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| Palmetto Bay Village Attorney - Dexter Lehtinen |
Well I won't back down, no I won't back down
You could stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down - Tom Petty
Dexter Lehtinen, Palmetto Bay Attorney, was the interim U.S. Attorney for South Florida and he is/was a law professor. He is the husband of U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I have seen this guy in Federal Court. He is a masterful attorney (first in his class at Stanford) and a grizzled Viet Nam war hero with a shot in the face and a purple heart to prove it.
What was obvious at last night's Council Meeting: You can't bully a bully. You can't put the knowledge of a newbie attorney and Vice Mayor Dubois's "frivolous" (I believe that is what Dexter called it) lawsuit against the Village of Palmetto Bay, up against Dexter's expertise.
I was not at the meeting. You can do your own reporting in comments.
Meanwhile here are some Dept. of Ethics correspondence to John Dubois and his attorney.
The Miami Herald reports on the Council Meeting:
Lehtinen accused Dubois of having another conflict of interest. Lehtinen said that Dubois’ attorney, Jeffrey Leary, is also the attorney for Bette April Burch, a Palmetto Bay property owner who sued the village weeks after the council approved the development.
Leary shares office space with Dubois. Burch owns a horse farm adjacent to Dubois’ property. Lehtinen said there might be a perception that Dubois is paying Leary to move forward with the lawsuit, or otherwise supporting the lawsuit.
Dubois said Leary is free to represent who he chooses. He asked the city attorney what could be done to tone down the heated conversation and clear his attorney’s name.
Lehtinen asked Dubois to state on the record that he is not paying Leary “directly or indirectly or subsidizing.”
Silence filled the room.
Dubois did not answer the question.
23 comments:
Dubois has met his match mess in' with the wrong dude.
The poor vice mayor just can't have any new neighbors encroach on his bayside residence. The methods of the vice mayor, suing numerous people and governments to no avail, housing a sex offender, and now trying his latest ploy, show a petty mean spirited, and sleazy politician. Just what the community does not need.
The vice mayor may be suing the Village and Scott Silver by proxy through a neighbor April Burch (with the horses by the library) Leitinen brought up that it will have to be proven if April Burch actually pays for Dubois' personal attorney that filed the lawsuits.
Here's the background on the ordinance: https://soundcloud.com/john-franjo/telephone-town-hall-meeting-with-village-manager-ed-silva-on-june-5-2016
It was very disheartening to hear one of our village elected officials be so completely out of line. He shows disdain for the voters as he and his supporters push through their views and when they can't get what they want, they respond lik children. It's disgusting and we all need to remember this in Novembe. Vice Mayor DuBois is unethical. #NoVote4DuBois
It is time for the voters to stand up and vote out this little pipsqueak vice mayor.
It is time for the Miami Herald to step up an out the Vice Mayor.
DuBois likes to own people. $500,000 to David Singer. $225K to Lynda Bell. Provides his attorney for free for his Lobbyist to sue Cutler Bay Mayor MacDougel. He provides free attorney services to his neighbor in her fight against DERM. He, himself, has several DERM cases ongoing. Dublois is subject to sanctions in the form of attorney's fees and costs, which will be owed jointly by both DuBois and his attorney. There is the allegation that his neighbor April Burch is paying him back for the free legal services by shilling for him in a lawsuit against his own village council. Now that is loyalty.
Don't call him Vice Mayor, instead call him Duplicitous DuBois.
Less trash talk that is a given, want to hear more of what happened.
Dubois was pwned
Here is a summary of last nights meeting.
DuBois sponsored an ordinance to undo the transfer of developmental rights approved 3/2 at the May meeting.
When it came time to move the ordinance forward for discussion, no one else on the council was willing to do so. DuBois asked if he could move it forward and the attorney stated (in summary) that DuBois had announced he had a conflict of interest in April, then voted in May, which was likely an ethics violation per Centerino. He also brought up Dubois having recused himself due to a conflict on this same property back in 2014. DuBois argued that he checked with the State and their was no conflict, while Lehtinen argued that by County code their was a conflict.
Lehtinen also pointed out that DuBois statements prior to this quasi-judicial matter showed that he could not be impartial and therefore he should have recused himself under the Jennings rule. Lehtinen advised DuBois not to inject himself into the proceedings or he would compound the potential ethics violation. Dubois then tried to defer the ordinance and withdraw it, and was again warned that he should not inject himself into the proceedings due to the potential conflict of interest and potential violation of Jennings. The ordinance died when no one would move it forward.
Later in the evening they discussed the lawsuits filed against the Village by a neighbor of DuBois. The neighbor is using the same atorney Dubois uses. They questioned if the fact that this attorney is employed by DuBois and uses DuBois office address as his own was a conflict. They may ask the judge to dismiss the attorney given this relationship.
After all this, Shaffer showed his disdain for the misinformation being distributed in the past week. When Cunningham interrupted him he told her to "shut up".
