Oh, the irony!
Millionaire businessman Philip Levine, who wants to be mayor of Miami Beach, had a press conference Wednesday to refute accusations that he seeks to silence critics and quash questions he doesn’t like, deciding for himself (read: decided for him by his handlers) who is a journalist and who is not.
Or at least I think that’s what he did. I wasn’t there. Ladra was kicked out of the event where he professed to respect First Amendment rights to defend himself from recent allegations to the contrary.
Or at least that’s what I was told he did.
Because as Levine spewed his well-crafted message and went through his talking points before the cameras, one reporter was left standing outside on the sidewalk after his campaign gopher and attack dog-in-training, Alex Miranda, tossed me from the Royal Media building on Alton Road.
“Only credentialed media,” he told me, moments before he let a Miami Herald reporter who forgot his ID up to the second floor show.
Miranda didn’t always feel this way. He told me he was a fan of the blog when I met him during Dade Days in Tallahassee, where he worked for State Rep. Carlos Trujillo.
Several supporters in blue and white Levine campaign t-shirts also were allowed to attend, to fill in the room I suppose. I don’t know. I wasn’t allowed to go in and listen to what the candidate for public office had to say about allegations that he won’t face the media and instead does all his talking through prepared statements or his handlers’ statements, as evidenced by today’s Miami Herald story.
A TV reporter told me on the way out — because I waited to see if I could learn what Levine said — that he asked why I had not been allowed inside. He had seen Miranda block me from entering. He captured video of it. I hope they show it on TV. Levine’s response was that I was a “paid political assassin.”
My first thought, of course, is where can I apply? Because I would be kick ass. But, of course, I would only take hits on the bad guys.
My second thought is where can I file a complaint about that?
Because, in truth, this is a well-worn lie meant to deflect any attention from the real issue — which is that he wants to be coddled by the media. Any questions about an anti-Hispanic campaign or allegations of unfair business practices in Alaska or the million dollars he has poured into his campaign are unwelcome and, el colmo ya, can draw threats or even legal action to stop them.
Former State Rep. JC Planas, Levine’s attorney, has gone so far as to threaten to file charges of stalking against me with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office because I contacted the candidate once, the first time ever really.
Levine’s invitation-only press conference was responding to an earlier press conference in which I took part to denounce these very tactics, as well as the use of government entities like the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust and the Florida Department of Elections to file baseless complaints in order to chill any critics, skeptics or outright supporters of the opposition. I stood there with Mayor Matti Bower and Commissioner Michael Gongora, another mayoral candidate, who have the professionalism and basic courtesy to treat me with respect, despite the fact that Ladra may have spanked them for something or other.
Read related post at Miami Beach Outlook: Miami Beach News Roundup – October 30, 2013
Unlike Mr. Millionaire, who is apparently used to just bossing everybody around, they respect my first amendment rights and understand that as public officials, they are going to come under public scrutiny that is not always very gentle or nice.
Gongora stood with fellow mayoral candidate Steve Berke, whose cameras have also been banned from events, in a rare united front against what the commissioner correctly called campaign bullying.
Bower and Gongora said they had never seen such a campaign on the Beach. “Never in the history of Miami Beach has there been such a divisive, mean-spirited, nasty campaign as we have seen in the mayoral election,” Gongora said.
Berke outed the Levine cameraman in the room — something you don’t read about in the other press, yes, Levine had a camera man in the room — and noted that he was welcome to film every word of the press conference in the interest of transparency. Be still my beating heart.
“He’s a flat-out liar and I’m not afraid to call him a liar,” Berke said, and I can attest to that if he said I was paid for this because I don’t see any checks coming in. “If Mr. Levine wants to sue me for calling him a liar..bring it.”
Alex Fernandez, who was hit with a complaint through the Florida Elections Department for sending a personal letter and “voting guide” about his choices, talked about how other people had done the same thing — sending emails supporting Levine without political disclaimers that are not necessary unless they are getting paid — and had not been cited with complaints.
“The intent to silence my freedom of speech is undemocratic, unconstitutional, and repressive. I simply exercised my first amendment right to endorse a candidate and Mr. Levine’s response was to have his attorney slapped me with a complaint,” Fernandez told me after the first press conference.
“Levine’s tactics mimic those of the repressive regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. Unfortunately the media is too afraid to be sued by the Levine campaign and aren’t reporting it,” he named outlets such as Univision Radio reporting this.
“If Levine is filing ethics complaints against residents now because he doesn’t agree with their opinions, will he do the same as Mayor?”
And that is a very legitimate question.
What happens if politicians or, God forbid, elected officials begin to decide who has the right to free speech and who does not, who can be a journalist and who can’t? You know, like they do in Cuba and other repressive governments. Like Hialeah.
It’s a slippery slope that leads to a tattered and compromised free press, one of the pillars of our democracy.
And this guy wants to be mayor?
Heaven help us all. And saying that doesn’t make me a PAC, either.
Political disclaimer: This blog post was approved by Ladra, aka Elaine de Valle, and nobody else and was not paid for by any political candidate for any office or any PAC or any ECO or any non-profit or any consultant or anybody else nor was it written by any handlers.
Phillip Levine goon boots Ladra from 1st Amendment event added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →