ITY ATTOR RNEY JOSE E SMITH ANNOUNCE A ES HE WIL LL FILE SL LAPP MIAMI BEACH CI SUIT AG GAINST IM MPOVERISH HED

INDEPE ENDENT SO OUTH BEA ACH JOURN NALIST Asked fo or his Source e of Income Statements, S Smith threat tens to sue David D Arthur r Walters August 31, 3 2013 UPD DATE Septe ember 12, 20 013 MIAMI BEACHIn B n a response e to a public records requ uest for his Source S of Inc come Statem ments, Miami Beach B City Attorney A Jose Smith yes sterday anno ounced in an n August 30email direct ted to City Cler rk Rafael Granado, G and d Maria Moy ya Denham, whose role in the matte er is unknow wn at press tim me, and to ind dependent jo ournalist Dav vid Arthur Walters, W that he intends to sue Walter rs for defamation. Ralph, In I preparatio on for a def famation law wsuit against t Davie (sic) ) Walters, pl lease provid de me with cop pies of all public record d requests he h has ever made about t me, as well as all lob bbyist registrati ion forms or r disclosures he has ever r filed with your y office while w lobby on behalf of o any city empl loyee or property owner r over the las st 5 years. In n addition, I would like to t see any an nd all occupatio on licenses, business tax x receipts or permits eve er issued to him h on any property p he owns or contro ols. Specifica ally, please forward f any documents showing s him m to do busin ness in the city as a journa alist. I am happy h to pa ay in advanc ce for the co osts of this request. r Tha ank you for your cooperati ion. Jose I feel lik ke an indepe endent journ nalist feels in n Cuba, Walters W said in n a written statement, s w when he asks questions q of the Castro regime. r Inste ead of simpl ly respondin ng to a quest tion with wh hether or not he e as a city attorney a is required r by law to file Source S of In ncome State ements, whic ch he should know k since he h is a law wyer, he reso orts to chara acter assassi ination. He does that in his official City C Attorney y email, as if such condu uct is within n the scope of o his duties, then he wan nts to take off his h City Atto orney Hat an nd put on his s personal ha at. I notice ed that his an nnouncemen nt referred to o me as a jo ournalist in quotes, i.e., as a journa alist, and he do oes so to ind dicate that I am independ dent inasmuch as I do no ot conform to t his dictate es. At least pow werful city attorneys a he ere cannot have h journali ists thrown in prison fo or making public p
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record requests, advocating better government, and opining on their conduct, but they can try to dig out something to have them charged, say, for not registering as a lobbyist. In that regard, he cannot understand that something besides gold motivates activist journalists. I have not received a penny for my pro bono activism from anyone. My understanding of the county ethics code is simply that all city attorneys and their assistants are supposed to file Source of Income statements. Maybe they can file something somewhere else as a substitute, and I would like to know that if it is true. If true, the substitute should be filed with the city attorney and time and date stamped with then others. What lobby registration or business licenses or anything I say has to do with his requirements for filing financial disclosures is a mystery except that he is seeking some information to retaliate against me for asking for that public record. I say without reservation that Jose Smith must go, he must retire with whatever honors he has, for he is the vestige of the old regime of government by intimidation under threat of retaliation. The public records request that aggravated Smith to make his threat has a fascinating history, hailing back to an effort by Smith to have two special magistrates fired. Walters reported on a legal oversight committee meeting held on the matter last year, with his article Showdown at High Noon, Miami Beach City Attorneys versus Special Masters. After the meeting he asked for a biography of one of the antagonists, Senior Assistant City Attorney Alexandr Boksner, the only attorney whose information did not appear on the city website at the time. As a former State prosecutor and Police Legal Advisor, his biography and other personal information is exempt from public disclosure, responded Smith. City Clerk Rafael Granado quoted public record law to the contrary, but no biography was provided in response to the public record request. As it was, Boksner has applied for a job with another government entity that posted the information online, so that information was used by Walters. The office of the city clerk did provide Walters with a copy of Boksners Source of Income Statement for the year 2011, stamped Received by the City Clerks Office on July 2, 2011, along with his May 15, 2012, letter to Smith memorializing their conversation regarding his outside employment with the Coral Gables Police Department, and adding that he was also serving as a special magistrate for the Town of Surfside. Subsequently, on September 5, 2012, Walters filed a public records request with the city clerks office, which we have retrieved: Ms. Beauchamp, thank you again for your speedy fulfillment of PRR 7020 (attached). In my experience, the City Clerks Office always provides excellent public records services. I cannot begin to tell you how much difficulty I and my colleagues have had elsewhere in getting the simplest requests answered. Your swift response has attracted further strong interest in the city attorneys personnel policies. I intend to ask the city attorney a few polite questions based on my HR director experience, but to do so intelligently, I shall first need 1) the same information that you provided me for Mr. Boksner on all the attorneys in his office, including Mr. Smith, i.e. declarations of outside employment, and 2) the last report on compensation including benefits of all those attorneys. I recall seeing a report somewhere on the website but do not recall how to get it. Thank you. David Arthur Walters
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Ms. Beauchamp provided Source of Income Statements on all staff attorneys except Smith for 2011. Chief Deputy City Attorney Donald Papy filed an Outside Employment Statement in addition to his Source of Income Statement. Chief Deputy City Attorney Raul J. Aguila also filed a copy of a Statement of Financial Interests in addition to a Source of Income Statement. County attorneys and their assistants and city attorneys and their assistants are required by county ordinance to file Source of Income forms. It appears from the ordinances definition of employees as a different class than county and city attorneys and their assistants, therefore they do not have to file Outside Employment Statements. However, Donald Papy choose to fill out an Outside Employment Statement disclosing that he received $5,350 from the University of Miami for teaching law. On the other hand, his Source of Income Statement disclosed that he had income from the university and that its business was teaching, The Source of Income Statement does not provide for the disclosure of amounts nor does it require employment income to be distinguished from other income, leaving that issue up to guesswork. That deficiency in form design is contrary to the intent of disclosure. After all, the Source of Income Statement, according to the Miami-Dade County Conflict of Interest Ordinance, is in lieu of either a federal income tax return or a certified financial statement. The Source of Income Statement should be revised so that the amount of income is disclosed and distinguished as to whether it is passive, such as interest and dividend income, or earnings from employment including self-employment. The public should be able examine financial disclosure information for possible conflicts of interest, and to assess the utilization of public resources for efficiency; for instance, a resident of Miami Beach questioned why the attorneys were taking on outside work at the same time the city was expending a great deal of money on outside attorneys. Walters said he was satisfied with the information he received from the city clerk, with whom the forms are required to be filed by law, and he posted it online for others to see. He did not know that the forms had to be filed even when an attorney had no income, so he believed a form was not produced for Smith because he had no income or outside employment to report. He said he was made aware that all the forms used to be posted on the city website, but that the policy was apparently changed some time in 2008 so that the public could no long have easy access to the information. His interest in the matter was regained by a peculiar coincidence. Someone named Michael Wind posted a comment on his article, Fighting Entrenched Bureaucracy in Miami Beach, stating that Smith was the most corrupt official in the county and was operating businesses out of his home. I really did not think much of it, Walters said. When ordinary people talk about corruption they usually mean moral corruption, which is a matter of opinion, in contrast to criminal corruption, which is a legal issue. A newspaper reporter told me someone was out there with a grudge against Smith for some reason or the other, but I told him I was not interested in Smith in particular although I thought he was a lousy city attorney, but he was about to retire. However, I was interested in the role he played in preventing Club Madonna from getting a liquor license. Leroy Griffith, the clubs owner, had asserted that city attorneys and commissioners tried to extort $30,000 from him to pay a private persons legal fees, namely the fees of the Commissioner Saul Gross wife Jane Gross, whom Griffith had sued for libel. The Miami Dade Ethics Commission seemed to agree with the extortion assertion. Transcripts of closed door
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executive meetings were produced wherein Smith stated that he was not worried about extortion because all suits by nature have an element of extortion. On second thought, Walters said, after remembering something in the media about the allegation that Smith was running businesses out of his home at 887 North Shore Drive, he made a casual inquiry of Code Compliance Supervisor George Castell, asking him if he remembered anything about the Michael Wind allegation since it involved a public official. Castell said Walters would have to file a formal public records request to obtain any information. Walters advised that he was not interested in doing so, since he preferred to presume the whole thing was about using a home address for ones business, which does not mean one is running the business at home. Castell, however, forwarded the communication to Smith, and Smith released an email to several persons including Walters as follows: George. Michael Wind is a pseudo name for Sasha Winderbaum, whose dental license was suspended by the State because of gross malpractice. He was evicted from my familys office building in Bay Harbor years ago for non-payment of rent, practicing without a license and criminal mischief (vandalism). In retaliation, he has been filing frivolous complaints against my family for years, claiming that I operate businesses out of my home. As shown in the attachments, both your department and the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust dismissed these false allegations. My wife lawfully manages our familys properties out of her Surfside real estate office. No business was ever conducted at my residence. David Walters and Sasha Winderbaum are engaged in a vicious, slanderous campaign against my family because I dont put up with their nonsense. Both are mentally deranged, unemployed, and spend