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part of the investigation where Pizzi, as city attorney of Medley, proposed that the city apply for the grant that he knew, by then, was bogus.
“The other concern is that some of the stuff was for his re-election campaign or PAC, and something that may have had to do with the toy drive,” he said, because some of the bribes were campaign contributions. “We do not believe that anything he was doing with those agents and with those grants had to do with the town of Miam Lakes.”
But wait a minute. Does the bribe have to go into the town coffers 
in order for it to be a bribe? They didn’t approach Pizzi with this scheme if he was just the city attorney of Medley. They wanted elected officials.
That’s when the public purpose part comes in. Even though the undercover agents told Pizzi that he might get some kind of survey out of the grant, there was no reason for Pizzi to believe the validity of this, Gastesi said.
“The agents told him that the grants were bogus, that it wasnt the proper scheme. If you take that into context and he knew that this was an improper scheme… how could a bogus scheme that you know is bogus going to have a public purpose,” he asked.
“Definitely the things he did in Medley were not for a public purpose in Miami Lakes,” Gastesi added.
Read related story: Michael Pizzi sues Miami Lakes for $3.2 million in legal fees
But wait just one minute. Because while Pizzi certainly wasn’t serving a public purpose — he was only looking out for himself — you can’t argue that the litigation wasn’t a public purpose, if by litigation they mean Pizzi’s prosecution. That was a public service for all of us! Including the good people of Miami Lakes.
Look, Ladra doesn’t want the town of Miami Lakes, or better said,
the taxpayers, to pay this bogus bill. But it’s pretty certain that Pizzi couldn’t have been indicted for bribery in a fake federal grant scheme if he wasn’t acting in his official capacity as mayor and performing his public duties. Or pretending to anyway. It was the very elected office that federal prosecutors said he used to get those $6,000 or so in bribes.
Pizzi, who was an activist attorney for 10 years before being elected to the Miami Lakes council 16 years ago, said that many lawsuits are amended multiple times. “Sometimes, you get a chance to plead additional things. When you amend it, you make it better,” he told Ladra.
“Thius dismissal thing is a technicality. An amended complaint will be filed that will satisfy the court,” Pizzi added.
“I’ve got good lawyers.”
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Judge dismisses Michael Pizzi lawsuit vs town for legal fees added by Ladra on
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