Complaint on Coral Gables chief at pool party may have come from ex-manager

UPDATED: Guess who wrote that “anonymous” complaint nearly three years ago that landed Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak in hot water for a photo he took with 14 female police officers at a pool party outside the city. No, really, try.

It shocked many city insiders and employees at City Hall Thursday that the “anonymous” complaint to then City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark came from — drumroll, please — Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark herself. That’s what a two-year investigation into the politically-motivated witch hunt found after comparing the handwriting on the envelope to 21 city employees, according to a summary of the independent inquiry obtained by Political Cortadito.

“One employee file, Cathy Swanson–Rivenbark, was chosen for further examination as it was the most similar to the writing on the questioned envelope,” wrote Roberto Martinez, of Colson, Hicks, Eidson, who led the investigation. “Additional known writings of Ms. Swanson Rivenbark were then provided for comparison.

“The writings of Cathy Swanson–Rivenbark presented in the known documents are all consistent with one another and were all written by the same individual. Based on the formative, spatial, and proportional similarities that exist, it is highly probable that the writing on the envelope … was written by the same individual who wrote the Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark known documents,” the seven-page summary says, adding that the forensic specialist gave it an 8 on a 9-point scale.

“A nine–point scale is commonly used to express the degree of certainty in an opinion on handwriting analysis,” the summary states. “His conclusion of ‘high degree of probability’ is based on Number 8 of that scale, which states as follows: “8. Highly probable – The evidence is very persuasive, yet some critical feature or quality is missing so that an identification is not in order; however, the examiner is virtually certain that the questioned and known writings were written by the same individual.“

Bold and italics theirs, not Ladra’s.

Swanson-Rivenbark could not be reached for comment. But on Friday, her attorney Ben Kuehne sent a statement on her behalf.

“It is extremely disappointing that Ms. Swanson-Rivenbark is now the subject of a defamatory and politically-inspired attack intended to blemish her service to the community,” Kuenhe sent Ladra in an email.

“Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark is a longtime, credentialed public administrator who brought many accomplishments to the City of Coral Gables during her 25-year tenure, first as the City’s Economic Development Director and most recently as City Manager. While her fondness for the City is strong and she remains a proud resident, she has not been involved in Coral Gables government since 2018,” he said.

Yeah, well, the activities in question happened before that and led to her resignation. So what?

Hudak told Ladra he would let the investigation speak for itself. City commissioners are set to discuss it at the next meeting, which is going to drag the whole thing up again.

Hudak told Ladra he did not necessarily feel vindicated. “Honestly, I still feel bad for my family and I feel bad for my officers who had to go through this,” he said Thursday night. He couldn’t say more because the now not-so-anonymous letter is still part of an internal affairs investigation.

After some thought, Ladra is not terribly surprised that Swanson-Rivenbark may have done this. Not if you put all the pieces together.

Swanson-Rivenbark already had issues with the popular police chief, right from the very day the former Gables economic development director was rehired by the city in 2014, taken away from the City of Hollywood (which also had some anonymous complaints during her tenure). Or maybe even before — Hudak was in internal affairs when they investigated Swanson’s BFF, former Gables assistant city manager Maria Alberro Jimenez.

This is when, las malas lenguas say, this infamous grudge match began.

In one corner, we have a beloved police chief, a veteran of the City Beautiful’s department, who residents, business leaders and majority of the force support with overwhelming fervor. Political candidates would pay big money for this kind of loyal worship. In the other corner, we have a smart, Southern, municipal administrator, a mentee of former City Manager Jack Eads with an arrogant “I know best” manner and a rogue reputation that trails her from city to city. It’s so bad, in fact, that she now applies for municipal manager jobs as Catherine Swanson — because if you Google Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, all the bad shit comes up.

Hudak won. And Swanson-Rivenbark was forced to resign.

This was after the investigation into the aforementioned “anonymous” complaint exonerated Hudak — after all, he was invited to boost morale and nothing tawdry happened — Swanson-Rivenbark sorta lost it. She just couldn’t take the epic failure, or take such another ding to her image, and reprimanded him anyway. She couldn’t let him win.

Swanson-Rivenbark bent over backwards to antagonize and embarrass Hudak over and over again. She was out to get him fired or force him to resign from Day One. She didn’t make him permanent chief after she was hired, choosing instead to bring former Miami Police Lt. Frank Fernandez, her number two in Hollywood — where she was investigated for misspending $1 million without the commission’s permission — as an assistant city manager and director of public safety. A defacto police chief listed as the police department head on public documents. She wanted him so bad, she interfered with the city’s background check so negative information would not be included. She also tried to water down Hudak’s authority by naming two police co-chiefs, as it were. Then City Attorney Craig Leen had to tell her ‘Nana nina, you can’t do that.’

After that, she defended Maj. Theresa Molina, who was caught and disciplined for spying on active resident Maria Cruz, checking out her text messages over her shoulder, during a commission meeting. Hudak wanted Molina fired immediately. Swanson-Rivenbark worked out a settlement so that Molina could collect her six-figure salary while on suspension in order to retire with a full, maximized pension. In the business of government, that’s called “hush money.”

So, no, it’s not entirely shocking that Swanson-Rivenbark would be the source of the not-so-anonymous complaint. Who had most to gain from such a stunt? The scheme, however, backfired on her.

Ladra was not able to get a copy of the whole investigation. It’s 300 pages, said City Clerk Billy Urquia, and it’s not available digitally. That means we can get copies after we pay to redact them, but only on paper in person. He won’t scan the pages to send it via email, even though that is easy enough to do, because he doesn’t have to. It was provided to him on paper, he said, and he only has to provide it on paper.

But sources told Ladra that Kuehne– yeah, the same mobster lawyer who represented the likes of money launderers, former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi and, most recently, Miami Commissioner “Crazy Joe” Carollo — seemingly threatened the city (wink, wink, nod, nod) with a defamation lawsuit.

“Because the draft report contains a false conclusion regarding the printing on the envelope without first seeking the participation of Ms. Swanson–Rivenbark, we object to any dissemination or publication of the inaccurate report.” Kuehne wrote in a letter dated Nov. 6 of last year, demanding that their own forensic document examiner have a stab at it. Of course, his expert found that Swanson-Rivenbark “very probably did not write” her name and address on that envelope. Very probably?

One would think that simple DNA evidence from the envelope would provide “identification” without a doubt. But the original envelope was “lost,” sources said, and the handwriting sample was taken from a copy made of the envelope. There were no identifiable fingerprints on the complaint letter, which was typed, or the hard drive. But there was trace DNA on the photo (Ew! Did someone like it?) sent with the complaint — a male’s.

Well, nobody said she acted alone.

But it seems nobody bothered to get a swab from Fernandez.

Ben Kuehne, Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, Ed Hudak

Complaint on Coral Gables chief at pool party may have come from ex-manager added by Ladra on June 26, 2020
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