Miami govt uses suspect 'anonymous' dossier to retaliate vs activist attorney

UPDATED: Once again, the city of Miami has weaponized its code enforcement office to go after a perceived “enemy.” This time it’s activist attorney David Winker who has won several lawsuits for residents and is currently representing the group trying to recall Commissioner Joe Carollo.

How long do you think before Winker sues them on this?

A city inspector posted a notice of several violations on Winker’s Shenandoah house on Friday morning: Operating a business out of a residence, having an illegal unit and having work without permits or open permits.

Nope. Uh-uh. And nananina. Not one of those things is true.

What makes this shady rather than just a clerical error is that it comes on the heels of a 96-page dossier deep dive into Winker’s life, properties, traffic history and social media, allegedly submitted by an “anonymous” single parent that lives in his neighborhood. But it reads and looks more like the stuff of “opposition research” typically done by lawyers and private investigators working for politicians and candidates in campaigns. Winker is not a candidate. But he is making a lot of politicians sweat.

In a two-page letter signed by a “concerned citizen” — more likely carefully crafted by Carollo and committee — the “anonymous” single parent with the legal experience, so much know-how on pulling public records and free time to stalk people on Twitter, calls Winker an “opportunist” and addresses the elected officials as “honorable,” which, really, only elected officials and their lackeys do.

“When you think of Attorney David J. Winker you think of a disheveled heavy-set man, who apparently means well. That is not the case at all. He came onto the City of Miami scene about two (2) years ago by purportedly calling out the City of Miami and its elected officials on everything under the sun; from the soccer deal to building code violations, ethics issues to task force appointments, recalls to settlements, etc. Unfortunately, he is just a vicious individual.”

How is any of that “vicious?” It’s freaking heroic. Winker should get a medal and a GoFundMe account for standing up for the little guy against political corruption, cronyism and abuse of power.

It is followed by exhibits — no joke, “Exhibits” A through J — which strongly indicates, as well as some of the language, that the “anonymous” complaint was written by an attorney making a case. Exhibit J is the Miami permit history on which the notice of violations is likely, and still erroneously, based. Exhibit A is a collection of “social media assaults” that include Winker’s tweets (some taunts) and retweets (including a couple by yours truly) which proves absolutely nothing except that he’s good at promoting his legal prowess. It’s not only legal and ethical, it’s also smart to become an internet influencer. Surely he’s gotten a lot of new clients since he became Miami’s superman attorney. And his causes have gained grass roots support.

Which is exactly what the problem is for whoever hired the attorney and PI who dug up these alleged “dirt packages,” as they are being called among City Hallers. Winker is a respected lawyer who is on a winning streak against the city and Carollo. He is even representing a city staffer that is testifying on behalf of Steven Miro, the former Carollo chief of staff who was fired after he blew the whistle on PaellaGate.

Miami city attorneys moved unsuccessfully to disqualify Winker and tried to stop the woman’s testimony, which was that Carollo forced her to lie about Miro and Richard Blom. Winker has also raised a conflict of interest by Carollo’s attorney Ben Kuehne, who is both representing the city in the lawsuit against the county for more voting sites and suing the City Clerk on behalf of his commissioner client. Oh, and Winker also recently filed an ethics complaint against Crazy Joe for using the city to pay for his own legal fees.

So, yeah, they’d like to get rid of him.

Ladra suspects these code violations on Winker’s house may only be the first salvo of a smear attack which intends to nick away at his credibility. Or make him go away. In between A and J there are exhibits about a tax lien and another about a traffic ticket that Winker got in June as he left the Community Newspapers office in South Miami — which is not written on the citation so it indicates that somebody has been tailing him.

Creepy. This has all the trappings of an investigation by elected and/or city officials of a private citizen for political purposes. And how is the client paying for this research?

We can’t believe any of it because none of the code compliance violations are true. Winker’s property files at both the city and Miami-Dade County show the home has a “mother-in-law quarters,” that, according to the tax rolls, is fully legal and was permitted long before he bought the home in 2012. He has never rented it, or any portion of the house, out.

