And he has a ‘protective detail’ paid by taxpayers
Remember when Miami Beach officials insisted that the police visit to a resident’s home over a Facebook comment was simply routine? A harmless “knock and talk”? Nothing to see here?
Well, now we know exactly who saw something.
And exactly who said something.
According to newly released emails obtained by the Miami Herald, Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner personally contacted Police Chief Wayne Jones after spotting a Facebook comment written by resident, veteran, and former candidate Raquel Pacheco — the same comment that led detectives to show up at her door.
Meiner says he didn’t order the visit. He just alerted the cops.
Which is a bit like pulling the fire alarm and later explaining you didn’t tell the trucks to come.
Read related: In Miami Beach, a Facebook comment could mean police knock at your door
“I’m a human being. I’m a resident. I happen to be the mayor,” Meiner said last week, defending his decision. “I saw something 
that was concerning to me… and I forwarded it to the police.”
Nothing says ordinary resident quite like having the police chief on speed dial. Because the email was obviously a follow up.
“Chief, as we discussed, please see the post below,” reads the email sent just before 8 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 11. It included a screen shot of Pacheco’s post. The comment at the center of the controversy accused Meiner of “consistently call[ing] for the death of all Palestinians,” a claim the mayor calls “absolutely false” and “antisemitism 101.”
Meiner argued the post could lead someone unfamiliar with him to think, “Oh my God, this Jewish mayor wants to kill me.” That, he said, created a potential safety risk not only for his family but for the broader Jewish community.
The day after the mayor sent the email, the chief wrote back, thanking Meiner for alerting him to the post. “While she didn’t issue a direct threat, her allegations are undeniably provocative and have the potential to incite others to escalate to that level,” Jones said.
Translation: No direct threat but, because people could maybe agree with her, she’s a problem. And the mayor is in danger?
“This is precisely why I have encouraged you to use your protection detail as often as possible,” Jones wrote. “You have taken a 
strong and public stance in support of Israel. Some people clearly, as in this case, take issue with your unwavering position and I am concern (sic) that their words escalate to physical action. It’s important we remain vigilant and take proactive steps to ensure your safety.”
And the problem isn’t so much that Jones is a kiss ass, even though that’s not a good thing. The problem is that the city is apparently paying for a “protection detail” that the mayor may not need. Is this a Francis Suarez type thing? The former Miami mayor had 24/7 personal protection and cops sitting on his house. Ladra has asked the city clerk, the city spokeswoman and the Miami Beach Police public information officer for this information and will update you as soon as we get it.
But soon after Jones sent the email, a sergeant instructed detectives to pay Pacheco a visit. There is no information about who told that sergeant to do that. We are expected to believe he was just being proactive.
No criminal investigation was opened, however. Know why? Because Pacheco, a National Guard veteran, didn’t commit a crime.
But the message traveled loud and clear anyway: Criticize an elected official — and the police might stop by for a chat.
Except that Ladra doesn’t really believe that this would have happened to just anyone. This happened to Pacheco, a former candidate for both city and state office, a loud Democrat, and a vocal critic of the mayor and some commissioners. She speaks at public meetings. She is well-known in both political and PTA circles. She’s a rabble-rouser — and a thorn in the mayor’s side.
How does knocking on her door stop anyone who may have been incited by her post? Did they want her to take it down? And stop posting things like that? What was the visit truly for?
To intimidate Pacheco. To silence her. This was pure retaliation for her criticism and intimidation to make her stop posting.
Read related: Incumbent Mayor Steve Meiner holds on in Miami Beach — but just barely
And if there was any expectation City Hall might step back after the national blowback over free speech concerns, Thursday’s commission meeting erased it. Officials didn’t retreat. They fortified. Commissioners lined up to support both Meiner and the police chief. It was kinda weird to see everybody abandon comments they had made earlier about freedom of speech.
“They brushed over it,” Pacheco told Political Cortadito. “They sat there like a bunch of abused children watching their dad beat their mom.”
