Another sign of support for Slick

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You know you’ve become a sort of political cause celebre — either the good or the bad kind — when you’re lucky enough to get on the sign outside M&M Liquors in Hialeah.

Robert Gewanter‘s neon poetry is pretty famous for his witty wallops on the bad kind: local, state and national political pobrecitos who give him the perfect opening. From presidents to presidential candidates, to governors to senators to city council members and, most recently, the U.S. Secret Service, they have all felt his sting. But tonight, the sign shines bright for one of Hialeah’s local political heroes: Firefighter paramedic Eric “Slick” Johnson, the Fire Union vice president and vocal critic of the administration who has been the newest target of political retaliation.

Johnson became the subject of an administrative investigation last week after an “anonymous” complaint reached the police department with copies of his Facebook family photographs taken completely out of context. The complaint, of which Ladra obtained a copy from another media outlet, is dated May 3 and obviously shows that there was political revenge motivating the anonymous source.

“Dear Chief

Enclosed are copies of a face book page entry made by City of Hialeah Fire fighter Eric Johnson on April 28, 2012.

I find this insulting, appalling and to me it looks criminal. Mr. Johnson continuously uses his personal page for political purposes in the name of the Department he Works for against the City he represents, and for him to post a page promoting drinking and its after effects on minor children is disgusting and reprehansible and most definitely shows a lack of common sense and sound judgement and it could be perceived that the City of Hialeah condones this type of behavior?

If you review Firefighter Johnson’s face book rantings, he sounds no better than the Miami-Dade Firefighter that got in to trouble recently over the Trayvon Martin F/B posting, just before the picture of his children with whiskey, he posts a 5 minute negative commercial on President Obama and just after his kids picture he posts about his kids underware and “freeballing”?

Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

It was signed “a concerned parent” and, aside from the atrocious spelling and grammar and apparent fear of punctuation on the writer’s part, clearly shows that it is politically motivated.

Even if it didn’t come directly from the Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez or one his cronies, the mayor should have, in that case, paused when he first heard of it. Instead, he called an impromptu press conference, tipping off only the “Castro-friendly” media. He should have quietly called Eric and his bosses to the office and he would have learned that the photos in the complaint — of his kids holding up sealed bottles of liquor in advance of a family vacation Hawaiian luau get together — was an innocent snap shot of redneck children “in training” as Johnson said in the post. And Eric can do that. Not just because it is his page and not just because he is their father, but because he is the redneck training them. Everybody in the universe, even Hernandez, knows that it’s one of Slick’s self-deprecating redneck jokes. But Hernandez also thought he could take advantage of this convenient “anonymous” complaint and attempt to tarnish this good man’s name so that Johnson’s political pow could be diminished and he’d be less of a threat. Not only in this upcoming election, in which Hernandez is involved up to his elbows, but when the mayor has to run again in 2013.

Little did “The Rock” — as he is known, and not for his muscles either — know that what at first blush seemed like an easy way to embarrass and taint Slick would backfire and explode in his face. Especially after one station floated the notion that there were concerns — there weren’t, the reporter invented them — that Johnson was racist for joking around about his inability to speak Spanish. When he said his system was to add Os to words in English so Spanish-speakers would understand him, he was making fun of himself, not the Spanish speakers. Everybody who knows Slick and his humor knows this. I suspect, even the a mayor, who really had not brought this angle up.

But instead of getting outrage from the community, all that Slick has gotten is support and encouragement — which, people, he doesn’t really need… you can stop, now. No, really, please. You are going to create a monster. There still has not been one negative comment, not one question raised of him or his abilities as a firefighter or as a father. Nothing but a chorus of atta-boys.

The latest of which, after yesterday’s anonymous political cartoon, is this liquor store sign on Le Jeune Road near the airport, for everyone to see.

Now, mark my words. Ladra fully expects some people to take issue with this, too. The raft rhyme is going to catch some attention and may even make it to the morning drive-time Cuban radio shows by Monday’s rush hour. And, frankly Robert, he’s not being investigated because he didn’t come on a raft. We all know he’s being investigated because he speaks his mind, he knows that there are some shenanigans going on at City Hall and he won’t shut up about it. Because he doesn’t support the mayor or any of the current council members and — as the complainant says — uses his platform on Facebook to express his discontent, which, last time I checked, is his constitutional right.

But I know that won’t fit up on the board. And you don’t have that many Es.

I hope people will take a breath and realize that the sign is not putting down rafters, just as Johnson does not discriminate against anybody. It is stating a very obvious point of view in a humorous way.

That seems to be going around.