their lives making up stuff against anyone in public service. Pay no attention to either one. Jose Smith, City Attorney, OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY Walters denied that he had anything to do with Michael Wind and Sasha Winderbaum, and filed a complaint about Smiths behavior with Mayor Matti Bower of the City of Miami Beach on August 21, 2013. The mayor did not respond. Attached to the email to George Castell was a May 23, 2011, email from Smith to Compliance officer Robert Santos-Alborna, and Tiger Kristin: Mr. Santos-Alborna: I thank you for sending me the email trail regarding this bogus complaint against my wife and I. I commend you for your integrity and professionalism. Please be advised that Michael Wind is a pseudonym for a psychopath being evicted from a property I own in Bay Harbor Islands. He is well known to the Bay Harbor Police Department, and is to that town what the notorious" Count" is to Miami Beach, a very sick man. I am considering litigation against him for his frivolous complaint and defamatory comments. Jose Walters said he was not surprised that Smith had chosen to denigrate and perhaps even defame someone who questioned his conduct instead of simply responding with the facts, either denying or affirming whether the allegation was true or not, as would any professional person, especially when using official modes of communication. Government agencies often provide for anonymous complaints to protect the public from retaliatory abuse and thus encourage people to report violations. Law enforcement thrives on information from criminals. The point is whether or not there is a violation, not whether the person reporting it is a saint or devil.

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Santos-Alborna handled the April 2011 inquiry from Wind, who asked if Village Equity Holdings, Inc., Unita Village Holdings, LLC, Greynolds Park Village LLC, all of which give their addresses as 887 North Shore Drive, Miami Beach, Florida, 33141, had licenses to occupy that address, the home of City Attorney Jose Smith. Wind followed up in May several times: Wind followed up several times, asking, How many businesses operate in town breaking the law connected to public officials. And, Is there any results from your code compliance person? And, Is everything ok, ok as far as these people are operating legally or (is) the inspector a friend of someone? A code compliance officer visited the Smith home, and reported that (Mrs. Smith) explained to me that the business in question is a business that is located in the City of North Miami. I told her that I was sorry to have bothered her, and that the compliant will be noted as not valid. Santos-Alborna got back to Wind, informing him that the compliance officer did not corroborate your complaint, and did not find any code violations. Both County and City code allows for having a business office from a residence, as long as there is not warehousing of supplies/equipment, and no business-related visits take place. To which Wind responded, There was no complaint, just a question if these companies operating with a permit, and the answer is no, and there is no record of them operating in North Miami. A complaint was filed with the Ethics Commission in regards to another Smith company, Bay Harbor Professional Center, Inc., which owns the Bay Harbor Professional Center at 1160 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands, where it did not have an occupational license at that address. Its corporate address was listed as 9509 Harding Avenue in Surfside, where it did not have an occupational license, but Harding Realty, Inc., for which Smiths wife was a realtor, did have a license. The president of Harding Realty, Anita Bigelman, is also the president of Bay Harbor Professional Center. A cursory investigation was conducted. Evidence was gathered from Mr. Smiths wife. She reportedly said that Bay Harbor Professional Center did not occupy space at Harding Realty, where she received mail for it. Apparently the business does business in virtual space and does not occupy space anywhere at all therefore does not need a license. The complaint was dismissed, with the investigators report stating that one Michael Wind was evicted from a property in which the Smiths have an interest, and that he was later found guilty of practicing dentistry without a license. Joe Centorino, Director of the Ethics Commission, was asked by Walters on August 28, 2013, to reopen the case or at least to set the record straight regarding the real identity of the complainant and the allegation of criminality. Centorino did not respond to the following: August 28, 2013 Joe Centorino, Director MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COMMISSION ON ETHICS AND PUBLIC TRUST Re: K11-088 COE Letter to Jose Smith dated July 15, 2011 Mr. Centorino: I attach a copy of the COE Deputy Advocate Miriam S. Ramos, Esq. letter to Miami Beach City Attorney Jose Smith closing a cursory investigation into a complaint that he and/or his family were operating a business or businesses
