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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Director Joe Centorino, Miami Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust

March 4, 2013 Joe Centorino, Director MIAMI DADE COUNTY COMMISSION ON ETHICS AND PUBLIC TRUST Via Public Record Email. Subject: The Weston Affair Dear Mr. Centorino: The recent New Times coverage of the City of Miami Beachs wrongful firing of fire inspector David Weston on the pretext of violation of ethical standards, but actually for his chain-ofcommand reporting of missing monies in the millions of dollars, has given me cause to review his case and to opine here, based on his statements and my understanding of the law as a layman, that a director of the Miami-Dade County Commission of Ethics and Public Trust, if not incompetent or negligent, may have violated ethical standards in the handling of the matter when he apparently abused the power of his own position, arbitrarily denying Weston, and by inference the entire county including its municipalities, due process of law under the governing
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS


ordinance prohibiting conflicts of interest, using as pretext his determination, perhaps couched under advice of county counsel, that government employees within Miami Dade County are not entitled to so-called whistleblower reviews to ensure that abusive authorities will be punished and others thereby deterred from abusive conduct, therefore the matter was dropped. As for the pretext, I notice that the alleged disability of abused persons to obtain an investigation and finding by the Commission by filing whistleblower complaints is more or less a state secret. Weston was actually encouraged by Miami-Dade County Compliance official Oriol Torres Haague and by Ethics Commission counsel Victoria Frigo to pursue a whistleblower complaint before the Ethics Commission as an alternative to filing a complaint in circuit court. But Frigo was allegedly informed by the then director of the Ethics Commission that the county ordinance invoking that alternative did not apply to its municipality, the City of Miami Beach. Weston made the following statement (see attached): After being fired Ms. Frigo immediately informed me that the COE could and would take up a whistleblower action against Miami Beach with my authorization. I later received a call from Ms. Frigo advising me that she had discussed the matter with the Executive Director of the COE and that he informed her that the COE only had whistleblower jurisdiction in unincorporated Miami Dade and those cities that had reciprocal agreements. The Director stated that they did not have jurisdiction in Miami Beach. I was encouraged to submit another COE ruling in my own name which is attached. The ruling by the Commission was delayed throughout the summer due to a lack of a quorum. While Ms. Frigo encouraged me to seek a civil action against the city, the police stated that by doing so it would interfere with their investigation. I thought it best to pass on the lawsuit and let the police get to the bottom of my criminal allegations. Apparently each respective municipality has to invoke its own ordinance allowing the Ethics Commission as an alternative process per Floridas Whistleblowers Act. The county did that for its employees but excluded its municipalities. Since perhaps only a handful of people are aware of the restriction, and since Ethics Commission literature appears to be silent on that point, I am hoping you will provide the public with a formal statement setting forth the legal justification for the Weston finding by the former director. Your explanation and guidance will also be useful to the City of Miami Beach Commission in the event it desires to entertain the passing of a whistleblower ordinance. Commissioner Michael Gongora has expressed in the subject and has directed his aide to conduct some research on the matter. However, having dispensed with the pretext, I must say that to the best of my knowledge after reading the law without any legal training, the countys conflict of interest ordinance does apply to the municipalities. And a public release by the Ethics Commission (attached) states: The Ethics Commission will determine if the adverse personnel action was retaliation for Whistleblower activity. Any retaliation is considered a violation of the Conflict of Interest ordinance. It appears to me that standing Conflict of Interest ordinance expressly prohibits the exploitation by officials of their official positions to secure special privileges or exemptions for themselves or
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS


others, and that at stake here is the deterrence in the public sector of the abusive wielding of power by the strong over the weak with impunity, an abuse long experienced by slaves, prisoners, wives, children, and employees. Since Ethics Commission counsel was thoroughly acquainted with the Weston case and had recommended action, and since Ethics Commission staff under the direction of its director have the power of initiating actions based on information that comes to their attention, it appears to me that the failure to do so is indicative of negligence or an abuse of power by the director of the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. If you find any merit to my conjecture, regardless of its formal faults, I believe the right thing for you to do would be to apologize to David Weston on behalf of the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, and help the City of Miami Beach Commission to devise a whistleblowing ordinance. In any event, I am looking forward to reporting your response. Respectfully, David Arthur Walters

cc: David Weston cc: Michael Gongora

Wild Card Journalist David Arthur Walters

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Darwin Leon, The Illusion Shatters

DAVID WESTONS PUBLIC RECORD RESPONSE TO DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS LETTER TO JOE CENTORINO ET AL
From: David Weston <dweston@permitdoctor.com> To: David Arthur Walters <miamimirror@gmail.com>,"Centorino, Joseph (COE)" <CENTORI@miamidade.gov> cc: Michael Gngora <michaelcgongora@aol.com>, Deede Weithorn <dweithorn@bpbcpa.com>, David Weston <dweston@permitdoctor.com>, "Frigo, Victoria (COE)" <FRIGOV@miamidade.gov> Date: Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 5:42 PM Subject: RE: Ethics Commission Director's Handling of Miami Beach Conflict of Interest Case/ reply from David Weston March 4, 2013 TO: Honorable Commissioners, Mr. Joe Centorino and David Walters, Mr. Walters has taken up a cause for me personally but, I would prefer the broader view. Miami Beachs administration needs to protect its hard working and honest employees when they suspect and sincerely report when something appear to be wrong. Sadly employee protection is non-existent and city employees know it!!
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

