Miami city attorneys went rogue or were asked verbally to stop Joe Carollo recall

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The standard operating procedure at the city of Miami to start legal research for an opinion on something is called a “legal service request,” or LSR for short. Whether it’s a department director or a city commissioner, the paperwork is filed. That way, the office knows what department’s budget account to charge for the billable hours.

The research and work done for a month by Miami City Attorney Victoria Mendez and three of her assistants to try to stop the recall against Commissioner Joe Carollo was done without an LSR. So, that means either the attorneys went rogue on a track to thwart an electoral process, or they were given a verbal directive that was never transferred to an LSR.

It really could go either way. Ladra bets its the latter.

We already know that Commissioner Carollo — who is the target of an aggressive recall campaign with teeth — uses his staff, taxpayer funds and the code enforcement department to punish political enemies and promote his pals, like with the PaellaGate party for seniors in public housing that was really a campaign event for Alex Diaz de la Portilla in his failed bid for county commission. How much of a stretch is it to get the city attorney — whose job depends on three votes that he says he has now that his boyfriend was elected — to do his dirty work also? Some call that wing of the 9th floor the Law Offices of Joe Carollo, LLP.

Read related: Miami city attorneys conspired, created ‘cheat sheet’ to stop Joe Carollo recall

But, then again, Mendez may have also been, um, proactive in order to impress Carollo, who is obviously very important to her as she is desperately trying to protect him in a number of ways: from the recall, from the mayor’s veto power — which she has neutered and is the subject of another lawsuit — and from a former employee who wants to testify this week that Carollo made her lie about whistleblower Steven Miro and former Assistant Miami Police Chief and Doral Chief Richard Blom, former Carollo staffers who were fired and accused of sexual harassment in the office (more on that later).

Either way it spells disaster.

The verbal directive option is Ladra’s personal favorite because that would be mean Crazy Joe violated the law to secretly influence and impact an electoral process that affects him by using city resources — and maybe to commit witness tampering — which means Carollo can be suspended from office. Wouldn’t that be poetic justice? Party at the Suarez house! And no recall necessary.

The rogue option is still pretty bad. It could mean Mendez loses her job or her license. Several people have mentioned making a complaint to the Florida Bar. Ladra hopes she’ll throw Joe under the bus. Even Carollo can’t save Vicky’s job now.

JC Planas and David Winker, who represents the Take Back Our City political action committee that collected and submitted the petitions, told Ladra, say in their response to the city’s response to their lawsuit — to force them to turn the petitions over to the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections — which will be heard later today, that it may warrant a criminal investigation.

“[The] conduct in this matter is not only illegal, but perhaps even criminal,” reads the response, filed late Monday.

“While it had first been assumed from the initial rejection of the petitions by the City, that the City had merely just impulsively moved to calculate the time themselves and then reject the petitions, the discovery of the email chain between the City Attorney, Victoria Mendez and the cabal of assistants, dating back to before even the first petition was collected, demonstrates a nefarious attempt by the City Attorney from the inception of this process to interfere with an election.”

Planas, who was “heartbroken” by the discovery because he considers Mendez a friend, said she should have stayed out of the process and that their interference now is what Circuit Court Judge Alan Fine should focus on.

“She knows that Carollo is the key vote to save her job,” Planas told Ladra Tuesday morning, before a press conference and the afternoon hearing on the lawsuit against the city and City Clerk Todd Hannon.. “This is about self preservation. She interfered in an election to basically protect a commissioner to protect her job.

“This is the reason why a city is not allowed to make judgements on a recall. Because those people are dependent on the commissioners for their jobs,” Planas said. That’s why the state says turn it over to the county elections department.”

The email that supposedly “opened the matter in lieu of an LSR,” according to the documents custodian, Assistant City Attorney Jihan Soliman, was an email from Deputy City Attorney John Greco on Feb. 3 with a link to Doral’s 2013 ordinance limiting recalls to one attempt per elected per year. Yes, the one passed by the Doral city council when Carollo was the city manager.

“Please see the e-mail which was used to open the matter regarding recall. Accordingly, this fulfills the request you made today,” Soliman wrote. Two emails on two different days since then to confirm that there is no other LSR — one that started prior to Jan. 29, when Assistant City Attorney Kerri McNulty sent Mendez an email answering some of her questions about recalls and how to calculate the 30 days the Take Back Our City political action committee had to turn the petitions in — have not been answered.

Greco’s email seems to refer to the recall ordinance that was later proposed by ADLP which got a 3-2 approval from the Three Amigos on Feb. 24 and is up for second reading on March 26.

Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla wants to silence critics and limit recalls in Miami

“Please open new Legislative matter for assignment to George. George, please draft proposed ordinance for first reading on second meeting in February. See link below. Follow up with the CA,” Greco writes, referring to Mendez. And it seems he already knew someone would propose an ordinance for first reading later that month. So he didn’t come up with this all by himself.

The subject line on the email was “FW: Here is your 1 link from Doral, FL Code of Ordinances in the Municode Library.” The emails between the four city attorneys obtained by Political Cortadito through a public records request show that there was also research done on the Miami Dade recall limitation.

Where is ADLP’s LSR?

Even so, that’s just about the anti-recall ordinance. The “matter” that doesn’t seem to have an LSR is the whole conspiracy to thwart the recall process beginning Jan. 29, two days before the first petition was signed. As first reported here by Ladra on Monday, the city attorney’s office — which is supposed to represent the taxpayers and not any particular elected — conspired for a month to delay, stop and/or challenge the Carollo recall. In other words, they sold the citizens out to protect an elected.

Will Vicky Mendez fall on the sword for her man? Yeah, it’s possible. People have told Ladra that she is a good attorney and a self described friend says Mendez has Stockholm syndrome from Carollo’s abuse.

That’s why we need an independent law enforcement agency, like the FBI for example, to come in and subpoena Carollo and Vicky’s phone records. They need to seize her computer. They need to move on this now.

Maybe then, she’ll flip on him.

  Joe Carollo recall, Victoria Mendez