Manolo’s in North Beach Tuesday morning, Levine presented and signed copies of his new coffee table tome, “The Journey — Levine for Mayor Campaign 2013.”
Really. I kid you not.
Ladra was going to go out right away and buy a copy, to see what kind of revisionist history he may have put in this political thriller. But, lo and behold, it isn’t available at your local Barnes & Noble. Books & Books ain’t got it. And you won’t find it on Amazon.
Apparently, Levine is giving them away.
What does that tell ya?
Can I have one? Ladra called his office and also asked for his chief of staff, Alex Miranda, and has not heard back from them. But I promise to write a proper review as soon as I get my paws on it.
Related story on Random Pixels: Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is now a published author!
Levine apparently thinks he is as relevant as a Kennedy or Barack Obama and features his own signature orange 
sneakers on the cover of the book. You know? Since he walked the beach and knocked on so many doors.
But he still only won the election with less than half a point over the 50% mark in a four-way battle where he outspent the No. 2 runner up, former Commissioner Michael Gongora, about 10 to 1.
Is that the first chapter in his “journey” text? “Make sure you have a couple of million laying around first.”
Gongora didn’t know about the book when Ladra called for his reaction “It’s difficult for me to comment on a book I haven’t seen. But I’m curious to read the book. I don’t understand if its a biography or a campaign piece.”
Ladra has her own questions. Fiction or non fiction? Did he use a ghostwriter? How much did it cost him to self publish? And did he use his own money? Not city funds or campaign account surplus? I’m almost certain he did, but I gotta ask.
Oh, to own your own publishing house! Levine’s book is probably published by OnBoard Media, his very own publishing company, since nobody with any real writers’ credentials was writing his story the way he wanted it told.
But is he true to the real story of the 2013 election?
Is there any reference, for example, to how Levine derided Steve Berke, a mayoral candidate who came in third and who was filming a documentary during the campaign, and claimed his campaign was a gimmick to sell a reality show. Who has the gimmick now, eh?
“The mayor should have called his vanity publication, “The Checkbook: How Philip Levine bought the Miami Beach Mayoralty in 2013,” Berke said, making Ladra wish she had thought of that.
“Ultimately, Philip Levine is a shameless self-promoter. He is constantly bragging on his Facebook page about the ‘good works’ he is doing, while using everyone from Miami Beach lifeguards to the MBPD to enhance his image. He went to the VFW on Memorial Day and stepped up to unveil the new mural even though he wasn’t invited to do so by the organizers — it was supposed to be done just by the old war veterans. But this is the Levine way,” said Berke. His MTV2 documentary on the lack of transparency in the election process — tentatively titled “The After Party” — will air in October, just in time for the state and county elections, he said.
“It is amusing, however, to think that Levine did everything he could to prevent cameras capturing the truth of the 2013 campaign. Now we know why,” Berke told Ladra. “He is so insecure that he’s attempting to paint a picture of himself as man of the people and the savior of Miami Beach, rather than a mini-me sized oligarch who just presided over the weakest July 4th fireworks display in a generation.”
Berke hasn’t read Levine’s book yet either, but he is betting his documentary paints “a very different picture than the story he is trying to craft.”
Miami Beach Phil “Fix It” Levine authors coffee table book added by Ladra on
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