Former, suspended, acquitted Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi — who was 
arrested in 2013 on bribery charges in a federal bogus grant scheme — says his not guilty verdict entitles him to serve the remainder of the four year term he was elected to in 2012.
“I don’t care if you think I’m the nicest guy in the world or if you think I’m an idiot, I’m the mayor of this town,” Pizzi told Ladra Wednesday.
Apparently, Mayor Wayne Slaton doesn’t see it that way and has refused to budge from his seat. Pizzi has filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court hoping a judge ousts Slaton, a founding mayor who was soundly defeated by Pizzi in 2012, won a special election to replace his nemesis in 2013 and has called a special meeting Friday for the town council to discuss the lawsuit and their response.
Despite a Supreme Court victory for Pizzi, which forced the revocation of the suspension by Gov. Rick Scott that Pizzi’s legal dream team says should automatically reinstate him to the mayor’s post, Slaton’s plan, apparently, is to dig in his heels.
“I want it to be clear, neither myself, nor the Council or anyone at Town Hall 
have the authority to allow Mr. Pizzi back into office,” Slaton said in a statement. “The two orders we have received from the Supreme Court and Governor Scott explicitly state my election to Mayor on 10/8/13 was a permanent replacement Mayor until November 2016. Neither Order nor the Town Charter provide the Town an avenue for reinstatement.”
Slaton will ask the council Friday to appoint (read: pay for) an attorney for him. “To represent me and protect the interests of the people who elected me in 2013,” he said.
In the statement, Slaton cited several passages from both the Supreme Court order and Scott’s executive order that refer to him as a permanent replacement and seem to specifically say that reinstatement was not a guarantee.
- “The permanent replacement mayor assumed office on October 8, 2013, and the new mayor’s term will run until the next regularly scheduled election in November 2016.”
- “In the order to show cause, this Court stated that it was not suggesting that the Governor is required to reinstate [Mr. Pizzi] to his former municipal office, which has been filled by operation of a special election in accordance with the Town’s charter.”
- “Section 2: In accordance with the above-mentioned Orders of the Supreme Court, this Order does not reinstate Michael Pizzi to the office of the Mayor of the Town of Miami Lakes, Florida”
Is that just semantics? Word play?
Prominent attorney Ben Kuehne, the alpha dog who leads Pizzi’s seven-headed legal defense pack, could not be reached late Wednesday to respond to the wording in the orders. But in a statement he issued Tuesday, Kuehne basically called Slaton a tyrant and his supporters a Banana Republic.
“Mayor Pizzi was exonerated,” Kuehne said. “In the United States, an acquittal has an important meaning. The refusal of the Town and Wayne Slaton to acknowledge the impact of the acquittal is nothing less than an attempted coupe d’état by a faction of the Town that prefers tyranny over democracy.
Read related story: Questions linger a year after FBI arrests two mayors
State Rep. Joe Geller was the Miami Lakes town attorney at the time of the Pizzi’s August 2013 arrest along with former, suspended, convicted former Mayor of Sweetwater Manny “Maraña” Maroño. And he said everybody knew back then, when they discussed the special election to elect someone to fill out Pizzi’s term, that there was always a possibility he would come back if he was acquitted. We had just seen then Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence Jones acquitted and returned to the dais, forcing out Rev. Richard Dunn, who had also been elected to replace her and fill out her term.
Geller also said that he and his brother, Steve Geller, told council members on the record to let them know that if any of them ran for the mayor’s post to fill the vacancy, they would not be able to return to their council position if the mayor was acquitted. Many observers speculate that is why Councilman Ceasar Mestre did not run, even though he said it was a family and business decision.
“That’s how I interpreted the law,” Geller told Ladra. “How can you terminate someone’s term of office if they are acquitted? We did render that opinion and I stand by my decision.”
He reminded Ladra that former Tamarac Commisioner Patricia “Partygirl” Atkins Grad — who was found not guilty of charges of bribery, official misconduct, receiving unlawful compensation, and conspiring to commit unlawful compensation after the FBI learned her victory celebration and leased BMW were paid for by developers — was also reinstated to her seat, before she ultimately resigned (we know that won’t happen here).
“There has never been [an elected] that has had their suspension revoked that has not been reinstated,” Pizzi said, adding that he just wants “to be treated fairly, like anybody else.”
And he includes reimbursement for his $18,000 a year salary and legal expenses, which Pizzi told Ladra on Wednesday he was covering himself, out of his underemployed pocket.
Read related story: Michael Pizzi and his legal dream team — at what cost to who?
“Right now, the legal costs are on me. The financing of the lawsuit is on me,” he said.
But he couldn’t tell me how much he had spent on his legal dream team so far.
“I don’t have the exact figure,” he said.
Ballpark, Mr. Mayor? He did not want to guess.
“I expect my legal fees to be reimbursed and will file the paperwork at the appropriate time,” Pizzi told me. “I want to get whatever I’m entitled to under the law, what anybody else would get.”
So as the two dueling mayors battle it out in a legal/political showdown, the ones winning here will be the attorneys involved. If Pizzi’s got seven, Slaton’s gonna want at least two. Maybe three. That would round it out to ten attorneys making what could amount to millions on the public dime.
Pizzi seemed genuinely shocked that Slaton was not stepping down and, simultaneously confident that he would be able to take him down.
“Our sentiment is, once the governor revokes the suspension, I’m back in office,” Pizzi told me. “What’s the problem here? The minute the governor revoked the suspension, this guy should have packed his bags and left. He’s looking ridiculous.
“How many times do I have to win in court? What do I have to do? Go to the United Nations?”
Miami Lakes: Pizzi speaks and Wayne Slaton digs in his heels added by Ladra on
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