Lies on public comments just tip of slips for Miami Attorney Victoria Mendez

Covering Joe Carollo could include witness tampering

Tricky Vicky Mendez gives municipal lawyers a bad name.

Time and time again, the Miami city attorney shows that she really is only there to protect and represent corrupt city commissioners — particularly her favorite, Commissioner Joe Carollo — and not the residents whose tax dollars pay her $250,000 plus salary.

And in the process, Mendez breaks the very laws she is supposed to uphold.

The most recent example is her violation of the First Amendment when she silenced more than 360 people who had called and left voice mail messages last month about an amendment to beef up the noise ordinance. The city set up a phone number for remote public comments and got eight hours worth. Mendez told commissioners they didn’t need to hear it because they were scripted and all the same and she had gotten an opinion from the attorney general that all she needed to do was have one of her lackeys read a summary into the record.

“They’re all pretty much exactly the same public comment,” she told commissioners at the Nov. 19 meeting.

Turns out, it was all lies.

The comments were not all scripted. Not even close. Sure, there was obviously a really bad script read by some. But a lot of the people who called did not even leave substantially similar messages. There were heartfelt, personal stories shared by citizens who thought their words might make a difference with the decision makers.

And Mendez never got an opinion from the attorney general herself, but rather a third hand account from an assistant city attorney who spoke to someone in AG Ashley Moody‘s office who went through an impromptu verbal exercise to answer what she probably thought was a rhetorical question. No written official opinion was issued.

Because “time was of the essence,” the city said it just got a verbal opinion over the phone.

But it wasn’t even that, said Pat Gleason, Moody’s special counsel for open governments, the one on the telephone with the assistant city attorney.

“My comments are neither a formal nor informal opinion,” she is quoted as saying, adding that there is a specific process for seeking opinions from the attorney general. “Nor could I provide legal advice. But I’m perfectly willing to talk with you about it.”

So what was it? Basically? Chop talk.

Don’t think for a minute that Tricky Vicky didn’t know this. Text messages between her and assistant city attorneys John Greco and Xavier Alban show that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with obtaining what she knew would be a flawed verbal supposition, not an opinion.

“I was NOT making that call myself,” she texts the two lackeys, which obviously shows she doesn’t want to touch this blatant censorship with a ten foot pole. Does this give her plausible deniability? How about, no?

What’s more telling is the texts show the city attorney’s office went out of their way, once again, to thwart the democratic process. Or did they choose to condense public comment all on their own? Is that their job? Or did someone (read: Carollo) ask them to censor everyone?

Doesn’t matter. Because Mendez had to know it wouldn’t fly.

A group of residents whose calls were ignored during that Nov. 19 public meeting — after being told to leave comments in voice mails for the commissioners to hear — have filed a lawsuit, claiming their first amendment rights were violated. One of them also filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. Let’s see if that goes anywhere.

Issues with freedom of speech seems to be a pattern with the city. Ball and Chain, the Little Havana bar that targeted with the stronger noise ordinance language, has already filed a federal civil rights lawsuit because of the intense harassment they have received as political retaliation. See? They once hosted an event for the guy who ran against Carollo. And the commissioner has decided that they will pay for it.

Tricky Vicky has been carrying water for Crazy Joe since shortly after that 2017 election. Several people call the 9th floor at the Miami Riverside Center the Carollo & Associates P.A. firm. Several staffers have said that she herself describes her job as providing legal cover for whatever commissioners want to do.

Remember the “cheat sheet” Mendez created earlier this year to stop, delay or challenge the recall effort against Carollo? She went out of her way and enlisted her entire office to research and formulate arguments against the recall, focusing on the timing, which is what they ended up challenging, for a full month before the recall petitions were turned in. On the taxpayer’s dime. Against the 1,900 plus voters who signed the petition.

She won’t admit it was at Carollo’s behest. Because that would be more evidence of abuse of power against him.

Instead, she led what amounted to a conspiracy to thwart the legally established recall process and Mendez should have faced discipline then. But who’s going to punish her for bad behavior that protects her bosses? Not her bosses. Commissioner Ken Russell tried that once upon a time and got zero support.

When Yo-Yo Man was first elected, he said Mendez advised him to use Sprint for his cellphone service, because they erase text messages faster than other providers. That’s how she does her job to protect electeds. He also accused her of helping a developer split a single property into five separate lots to build five separate homes. He said emails show she helped secure a permit for the controversial project, Battersea Woods.

She first held back those emails and she has been accused of illegally holding back public records from a number of citizens, including Grant Stern, a local activist who fought the midtown Walmart, and Steve Miro, a former employee suing the city for wrongful termination.

And, most recently, she and husband Carlos Morales, who las malas lenguas say dabble in shady real estate deals, have been accused of creating fake twitter accounts to troll and attack Carollo and other city critics, including yours truly. Both @MarthaMelo223 and @8streetrocks were traced to a telephone number that ends in 17, like Morales’. Both @MarthaMelo223 and @8streetrocks, which first changed its name to @8astreetsrocks, which makes no sense, were disabled or made private just after they were outed last week. Acting suspiciously like they were caught.

Mendez, who did not return calls or a text from Ladra, has not said anything to disavow any involvement with said fake accounts — on which some content may have been posted on city time, which makes them all public records which she knows must be preserved. Wouldn’t anyone come out immediately and say ‘It ain’t me’? Wouldn’t everyone?

Her silence says a lot.

So, let’s add this to the things that should be investigated. Authorities should ask for the activity from any computers Mendez has access to. Because if she’s messed with Ladra, it’s almost certain she’s messed with the people who are trying to recall Joe Carollo or the Brickell homeowners who are a pain in the, um, ledger or someone suing the city or asking for public records. Let’s see if Martha Melo or Carlos tweeted Stern or Miro, shall we?

And if the Florida Bar — which has to have heard about Mendez by now — or the State Attorney’s Office can’t (read: won’t) act on anything else she’s done so far, maybe witness tampering will get their attention.

Ball & Chain, Joe Carollo, Victoria Mendez

Lies on public comments just tip of slips for Miami Attorney Victoria Mendez added by Ladra on December 14, 2020
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