There are no open permits at the house on 17th Street near Shenandoah Park. There are two closed electrical permits from 2012 and a plumbing permit from 2015. All indicate on the city’s own website that the inspections were finalized and the permits are closed. There is a roofing permit that was applied for last month that hasn’t even been opened yet, as it is still under review.

And Winker — who has an office in downtown Coral Gables and a county occupational license at that address — might spend some morning hours at work on a laptop on his kitchen table. But who doesn’t? Especially these days. In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused many office buildings to close and many people to work from home, the city is going to cite someone for, um, working from home? Isn’t that what the commissioners and Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez are asking us to do?

Isn’t City Attorney Victoria “Tricky Vicky” Mendez working from home? Did she get a violation? Ladra saw Commissioners Keon Hardemon and Manolo Reyes zoom meeting from home? Do they have occupational licenses?

It’s not only city employees but teachers and lawyers and judges are all working from home. Do all of them have to get an occupational license?

No, said Mendez.

“There is a difference with having an illegal home office without proper permits and licenses in a residential area pursuant to our code and simply working from home during the pandemic (while your properly permitted/licensed everyday office is located elsewhere),” she wrote in an email to Ladra.

So what’s with these four violations about a home office that doesn’t exist? Doesn’t code enforcement have something better to do?

“The irony of the City, who cannot even force developers to abide by basic setback rules, going after people forced to work from home, is thick,” said Winker, who sued the city on behalf of Grove homeowners fighting a developer’s defiance of zoning codes.

Alas, that’s exactly the problem. It’s not his house, it’s him.

Winker is becoming a big pain in the ass to the powers that be, taking the city head on for the last couple of years, filing ethics complaints and lawsuits to expose the unregistered lobbyists for Miami Freedom Park, to fight displacement and gentrification and preserve the setbacks for homes in the West Grove and, neither last nor least, to represent the people who want to recall Carollo. Ladra thinks the timing — just after he almost single-handedly killed the Miami 21 task force padded with special interests — is not a coincidence.

Let there be no doubt that this is much like a mafia message: Get out of our business or else.

“The blatant lack of factual basis for any of the allegations raises obvious questions about why this letter was sent without any due diligence. There appears to be no other explanation than the notice of violation is politically motivated,” Winker said.

This is reinforced by how it happened. It wasn’t like someone came up to check if there was an illegal unit or office at the home and say, “Hey, you need a license for that.” No. The heavy-handed notice cites $525 in potential daily fines, the possibility of a foreclosure and arrest if he continues to “operate a business” in his home. It further states that “an inspection of the above property” took place.

But the city inspector, Jason Mignot, never went inside. In fact, he never knocked on the door, Winker said. He sneaked up, posted the notice of violation and then tip-toed away hurriedly, hoping nobody would notice.

Winker was actually home, online with his Christian men’s bible group of all things, when he heard some scuffling outside his house. He thought it was groceries that had been dropped off. A few minutes later, his daughter came up and said, “Papi, there’s a big sign on the door.”

He called Mignot on the cellphone number listed in the violation notice, no more than a few minutes after the inspector left the house. Five times. Winker got no answer. He finally left a message. “Come back! Come back and I’ll let you in to do the inspection you said you did and didn’t do,” Winker said he told him.

So, while Commissioner Carollo refused last year to let inspectors into his Coconut Grove home, where he really lives (outside his district), Winker is inviting, no practically begging, the inspector to come back and look inside his house.

“I have nothing to hide,” Winker told me. “I don’t have an office here. I have a 7-year-old. My house is a mess. This idea that I’m going to bring clients to my house is insane.”

He has, however, had city of Miami officials in his Coral Gables office.

Ladra has requested the original complaint or impetus for this “inspection” that never happened and any public records about the alleged violations at Winker’s home. Mignot did not call me back either and Director of Code Compliance Adele Valencia did not return an email.

Nobody answers the phone at her office. Maybe they’re working from home. Maybe they’re pouring over a 90-some page dossier.

David Winker, Joe Carollo, Miami 21

Miami govt uses suspect ‘anonymous’ dossier to retaliate vs activist attorney added by Ladra on August 10, 2020
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