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without occupational licenses or paying taxes. You will see relevant documents appended thereto. The investigation was closed on July 15, 2011, by Investigator Sylvia Batista, for the most part on the basis of Sara Smiths statements. Sara Smith is the wife of Jose Smith. The report itself states that one Michael Wind was evicted from a property in which the Smiths have an interest, and that he was later found guilty of practicing dentistry without a license. Now Mr. Smith has made statements in public record email to George Castell, supervisor of the City of Miami Beach Code Enforcement Department, dated 20 August with attachments that Michael Wind is Dr. Sasha Winderbaum, and implied that he is a mentally ill, unemployed criminal; to wit: George. Michael Wind is a pseudo name for Sasha Winderbaum, whose dental license was suspended by the State because of gross malpractice. He was evicted from my familys office building in Bay Harbour years ago for non-payment of rent, practicing without a license and criminal mischief (vandalism). In retaliation, he has been filing frivolous complaints against my family for years, claiming that I operate businesses out of my home. As shown in the attachments, both your department and the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust dismissed these false allegations. My wife lawfully manages our familys properties out of her Surfside real estate office. No business was ever conducted at my residence. David Walters and Sasha Winderbaum are engaged in a vicious, slanderous campaign against my family because I dont put up with their nonsense. Both are mentally deranged, unemployed, and spend their lives making up stuff against anyone in public service. Pay no attention to either one. Jose Smith, City Attorney, OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY Smiths allegations in respect to me are bald-faced lies and a projection of his own personality. I had no idea of who Michael Wind was, nor of Smith family, when a Michael Wind posted a comment on one of my articles mentioning the operation of businesses out of Smiths home and naming him as the most corrupt public official in Miami-Dade County. How could that be? As a matter of fact, the SunPost has named him Best City Official 2013. I asked Castell if he recalled anything about the complaints made by Wind since I vaguely recalled some fuss about the issue, and then I dropped the subject because I was not much interested in Jose Smith at the time, since he approaches retirement. However, Castell forwarded my casual inquiry to Smith for his retaliation. But that is beside my point here. My point is that the COE report, based on a superficial investigation that demonstrates what a believe is a customary professional bias in favor of Jose Smith, may be defamatory in itself. The investigation should be reopened and any of the false statements retracted.

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First of all, it is my preliminary information at this time, which should be corroborated, that Michael Wind is NOT Sasha Winderbaum, that Michael is neither insane nor a criminal, and is presently occupied tending to his 92-year old mother, and that statements made by him were not made with Sashas knowledge. Information publicly available on local websites shows no criminal record for Dr. Winderbaum. The licensing authority shows some discipline a decade ago, but not for practicing dentistry without a license, which is what the COE report states, nor for a suspension, but rather a stipulation that Dr. Winderbaum take a course in bridge and crown work and pass an examination. Now I have asked Police Chief Raymond Martinez to ascertain if Michael and/or Sasha were convicted of crimes. It is my opinion that Smiths statements about crimes and employment are either lies or may involve the violation of state and federal privacy laws. It may be that Smith is exploiting the authority of his office to cause officials to dismiss complaints against him, and to bully ordinary citizens and the independent press into silence. It is up to you to set other aspects of the record straight once and for all if you find that within your discretion. We certainly would not want to let stand irrelevant, defamatory statements published by the COE, would we? I realize that some attorneys believe they are absolutely privileged to abuse litigants, but that certainly does not apply outside of a courtroom, or does it? As you know, I have been no friend of the COE since it appeared to me that the COE has a professional or collegiate bias in Smith's favor, and that COE investigations of other matters have occasionally been superficial and negligent. Consequently, I opine that it is all too common for officials to exploit their offices to avoid accountability for their actions, especially if they are government lawyers, but hope springs eternal. Sincerely, David Arthur Walters. Walters insists that he did not know Michael Wind or Sasha Winderbaum, that he knew nothing about them or about Smiths family, had not spent his life fabricating stores about public officials, as any public official who knows him will aver, and is not mentally ill or unemployed, and is in fact a retired old man on a meagre social security income who accepts no money for his full time work and who is devoting his final years to doing what he loves to do, to study and write. He said he had done the City of Miami Beach some good and could prove it, but did not want to brag about his good deeds. Excepting police officers, he said that officials had never thanked him for his assistance and had often made him feel like he was not welcome in the city, and that Smith had said twice that he (Walters) would not be around for long. I have around $7 per day to live on after I pay rent. Smiths salary was $221,000 last year plus perks, and he will get enormous retirement income compared to mine. What he expects to get out
