Michael Pizzi & his legal dream team — at what cost to who?

Former, suspended, acquitted Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi really, really, really wants to be mayor again and is going to court one more time to try to get back into his office at City Hall. You know, the one with that closet he likes so much.

Pizzi was suspended by Gov. Rick Scott in 2013 after he was arrested in an FBI sting and charged with bribery for allegedly knowingly taking part in a bogus federal grant scam. Scott also suspended former, Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña’ Maroño on the same charges for the same scheme, but poor Manolito had a totally different experience in court. He was convicted and is serving a 3.5 year sentence.

Maroño’s political career is over. Pizzi looks like he’s just getting started.

Ladra has not been successful reaching him this week, but she was one of the first to say that the case against Pizzi — who knows how to talk in circles and, like a good lawyer, speaks in obscure generalities — was much weaker than the case against Maroño, who allegedly bragged on hours and hours of hidden wire recordings about his political savvy and prowess in other, ahem, fields.

But maybe there is something else at play here. Maybe Pizzi just has a better legal team.

Yes, the former activist attorney, who also lost his job as town attorney in Medley — and, hey, can he sue to get that back? — has not one, not two, not four, but seven attorneys, most of them prominent names you’ve heard before: Ben Kuehne and Ed Shohat are lead council, joined by the team of Ralf Rodriguez, David Reiner, Kent Harrison Robbins, Michael Davis, and Tallahassee counsel Mark Herron.

That’s more attorneys than O.J. had.

And what a dream team they are. Not only did they get a jury to acquit a politician in corruption-thick Miami-Dade, a mayor who went into a closet and said “Where’s the money” to a bagman/lobbyist wearing a wire, but they also then got the Florida Supreme Court to rule that the Guv should revoke the suspension, as per the state constitution, and Pizzi should be reinstated to office.

They basically call Slaton, who was elected in a special election after Pizzi’s suspension, a “tyrant” and characterized his refusal to vacate the office as a coupe d’etat.

Pizzi — who won his last election over the current Mayor Wayne Slaton with 70% of the vote less than a year before his arrest — apparently thinks that the town has gone to the dogs since he was suspended in 2013 after being charged with public corruption.

“At least in the United States – and Miami Lakes is a part of the United States – the rule of law prevails against power hungry politicians who are intent on subverting the will of the People,” he was quoted as saying in a statement released Tuesday by his lead attorney. “I look forward to restoring democracy and fairness to the Town of Miami Lakes, to once again return the Town to its former glory as a desirable place to live and work.”

Two questions: Is Miami Lakes still a part of the United States or is it already part of Hialeah? And (2) How much does all this legal wrangling cost?

It would be interesting to know who is paying for Pizzi’s personal justice defense league. Because these guys don’t come cheap. The answer may depend on whether the legal dream team succeeds or fails.

Some might suspect that developer Lowell Dunn, who has long been Pizzi’s political godfather, is bankrolling him back into power. But that may be the case only if Pizzi loses. If he is reinstated to office through a judicial process, as it seems he may very well be, Pizzi apparently intends on making the once glorious town of Miami Lakes (read: the taxpayers of Miami Lakes) responsible for his legal fees. Which I would be willing to bet is near $1 million.

Hey, maybe they should make the FBI pay. Or Gov. Scott.

Here is the statement sent Tuesday by Kuehne, in it’s entirety:

“Having no option but returning to the Courts, Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi TODAY filed his lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court to obtain a RETURN to the Office of Mayor to which he was elected by an overwhelming majority of the Miami Lakes voters in November 2012. Immediately upon his successful exoneration on all federal criminal charges with the Jury’s Verdict of NOT GUILTY, Mayor Pizzi sought to have his temporary suspension revoked, but Governor Rick Scott stubbornly refused. Mayor Pizzi went to the Florida Supreme Court to compel the Governor to do what the Florida Constitution required: revoke the suspension.

Now, the Town is following the same ludicrous path by refusing to do what the Constitution commands: Reinstate mayor Pizzi to Office. Sadly, the temporary Mayor during Mayor Pizzi’s suspension, Wayne Slaton, has refused to relinquish the office, even though Mayor Pizzi trounced Slaton in the 2012 election, when Mayor Pizzi received nearly 70% of the votes cast in the highest turnout election in the History of Miami Lakes. Refusing to bow to the will of the people and allowing Mayor Pizzi to return to office, Wayne Slaton has now fomented a constitutional crisis by requiring Mayor Pizzi to ask the Court to enforce the Constitution.

This lawsuit seeks a Constitutional Writ of Quo Warranto and Mandamus, procedures that force someone from illegally holding a government office, as Wayne Slaton is doing. This litigation should be unnecessary, and the costs and fees will be borne by the Town solely because its officials are refusing to follow the law.

Mayor Pizzi was exonerated. In the United States, an acquittal has an important meaning. The refusal of the Town and Wayne Slaton to acknowledge the impact of the acquittal is nothing less than an attempted coupe d’état by a faction of the Town that prefers tyranny over democracy.

Said Michael Pizzi upon reviewing the filed Complaint: “At least in the United States – and Miami Lakes is a part of the United States – the rule of law prevails against power hungry politicians who are intent on subverting the will of the People. I look forward to restoring democracy and fairness to the Town of Miami Lakes, to once again return the Town to its former glory as a desirable place to live and work.’

Today, Mayor Pizzi is asking a court of law to command the Town officials to restore him to office forthwith.

And they better not have done anything to his closet.

Miami Lakes, Michael Pizzi, Rick Scott

Michael Pizzi & his legal dream team — at what cost to who? added by Ladra on January 7, 2015
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