One day earlier, four of the commissioners skipped the State of the City address, a message that they were not happy with the mayor’s political stances. At the meeting, they all folded.
Commissioner David Suarez even compared Pacheco’s comment to an incident involving far-right influencer Nick Fuentes at 
a South Beach club — two completely separate and unequal instances — complete with a slideshow for dramatic effect. He called Pacheco, a frequent critic, a “crazy person. Another commissioner spoke about balancing democracy with safety. Commissioner Alex Fernandez said that portraying Jews as evil must be taken seriously and used the word “antisemitic.”
But Pacheco didn’t portray Jews as evil. That statement could incite others, by the way.
“They just completely vilified me,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco’s Facebook comment simply corrected the record on Meiner’s own self-promoting post where the mayor said the Beach was welcoming to all. It’s not. Palestinians and Muslims from other parts of the world do not feel welcome due to his words and actions. Ladra can verify that. Pacheco was pointing that out.
When the chief himself was asked whether he would handle the situation differently, he said he would not. Does that mean that we can expect more knocks on residents’ doors?
Hey, commissioners: Leadership is not measured by how tightly government closes ranks. It’s measured by how firmly it protects the rights of the people — especially the inconvenient ones.
The residents who came to speak were also intimidated by police, several armed and uniformed officers standing staunchly nearby and inching forward to make sure speakers wrapped it up on schedule. Which happened a lot because the mayor arbitrarily cut speaking public time in half — from two minutes to one. Because nothing diffuses fears of government overreach quite like visible law enforcement during public criticism in a super short window that has been cut in half.
Award-winning filmmaker, activist and popular podcaster Billy Corben blasted Meiner for creating “a new national embarrassment” and “another abuse of power,” prompting the mayor to respond by calling him “Mr. Cohen,” invoking Corben’s legal surname — a move reminiscent of the rhetorical tactics Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo has used and something that Corben says is an anti-Jew dog whistle.
Later, Corben posted video from the meeting and the state of the city address a day earlier. One after another, city officials dodge his questions. Some of them physically run away from him. Nobody wants to be held accountable for what is basically an increasing desire to curb the First Amendment.
Read related: Monica Matteo-Salinas coasts to big win in Miami Beach commission runoff
Pacheco’s attorney asked the question that should be keeping every resident awake: Where does this stop?
If a Facebook comment justifies a police visit, would harsher criticism justify detention? Would questioning policy justify 
surveillance? Would mocking an elected official justify a file somewhere with your name on it?
Officials insist this is about safety, not speech.
But civil liberties have a funny way of eroding — not all at once, but through “reasonable” decisions made “out of caution.” An expanded security detail here. A detective at the door there. A shorter leash on public comment everywhere.
Always justified. Always temporary. Always for your protection.
As Pacheco’s attorney, Miriam Haskell — who is also director of litigation at the Community Justice Project — pointed out afterward, commissioners never actually addressed the constitutional issue. Instead, they reframed the debate around antisemitism — a serious and very real problem — without fully grappling with the equally serious question of whether government should involve police when residents criticize their leaders.
Because here is the uncomfortable truth: In America, you are allowed to be wrong about your mayor. You are allowed to be unfair. You are allowed to be offensive.
The First Amendment protects speech people dislike — not just speech that makes officials comfortable.
That’s why Pacheco is seeking legal recourse. “Absolutely,” she told Political Cortadito. “We’re just waiting to get the public records we requested.”
Which is another problem that Corben laid out in one of his social media posts. Apparently, city officials have the right, by city charter, to review any documents produced for a public records request about them to decide what is public and what is not.
Say what? Isn’t that a fancy way of going around the Florida Sunshine Law? (More on that later).
Meanwhile, plenty of Miami Beach residents now feel threatened not by a Facebook comment, but by their own government’s response to one.
So yes, the mayor “saw something.”
The real question now is whether residents are seeing something, too. And whether they like what it says about the future of speaking freely in their own city.
Stay loud, Miami Beach. Before “knock and talk” becomes municipal policy.
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Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner defends calling the cops on a critic added by Ladra on
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