I would ask that you momentarily suspend your disbelief and accept that I truly had concerns and I believed that millions of dollars were missing. Of course your auditors have subsequently proven me correct. For my part I have substantial documentation to support the efforts that I was trying to make. In my case I was regularly cautioned [and finally threatened] to discontinue my concerns and reports of missing monies. I am not the only person in the Fire Prevention department that was treated in this way. One only has to ask Firefighter [retired] William Curbello if he too was told to ignore the audit issues of Permits Plus or suffer the consequences. [Mr. Curbello has told me he would answer the Commissions questions if asked to do so].Likewise retired Firefighter James Llewellen was also disciplined for going outside the chain-of-command with safety rather than monetary issues. More importantly I believe that if Miami Beachs employees had whistleblower protection that some of the terrible events of recent times [building, code, procurement, and fire arrests] might have been reported and acted on sooner. One only has to read Miami Beach Special Investigation Sections report # 2011-018-PC to conclude that the building and fire departments needed better supervision and immediate personnel changes. Mr. Centorino does not owe me any apologies. Alternatively I owe him my thanks. He made the time to meet with me, at my request, when he was an Assistant State Attorney with the Public Corruption Section; and he personally examined many of my supporting documents. While Mr. Centorino knew something was wrong, I was told there was no provable crime. I similarly met with Miami Beach SIS Detective Rosa Redruello, who concluded from her investigation that Building and Fire officials had the authority to reduce permit fees as an incentive to developers. Personally I believe it is bad management to allow this practice, if true. Mr. Walters suggestion to require that forgiven fees be recorded, accounted for, and a matter for public record seems like a responsible financial step and a good suggestion from an intelligent man. The point of my communication is to assure you that retaliation against honest employees existed for me, existed before me, and exists even today. After the recent article in New Times I was contacted by a current Miami Beach employee who thanked me for coming forward and claimed that they were likewise be retaliated for cooperating with a police investigation. In conclusion I personally found the Commission and their employees were breath of fresh air. The Commission rulings in my favor [4-198 and 8-36] fully vindicated my financial actions. Now its time for the city to do the right thingand you know what this is. Regards, David Weston

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

EDITORIAL

FIRED FIRE INSPECTOR PLAYS NICE WITH ETHICS COMMISSION March 5, 2013 It appears that former City of Miami Beach fire inspector David Weston, who said he was fired for reporting millions of dollars in missing monies, and who is now a principal in a permit expediting firm that operates under the name Permit Doctor, wants to expedite the solution to corruption in the historically corrupt South Florida city by cooperating with city administrators instead of fanning the flames of scandal blackening the city, grinding axes, and having them fired for negligence, incompetence, or malfeasance. Westons dismissal was his gain and the citys loss, since he was almost immediately thereafter even more gainfully employed, therefore he would not have been benefited by filing a whistleblower complaint in circuit court. The staff of the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, thoroughly acquainted with his case, did not press charges against the officials involved for violating the ethics and conflict-of-interest ordinance against exploiting public office to obtain exemptions or privileges. Impunity for retaliation against subordinates or the weak for talking back or reporting misconduct has been a sovereign privilege or exemption enjoyed by the strong in authoritarian regimes, where might is the right, since time immemorial. The response of Fire Chief Javier Otero to the recent Miami New Times revelations of misconduct including that reported by Weston was, These are nothing more than allegations from disgruntled employees. But Weston denied that he was a so-called disgruntled employee: I was not interested in pursuing a complaint against the city. I was not disgruntled, only concerned that something very wrong that clearly was going on.

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Now Weston, whenever he addresses the public officials concerned, has been careful to initially criticize our inquiries and opinions based on information he turned over to us, taking an apologetic tone for our reporters conduct while admitting that he seems to be intelligent enough to make intelligent recommendations. And he has repeatedly made direct efforts to control our investigation and its outcome. Our investigative reporter said he feels like the cop called to the scene of domestic abuse by a battered wife who shoots him in the foot when he arrives. Weston disagrees with our editorial perspective, which he, on the public record, implied was narrow-minded in contrast to his broad view. We believe that bad management is the fundamental cause of the sunny citys persistent negligence and corruption, that tinkering with the status quo will do little good, and that what is needed is radical reform; to wit, the administrators should be fired, the commissioners replaced, and the charter be amended to change the constitution to a strong mayor system instead of a parttime commission and unelected city boss system. Weston is entitled to his opinions, and his strategy may be correct. It may be wise to keep the enemy close, to sleep with the power-abuser, even to love him to get things done, but in this matter we beg to disagree. In our opinion, a peaceful solution here will only make peace a cover for more of the same abuse and corruption. What we need here and now is mutual support for the good cause: we need team players to add their weight to the line as well as cooperate on strategy behind the line. One cannot be on both teams at the same time without being corrupted in the process. Of course we are dedicated to fair and balanced reporting despite our advocacy of what we believe to be the public good; therefore we report this dissension in the ranks of the good. ##

Darwin Leon, Losing My Religion

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