Miami Beach candidates shy away from mayor's shady PAC

A newbie commission candidate in Miami Beach is taking a cue from the growing public disgust over a shady PAC financed by special interests and championed by Mayor Philip Levine and its chairman, Commissioner Jonah Wolfson.

Mark Samuelian, who is running in group VI, made the Relentless for Progress PAC part of his campaign over the weekend when he released a statement about “not accepting contributions directly or indirectly from Miami Beach prohibited developers, vendors, lobbyists or their PACs, including Relentless For Progress.”

“I think we need a strong voice for our residents and I do not that a PAC funded by special interests is in the best interest of our city,” Samuellian told Ladra.

Of course, RFP doesn’t exist to help him. It is there to support the mayor’s slate, which in this group is John Elizabeth Aleman.

But she, too, has emailed a statement to voters saying that she has not received any funding from the Relentless for Progress PAC and claiming that she is being unfairly smeared in connection to it. Not that she wouldn’t take any, mind you, just that she hadn’t yet.

Apparently, people are becoming more aware of the shady PAC. Recent stories about the PAC, the mayor’s slick TV ads and then the drama heightening this week with the little feud between Wolfson and veteran TV journalist Michael Putney apparently have turned the PAC into kitchen conversation in Miami Beach. Samuellian told Ladra that a lot of people he talked to were concerned about it. “People on the Beach have always had concerns about outside influences,” he said.

Aleman told folks in her email that the issue of the PAC had come up knocking on doors. “Aside from local quality of life issues like traffic and parking that people care about and expect their future City Commissioner to address, questions occasionally pop up related to ‘political action committees’ and ‘slates,'” she wrote.

“Regarding political action committees, none have donated to my campaign and to date none have supported my election effort,” she said in the email, which says it is paid for through her own account. “However, I have been the victim of false and misleading email attacks by a shadowy group, headed by a Palmetto Bay resident that had his license suspended for ethical lapses by the Florida Bar (as recently reported by The Miami Herald). I hope that our community stands up against those illegal and non-transparent groups and the individuals behind them.”

She is referring to Steve Cody and his PAC, which he uses at leisure to expose issues in different campaigns. He isn’t being paid by anybody. He’s just a political junkie with too much free time and creative energy. Besides, what Cody says about not knowing how much of her consulting by David Custin is being paid for by the PAC is absolutely true. Didn’t Wolfson admit that the PAC would be used to help elect candidates he and the mayor approved of? Yes, he did, by the way.

A third candidate in this race, Jeff Cynamon, withdrew, making this contest a real race between the mayor’s recruit — no matter what she says — and an independent candidate. This difference could help Samuelian. People are increasingly sick and tired of the PAC’s very obvious conflict of interest and the mayor’s and Wolfson’s continued and ridiculous denial.

It will likely also help that his truly grass roots campaign has 2,000 petition signatures to put him on the ballot. That’s more than twice the 898 voters he needed and, Samuellian says, the largest amount of petition signatures gathered by a candidate in Miami Beach history. Candidates must qualify by Sept. 11 with either the required number of signatures or a $1,020 check.

Samuelian has the signatures — and a sense of humor, as shown in his first web video, which pokes fun at his name. The video shows several people trying to pronounce his name, and no it is not salmonella.

“My name might be complicated, but my vision is simple. A better Miami Beach for all of us,” Samuelian says at the end of the 15-second spot posted on Facebook.

Not paid for through any PAC.

Miami Beach candidates shy away from mayor’s shady PAC added by Ladra on August 24, 2015
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