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of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit against me I cannot say. Perhaps he wants my furnishings from the alley, which might be sold for $50, and to take away my computer, which a neighbor from Nigeria gave me, so I would no longer have the means to work full time as a journalist, and to take my rent money so I would be evicted from my pathetic little studio. He keeps calling me unemployed, as if to be retired and to devote myself to writing is disgraceful. If gold is the meaning of his life, I do not begrudge him of that, and I do not want his gold, but for me there are much higher things in life. I can say that I do not like to be threatened by a bully licensed by the Florida Supreme Court. I study libel suits from time to time and do not want to be involved in one of them because I believe they are mostly the work of bullies and cowards. This is not the first time he has threatened and denigrated me and others. I do not know how he has gotten away this kind of behavior for so long. That is something that should be diligently investigated at the highest levels. The fact that he was lying about me in such an intemperate manner gave me cause to believe he could be lying about Mssrs. Wind and Winderbaum. My initial investigation indicated that Michael Wind was not Sasha Winderbaum, but was his brother, whom Winderbaum said is currently employed caring for his 92-year-old mother. The state website did not indicate that Dr. Winderbaum was practicing without a license, or that it had been suspended, but that a stipulation was entered into a decade ago that he was to take remedial training in bridge and crown work, and he had to take a test. I found no local information on criminal convictions. Employment information could only be reliably obtained from the IRS and the State of Florida. There are stringent rules prohibiting the release of confidential information, I asked the Chief of Police to investigate as to whether Smith was violating any privacy laws, or if there were any criminal convictions on record. Smith had copied the doctor in his inflammatory email, and the doctor informed me that neither he nor his brother was insane nor were they criminals, that whatever Michael had said had been said without his knowledge, and that he was one of the largest producers of dental services around. Apparently there had been a landlord-tenant dispute that led to some hard feelings. Dr. Winderbaum released this statement: To Whom It May Concern, My name is Dr. Sasha Winderbaum. I was born in New York 49 years ago to immigrant Parents from Russia and Poland. I graduated NYU College of Dentistry and have been practicing for over 23 years. Currently I perform advanced and complex procedures on many patients every day. I had a Dental practice at 1160 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida 33154 for 15 years, from 1996-2011. I have a deep passion to be a Doctor and help people since I was 8 years old. After a few years of hard work after graduation, we found a space in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. My mother sold her house at a late age and gave me a loan to open a new practice. There were some difficulties at first but life really got tough when Jose Smith and associates bought 1160 Kane Concourse, and named it Bay Harbor Professional Center, Inc. based out of Harding Realty in Surfside, Florida the neighboring town. From the start the elevator was not working, neither was the air conditioning, power was shut off in the middle of complex Dental procedures, illegal construction was performed above, beneath and next to my office, the fire alarm was going off all of the time, my car was towed from the assigned parking lot, this and much more under the ownership of Jose Smith, City Attorney of
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Miami Beach. Is there a conflict of interest that a Local City Attorney is also a landlord operating an unethical commercial, professional building? I personally contacted Jose, one time and told him about these problems; he informed that he has no knowledge. This harassment went on for at least seven years. I formally advised his wife, also an owner and her sister another partner. They did nothing. Everyday, I wake up between 5 and 6 am, go to work, and see between 20 and 40 patients a day, 9-10 hours straight, 5 days a week including most Holidays. I diagnose and treat most Dental diseases and disorders including Molar Rotary Endodontics, complicated exodontia, diode laser surgery, implant restoration, porcelain veneers, complex crown and bridge procedures, and all restorative resin treatments. I am one of the biggest single producers in the world, doing between $1 to $2,000,000 per annum. I was also one of the first owners of the CEREC cad cam technologies in the USA and digital panoramic X-rays. The point of all these facts which I can prove is that I am not mentally deranged according to Jose Smith, City Attorney of Miami Beach. Nor do I have any criminal history or connections to any criminals. Dr. Sasha Winderbaum Walters said that Smiths revelation about his business operations caused him to remember that he had received no information on the subject pursuant to his record request last year, and he was surprised to hear that Smith had outside income. He provided the following email record of his follow up with City Clerk Rafael Granado on the subject: August 28, 2012, Walters to Rafael Granado: After reviewing the (attached) Statements of Outside Employment and (Source of) Income Statements that you provided me for staff of the Office of City Attorney, I noticed that no such statements were included for Attorney Jose Smith so I assumed that he had nothing to report. However, he has brought to the attention of the public via public record email that he may have an interest in and/or employment with various entities (attached). He is listed as the Vice President of Bay Harbour Professional Center Inc. And he is listed as the Manager of Greynolds Park Village LLC. A database search by the Secretary of State may reveal further information. Please provide me with Jose Smiths Outside Employment and (Source of) Income Statements. Thank you. David Arthur Walters August 30, 2013, From Granado to Walters: City Attorney Jose Smith is required to file his Form 1 (Statement of Financial Interests) for the calendar year 2012 with the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, not the Office of the City Clerk. As a voluntary courtesy, Mr. Smith provided his Form 1 to the City Clerks Office. According to the Instructions for Form 1, its filing is required for county and municipal attorneys. County Attorneys, and City Attorneys and their assistants, are also required by Miami-Dade County ordinance to file Source of Income Statements (financial disclosure) with the city clerk: Sec. 2-11.1. Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance: (i)(5) Reports; Filing. All documents required to be filed hereunder by County persons or consultants shall be filed with the supervisor of elections. Documents required to be filed hereunder by municipal persons or consultants shall be filed with the municipal clerk of that entity. If Form 1 were allowed as a substitute for the Source of Income Statement, it would stand to reason they should be filed with the city clerk as well as with the State official, and not as a courtesy as supposed by City Clerk Rafael Granado. The Ethics Commission has not responded to clear up the
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confusion on this point and is not expected to respond because of Walters criticism of its director, Joe Centorino, and the handling of inquiries. I, like other journalists, said Walters, sometimes call Centorino Sleeping Joe. He is knowledgeable and an excellent writer, but he seems to doze off on evidence, claiming that he has none, and when you call him on something, he adopts a prosecutorial bullying attitude. And his liberal emphasis on compliance instead of punishment reduces compliance. Why comply when you can get away with fence-sitting, an instruction, a slap on the wrist, or a $250 fine for each instant violation, and $500 for each one the second time? I am not the only critic of the Commission on Ethics itself, which I call the $250 COE because the penalty for each violation, the last time I checked, was $250, and its jurisdictional scope is limited, and that is even more severely limited by the discretion it has to determine what violates the fundamental prohibition of exploitation of public office for private gain, which is all too common in my opinion. Frankly, I wish I had never heard of the Commission on Ethics. It is a red herring that distracts from intensive investigations of egregious misconduct. All too often the State Attorney punts, hands off cases to the COE, which serves as a sort of retirement farm for old prosecutors. ##

PUBLIC RECORD EMAIL August 30, 2013, From Walters to Granado: Attorneys and their assistants are required by MDC ordinance to file a Source of Income Statement. All other attorneys did so. Chief Deputy City Attorney Raul J. Aguila filed a copy of a Statement of Financial Interests form for the year 2011 with the city, stamped Received by the City Clerks Office on August 8, 2012, and he also filed a Source of Income Statement for the same year, attached to which was his Source of Income Statement. Source of Income Statements show employment income: Where are Smiths 2011 and 2012 Source of Income Statements? August 30, 2013, Smith to Granado: Ralph, In preparation for a defamation lawsuit against Davie (sic) Walters, please provide me with copies of all public record requests he has ever made about me, as well as all lobbyist registration forms or disclosures he has ever filed with your office while lobby on behalf of any city employee or property owner over the last 5 years. In addition, I would like to see any and all occupation licenses, business tax receipts or permits ever issued to him on any property he owns or controls. Specifically, please forward any documents showing him to do business in the city as a journalist. I am happy to pay in advance for the costs of this request. Thank you for your cooperation. Jose August 30, Walters to Granado:To facilitate your search into the records for Mr. Smiths announced malicious prosecution of a SLAPP suit against me to silence criticism of him as a public official, please know that my first name is not nor has ever been Davie. He uses that diminishing diminutive as part of his vendetta against me. My first name is David, which means beloved, after the King of
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Israel. Please extend me the courtesy of providing me with a copy of the information free of cost, since I am impoverished and you shall be obtaining the material on his request in the first place. If you need help with the public record requests, let me know, as there have been very few, including the one several months (ago which his office responded to but) excluded Mr. Smiths Source of Income Statement, which I following up (on) here. Now please also respond to (my request) for copies of Mr. Smiths Source of Income Statements, the request that elicited his retaliatory threat. It appears to me that a plain reading of the County code does require him to file as did the attorneys on his staff, but his office did not include his filing when it responded to the request. If there is some exception in law that allows him to substitute his courtesy filing of the financial interest statements instead of the Source of Income Statements, which do not reveal employment or self-employment income as do the Source of Income Statements, let me know, as that would not be a problem. I just want to be certain that he has complied with the requirement, which everyone has a right to know, since he has responded with a threat to that request. Perhaps Mr. Centorino (Director of the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission) can explain the intricacies of the law on the matter. Again, I expect you may have some time off for Labor Day, so Happy Labor Day! Thank you again, David Arthur Walters [Mr. Centorino did not respond. On August 23, Walters asked City Manager Jimmy Morales to ask Mayor Bower for an ethical investigation of Jose Smith. He responded that since Bower had been copied in the email to him, she had been asked for an investigation. She did not respond.]

