From Ethics Press Release:
The Commission on Ethics also approved a settlement agreement with two lobbyists accused
of violating an ordinance in Cutler Bay requiring them to disclose all
officials they contacted prior to a public hearing
over a proposed shopping center in the town. Cutler Bay Mayor Ed
MacDougall filed the complaint (C 13-02)
against the pair, Jose Luis Castillo (Lynda Bell's campaign Manager) and Juan Mayol, who registered as
lobbyists, but failed to disclose in writing all contacts, which were
reported
by one council member. Since the complaint was first filed and
subsequent hearings were held on the development, Castillo and Mayol
have submitted written disclosures of their lobbying activities and have
complied with the ordinance. As part of a settlement
approved today, the two will not contest the charges, agreed to accept a
Letter of Instruction and each pay a fine of $250.
13 comments:
Get me the smallest violin for these two clowns. Castillo just creeps me out on so many levels. I guess that's why Mayol keeps him around. The two of them are laughing, loudly, because if this is the worst the ethics can do after all of these years, we're (the public) are more screwed then Pizzi! Mayol "if there's a bad application which is going to be environmentally destructive and some times outside the UDB, you got the funds, I got the BCC Majority"! Sickening. Think of the times they didn't get caught!
I had a dream last night that Bell, pick one, was recorded doing something nefarious/illegal and ended up doing the public perp walk! I can dream!
Is Mrs. Lynda Bell a confidential informant for the federal crime fighters? Just asking!
Last anon, are you just kidding or just asking? Knowing how she'll throw anyone under the bus for cover, could be either way! LOL
I'd like to quote a local philosopher who commented in 2009 following the death of Howard Gary, the former City of Miami Manager who was convicted of bribery and conspiracy. "Unfortunately, legacies are forfeited when you are perceived to be/are a criminal, whether it be Michael Jackson, Alex Daoud, Bernard Madoff, Pete Rose, OJ Simpson or Howard Gary. When you are tainted you lose all the good things you have done. All the above had quite a legacy but then they each lost it in the putrid cloud of corruption they each embraced. It is like poker. You win or you lose. There is no middle ground.
February 16, 2009" That was written by this blog's chief writer, Genius of Despair. These same words apply to Michael Pizzi. To date, neither Jose Luis Castillo nor Lynda Bell have been charged or convicted of any criminal offense.
Cutler bay council members Sue Loyzelle and Ernie Sochin voted for everything Castillo wanted passed. Castillo was paid by Loyzelle to run her campaign, and Sochin is thought to have gotten Castillo's help behind the scenes. Nice to see Castillo get his hands slapped. Shame that Loyzelle and Sochin are so easily influenced.
Which Cutler Bay council member was the one with ties to Seijas through the YMCA?
I can't believe I remembered this. GoD did a blog on 6/24/2011. I looked back in the archives regarding the Cutler Bay election, here's some of what was written:
"I took issue with 2 things that Lotzell did. She took a $100 donation from Natacha Seijas. She said "I am new at this, I don't share her views. I work with Natacha at the Y."
Apparently the woman works with vile Natacha Seijas for many years (over a decade) and apparently has no problem working with her."
Did Lynda Bell show up for her annual backpack giveaway this year? She hasn't been seen around town for a while. China? Spain? Italy? FBI?
Linda has been friends with undisclosed interviewers since she was a council person in Homestead. She was to the point of paranoia before she was elected mayor.
The lobbyists should have known the municipality rules when they registered. But this really is overblown, every city has different rules, some cities the commission must announce who they have spoken to.
The only real investigation I have ever seen conducted by the ethics commission was the Captain Queeg-like search for the person who leaked emails about Director Robert Meyers' lunch dates with his secretary Rodzandra Sanchez.
The ethics commission is not just useless, it's part of the problem.
Castillo was also the campaign manager for John Dubois, Vice Mayor of Palmetto Bay. So what shenanigans did he perpetrate during the 2012 elections?
Castillo worked for Natasha Seijas, Lynda Bell, Several Palmetto bay candidates, Cutler Bay council candidates Sue Ellen Loyzelle and Ernie Sohin (without Sochin reporting his "in kind" contribution).
He then came before then as a paid lobbist for a new, poorly designed Public to open on Old Cutler Road. His two biggest supporters, Ernie Sochin and sue Ellen Loyzelle. Neither disclosed their close relationship with Castillo.
Oh, and don't forget Ernie Sochins close relationship with Brodes Hartley and CHI, who did a fundraiser for ernie, and contributed to his campaign. Sochin "introducing" Tia Diez Ballart to councilars of a boys choir (in which Brodes Hartly is an officer) in the hopes of getting the Kennedy foundation to give a grant of several thousands to the choir. whether they received the funds have been hidden from public view. This took place while both Sochin and Tia Diez Ballart were pursuing a change to the LDR's to allow a boarding school for "as risk kids" to be allowed on the Kennedy property.
Then their is 4 members of the city council who refuse to hold a hearing about a possible charter violation by a vender of our town, who gave a campaign contribution under the name of a separate company (same officers) in an attempt to hide that the contribution was from the same officers as the lobbying firm, Gomez Barker, who is a vendor in the town. This contribution was never disclosed by the vendor as required by charter and no one but the mayor is willing to hold a hearing. Bell, Loyzelle, Sochin, and Mixon are all soft on Lobbyists. And the crap that is being ignored by Peggy Bell, sue Loyzelle, Ernie Sochin and Mary Mixon is disgusting. Special interest have taken over the consciousness of these council persons and future candidates.
On a last note, they ensured Mayor Macdougall can not run again for mayor if his congressional primary fails. They moved the qualifying period back into July with the result being, most likely, few candidates knowing it is happening, resulting in less competition with them and fewer choices for residents. Shameful manipulation that serves only their own campaigns.
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