UPDATED: Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is not the most forthcoming guy. He seems to have a lot of secrets and doesn’t feel like he needs to explain anything to anybody. He does not volunteer information.
But, hey, you don’t get to be a millionaire by sharing all your secrets. His business is none of our, well, business.
Like that $4 million New York condo on Park Avenue he bought in 2011 using a corporation that he solely owns and that apparently was set up specifically to buy the Manhattan home. Neither the property nor the company is disclosed in his financial disclosure forms that he had to file when qualifying for the mayoral race. It’s none of our business!
In fact, there may a lot of companies that Phil Levine has not disclosed. Attorney Steve Cody — who has already produced three videos slamming Levine for his involvement in the shady Relentless for Progress political action committee — counted 31 registered corporations in which Levine is a principal that were not listed on his disclosure. It’s none of our business!
Read related story: New Steve Cody video jabs shady Miami Beach PAC
For the most part, it is. Florida law requires elected officials and candidates to disclose their financial interests so that we, the average voter, can know where their interests may lie and who they may really be representing. Or who signs their checks, anyway.
In this case, however, as clarified by former State Rep. turned attorney to the bad politicians J.C. Planas, the property was out of state and does not have to be disclosed. He also says that companies that produce no revenue for Mayor Levine do not have to be disclosed either.
It’s a fine line but it looks like he’s right. So what? I mean, he doesn’t have to disclose it but it’s still the right thing to do. Reminds Ladra of Congressman Carlos Curbelo, who hid his clients by putting his lobbying firm in his wife’s name. It gave him legal cover to keep private the list of people who paid him to lobby Congress, among other bodies (including one fugitive). This is the same kind of thing.
If there is no special interest at play here, why not just disclose everything? Especially if you always talk about transparency?
Hard to believe that Mayor Ego Levine would represent anybody but himself, but stranger things have happened. And remember, he took $1.4 million from contractors and developers with business in the city, so his own business ties become that much more important. And it becomes doubly important if, as Cody states in his “What’s Phil Hiding?” video, Levine keeps most of his investment money in a company he does not disclose.
Cody said he started digging for the records after Levine missed the Sept. 10 budget meeting.
“When Mayor Levine didn’t show up for the budget meeting, I thought it was strange. 
They were going to be taking up things like his $90,000-a-year driver, his growing office staff, and the expansion of the City’s PR office, all items dear to the Mayor’s heart.”
He wasn’t at any of his four campaign headquarters, as the video states. He wasn’t at any one of the dozens of properties he owns with partner Scott Robins.
“Someone tipped me that he had gone shopping in New York and was staying at this Park Avenue condo,” Cody said. “That caused me to start looking at the Mayor’s financial disclosures with a microscope. This is what I found.”
Among the items Levine has failed to disclose, documentation of which is included in the video:
- The $3.9 million condo in New York (he failed to disclose it in 2013 also)
- At least 31 corporations in which he is a principal
- Two loans he made as a mortgage lender for more than $1 million
“Phil Levine wants to keep Miami Beach voters in the dark. Phil broke the law. That’s what Phil’s hiding,” says the video message as the hopefully prophetic “Funeral March of a Marionette” plays in the background.
“What else is Phil hiding?”
That’s a good question. Ethics? A secret agenda? Inside deals? All of the above?
Levine might say ooops, he simply forgot to mention those items in his disclosure forms. His lawyer says they don’t have to. And what’s a little omission here when you’ve already practiced extortion and blackmail there.
Maybe voters should let Phil Levine conduct his business in secret, like he wants. But for that, he needs to stop being an elected official and they should vote him out of office.
Video: Philip Levine fails to disclose properties, LLCs added by Ladra on
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