Miami Beach Commissioner Jonah Wolfson announced Thursday that he was going to 
close down the shady Relentless for Progress political action committee he chairs and has been championing and defending for months.
He says he will return whatever is left of the $1.4 million they had collected as of the end of July on a pro rata basis.
Doesn’t that only prove that we were right? That it was dirty money all along?
The controversial PAC has come under fire because it takes donations almost exclusively from vendors, contractors and developers with business or interest in doing business in the city — and despite a city ordinance that prohibits lobbyists or city vendors from contributing directly or indirectly to any candidate campaign.
Read related story: Ethics commission looks into Miami Beach shady PAC
“Recently, I created a Political Action Committee called Relentless for Progress in order to
continue to fight for good government issues as I neared the end of my term as a City Commissioner,” Wolfson wrote in a press release announcing the shut down of the shady PAC.
“After some heated debate as well as much personal reflection, I have made the decision to close the PAC. The PAC was legal, ethical and appropriate. Fundraising from stakeholders is a practice that has been going on throughout the country in local, state and federal elections for years. Our nation’s highest court has ruled that it is protected free speech,” he wrote.
“However, Miami Beach must be better. Miami Beach is a leader. As President John F. Kennedy once said, ‘leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.’ As a result, I will close the PAC and refund all money remaining in the account.”
So Wolfson, not known for having an open mind, is suddenly listening to everybody else?
His fellow commissioners Deede Weithorn and Ed Tobin questioned the ethics of having Wolfson and Mayor Philip Levine personally telephone these special interest and solicit funds as they come before he city for one thing or another, and Wolfson attacked them.
WPLG Local 10’s Michael Putney called it sleazy and questioned the ethics of it, and Wolfson blasted him in a full page ad in the Herald — three times — calling one of our veteran TV journalists unprofessional and sleazy.
Read related story: Miami Beach: Levine and Wolfson on defense for shady PAC
Now you’re going to tell me he’s come full circle and not only understands but agrees with us? I don’t buy it. More likely the donations dried up after the media attention. Remember, he did complain that the criticism had hurt fundraising efforts.
Or maybe he realized that the PAC was backfiring, as Ladra has reported. Instead of helping them win over votes for the three hand-picked candidates that Levine wants to stack the commission with, the PAC was causing voters to wince, whine and walk. Activists like Frank Del Vecchio, who supported Levine in 2013, blasted it and distanced themselves from him. It sparked an Ethics Commission investigation.
It’s entirely possible that Levine ordered Wolfson to shut the PAC down already. After all, the mayor is the one who has something to lose: his seat. The PAC had turned some voters against them. But Wolfson is termed out. And
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