From reading the Ethics memos, it appears that John Dubois, Vice Mayor of Palmetto Bay did not pay attention to directions from Joe Centorino, of the ethics Commission. He was given instructions he chose not to follow. He should get arrested for that.
Thank you for the summary. I really appreciate it.
Next thing on Dubois's list:
Sue Dexter
That will also be the last of Dubois' Slapp suits.
Please elaborate.
Sigh. Man o Man, Dubois musta been one hell of a snot nosed brat when he was growing up. What part of NO or NO or NO can't he understand?
I sure wish he would learn to use his money for the common good of the community, and not to hurt the community. Doing loving and good things makes one feel good on the inside. Doing evil things makes one feel all barren on the inside. We aren't your mommy... you are not impressive when you act out.
So sad.
P.C.M.
So here's what happened in the Conflict between the House of Flinn and the House of Dubois:
Dubois' attempt to repeal an ordinance that has been in the books barely a month, giving the Village a new park in a land swap on the Burger King property, hit an abrupt wall after the Village saturated social media before the meeting with videos and town hall chats explaining how the deal actually restricted development while saving park lands. Dubois also hit a snag when the village attorney lobbed a couple of grenades into his rat hole pointing out that Dubois was under an ethics investigation for failing to recuse himself on this issue over a conflict of interest, and also noting that a local resident might sue the Village over this ordinance by coincidentally using the lawyer who represents Dubois. No one was quite prepared to publicly accuse Dubois of suing the Council that he is a member of, but Flinn wanted a full court press to depose people and find THE TRUTH.
As to the ethics investigation, it seems the vice mayor previously recused himself because of a conflict of interest, as in I cannot be impartial in this matter because I live next door to the Burger King property in a mansion with unobstructed views of the bay because mangroves blocking my line of sight were destroyed by vandals, a homestead so large by the way that it was rare for me to bump into any alleged sex offenders on bond who happened to be staying at the place. But he then un-recused himself to allege that special interests under puppet master Flinn were conspiring to destroy the American Way of Life. Dubois spent a few minutes explaining how he never really recused himself and tried to define "recusal" like Bill Clinton once defined the word "is." Dubois went down bravely, trying with Karyn Cunningham to defer the vote. But the village attorney pointed out that any move on the matter would cause legal and ethical nightmares for the Village. Thus did Flinn carry the day. But even though Flinn is on the right side this is an election year and, let's be honest, who hasn't been pissed off by the guy at some point or another?
And then there were the side battles. Karyn Cunningham who voted against the land swap and a park for the public complained that it was unfair for the Village to make council member videos that provided real information about the issue, but then mentioned that she had been offered equal time to make her own video and declined. She also complained that there was no way for a person to upload her own video. So I guess she's waiting for YouTube to be invented. At one point Linda Robinson, a former vice mayor, the "Mother of Palmetto Bay," chided the council for its inability to get along. Council member Tim Shaffer echoed the sentiment, voicing frustration over infighting by Dubois, Cunningham, and Flinn. Cunningham started to object, Shaffer told her to shut up. Shock and dismay ensued as Mayor Flinn relished the chance to bang his gavel for order. In the gallery, a Mr. Singer, rumored to be a DuBois ally and considering a run against Shaffer, snickered.
In the end many gadflies lay dead or dying, overwhelmed the past week with logic, facts, and the sheer guts of Dubois to let everything around him go to hell. This ain't over. Dubois may have been slaughtered by Flinn last night, but he is a White Walker and winter may still be coming (google it if you don't know what I'm talking about). Oh, by the way, still no coverage from the Herald.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/palmetto-bay/
Beth - That link is going to change. It is just the link to the current story on that page. The permanent link is: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/palmetto-bay/article82348287.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_--RvKlgqJc
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/palmetto-bay/article82348287.html
Vice Mayor Dubois asked for an example of which information was distorted. Well, here you go, Vice Mayor Dubois. I think we all know the answer, now!
You were not kidding. The article detailing the ethical lapses of John DuBois was in the Thursday Neighbors section. What a douche.
Looking at this thing from a 50k foot level this is what one can take away from it. Flinn and Silva and two council members did the best they could for Palmetto Bay by preserving 40 acres of park space right on Old Cutler while at the same time not getting into a legal battle with a private property owner who has vested rights to develop. On the other side of things were Dubois and his shills such as Singer, Fiore, and a host of other irresponsible loud mouths that chose to purposely distort the facts repeatedly, likely for personal selfish reasons or political gain. Lest we forget there is an election in Nov. Would not surprise me if past mayor Stanzyck wasn't herself stirring the brew behind the scenes. After all she got majorly burnt herself in her loss to Flinn for proposing that housing units be built along Old Cutler on those 22 acres of land that are now preserved as a park. From all these characters, you be the judge, who were the ones acting in the best interest of Palmetto Bay, the ones that kept the village safe from another costly lawsuit and gained the village more park land, or the ones who lied repeatedly and stirred up real ugly trouble for nothing?!
Why does Vice Mayor DuBois hate native areas?
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