26 August 2013 Jimmy Morales City Manager CITY OF MIAMI BEACH Re: Request for Special Ethics Investigation of Jose Smith Dear Mr. Morales: I urge you to send a request Mayor Matti Bower urging her to place on the Commissions Agenda a discussion of a motion proposing the special local investigation into the conduct of City Attorney Jose Smith to determine if his conduct was unethical in respect to the subject matter he has raised below in regard to Dr. Winderbaums allegation that Smith was running (several) businesses (without occupational licenses). And, if the commission wishes, to investigate his conduct in regards to other subjects referred to it as well.
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I can assure you that Mr. Smiths statements about me in the email below are lies maliciously made, that is, his allegations reek of ill will. Inquiries are being made to determine if he is lying about Dr. Winderbaum as well. As you can see from his email, Mr. Smith identified the person who brought the complaints against him as Dr. Winderbaum, someone whom I did not know and whom I had never heard about or had never heard from until he made a comment on one of my articles, Fighting Entrenched Bureaucracy in Miami Beach, (attached) regarding Smiths mendacious denial of his offices involvement in the termination of fire inspector David Weston; his casting of retired fireman Jim Llewellyn as mentally ill; his casting of myself as delusional in response to my questions to the City Clerk about due process of commission hearings; and my reference to his malicious and defamatory remarks made to an editor whom I did not work for and did not intend to submit anything on a subject I asked him about. Mr. Smith attached files to his email purporting to clear him of unethical conduct. They include email to Code Enforcement wherein Mr. Smith denounces Dr. Winderbaum as a sick man, a psychopath well known to police, and relates him to some purportedly despicable character, perhaps imaginary, called The Count. I have asked around as to the identity of The Count, and several people say they long to meet him and shake his hand. I do not know if Mr. Smiths statements about Dr. Winderbaum are true, but I suspect they are false because I know from personal experience that Mr. Smith has a characteristic pattern of responding to criticism and complaints about his conduct by attacking the character of anyone whom he deems his adversary. He has even related me to The Count, and has not responded to my request as to that persons identify if he does exist. I have been informed that Mr. Smith himself engages in flaming using handles or assumed identities in blogs, therefore I opine that The Count may be one of his alter egos or split-off personalities known in Jungian terms as The Shadow. Another file he attaches is a letter from the Miami Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust indicating that Mr. Smiths companies did not need certificates of occupancy and had paid taxes, et cetera. The COE investigator states that the complainant had been practicing dentistry without a license, an allegation that Mr. Smith repeats in his denigrating email below, but one which thus far is not confirmed by the government board, whose public site carries information to the contrary, that the issue was negligent bridge and crown work for which Dr. Winderbaum, without admission of guilt except for the purpose of resolution of the complaint, agreed to take remedial classes and an examination thereafter, and to abide by the law. What the alleged suspension would have to do with the ethics investigation into Mr. Smiths businesses is a mystery. A further allegation, that the dentist was evicted from the premises he had rented for several years from Mr. Smiths company, implies that that was his motive for
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bringing the complaint, a motive the investigator did not prove, and, in my opinion, should have no bearing on whether or not Mr. Smith was exploiting his office for his personal gain or someone elses. Finally, I note that Mr. Smith, in his email falsely relating me to Dr. Winderbaum, implies that the dentist was convicted of the crime of trespass, which I have asked the police chief to look into, and to also investigate as to whether or not Mr. Smith is exploiting his office to violate stated and federal privacy laws to obtain employment information etc. In sum, the gist of his email is that Dr. Winderbaum, because of the history Mr. Smiths alleges, is an unemployed criminal, and that I am like him. Incidentally, this is the sort of conduct that makes Mr. Smith the perfect representative of the previous City of Miami Beach regime, under which many residents were afraid to make complaints for fear of retaliation. I have no doubt that he will do everything in his power to retaliate against me for this and previous inquiries about his behavior. He has already said twice that I shall not be living in this city for long. Whether or not there is any truth to Mr. Smiths characterization of Dr. Winderbaum, that characterization in itself, as fallacious argumentum ad hominem, puts everyone at risk despite facts to the contrary. Now you may ask, Why should I recommend a local investigation into the City Attorneys conduct when the county investigation cleared him? First of all, note that the investigation was inconclusive, and the dismissal of the matter may be due to bureaucratic laziness if not prejudice; that is, an unwilling to make a diligent and exhaustive investigation into the matter. Now you may disagree with me when I say that the COE, which you helped found, is inadequate in its investigations. Its decisions as to what to investigate, and its findings, demonstrate a propensity to erratic and arbitrary if not selective enforcement. As a consequence it is lowly regarded not only by the average Joe but, private of course, by prosecutors and police officials, Further, if you wish, I can bring forward files to support my opinion that its current director, a former state prosecutor, is biased in favor of Mr. Smith. COE Advocate Murawski, in an investigation involving Leroy Griffiths allegation that city officials including Mr. Smith, all but one of them being lawyers, tried to extort $30,000 from him to pay the legal fees of a private person, said, and I paraphrase him, that the difference between right and wrong or ethical and unethical is a simple matter despite how the difference is legally defined. Justice depends on that difference. That made me mindful of Socrates retelling of a myth wherein Zeus said that adults without a sense of justice should be executed or banished.

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Now the COE, during the turmoil following the FBI arrests that led to the forced resignation of Jorge Gonzales as City Manager, proposed that it come to Miami Beach and teach our citys employees the difference between ethical and unethical. The Torah, the Talmud, are too simple: now we need the casuistry of the Mishnah, for each case is different, rendering the principles unclear unless reasoned on, unless studied and reviewed ad infinitum by the rabbis. We need a little more local governance in this case. You recall very well your recent decision, based on consultation with your HR director, to sweep the David Weston affair under the rug in a few words, leaving intact what I believe is a defamatory personnel file. All right, I will not belabor you on that, since, after all, it is Westons option to let the matter rest or bring suit against the city that was tired of the whole thing. But I raise the point that the COE investigations were in Westons favor, and I offer that he was merely guilty by mere association with someone whose business was in conflict with his duties. Most importantly, I point out that Weston was apparently convicted not for violating the county ethics code, but for violating the citys code of ethics. Nowhere do we see Mr. Smith recommending that, since the countys investigation was inconclusive, that his ethics be the subject of a local investigation. And that is what I am here urging you to recommend to the mayor. Please note that Mr. Smith lied about his offices involvement in the investigations leading up to the Weston termination, and denigrated me for pointing out that involvement. And that the citys HR director said that involvement of that office would be improper (see files attached). Wherefore Mr. Smith would have to recuse himself from discussions of his own ethics. And an independent investigator, perhaps someone from the Florida Bars investigative staff, would have to be engaged in the interest of fairness. Sincerely, David Arthur Walters Cc Matti Bower, Mayor ##

From: "Dr. Sasha Winderbaum "drwinderbaum@yahoo.com Date: September 3, 2013 4:35:12 PM CDT To: Sasha Winderbaum<drwinderbaum@yahoo.com> Subject: Smiths Defamatory Comments

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It is now more obvious than ever who is controlling the City Hall of Miami Beach. I am very capable of writing my own statements and will continue to do so in my own name like I always have. I have never posted anything under another name except my own. I do not personally know any journalists in Miami covering the popular ongoing corruption, which made it to the NY Times yesterday. I moved to Florida because I enjoy the outdoors and the Sunshine. I have never treated any patients without a license. I perform advanced procedures that only 10% of the Dentists in the world can perform. Once again Smith is projecting his guilt when mentioning "terror" since this is what his family was doing when they shut off power, water, air conditioning, set off fire alarms, towed my car for many years on a daily basis. We have many patients that witnessed my victimization under the Smith regime. Smith is in an uncomfortable spotlight since his colleagues Gus Lopez and Jorge Gonzalez got in trouble. Now national media attention. He must protect his wifes job since there is a huge amount of money at stake in the local Real Estate Market, so if he needs to lie, he will. We can prove him guilty, which could lead to felony charges. Many of the police from Miami Beach and Bal Harbour know Smith and must cooperate with him or face his wrath. I do not have any arrest record and have no other comments about the Police. Dr. Sasha Winderbaum. # Sep 3 David Arthur Walters <davidarthurwalters@gmail.com> To Jimmy Mr. Morales: I regret this whole matter is getting way out of hand, to the point of becoming national news. You know I sought advice from City Clerk Rafael Granado as to what process was available to inquire into complaints about our city attorney, despite his many good deeds, thinking there was some process like the one that involved the city attorney office's attempt to fire special masters. He referred me to the city manager office, but I decided to just let things be and move on until I was recently abused again, and then I came to you, and you referred me to the Commission as the only available remedy. But time and time again had I gone to the mayor and several commissioners, particularly Honorable Commissioners Tobin and Gongora, with absolutely no response. Not that they did nothing behind the scenes, but that I cannot know. It did seem that the city attorney, whomsoever s/he might be, has some sort of sovereign immunity at the city and county levels, and that leaves us with the Florida Bar, which happens to be pretty busy with cases where attorneys are allegedly stealing trust funds and the like. I do believe that the scope of your duties allows you to provide recommendations, and to take steps to make sure matters do not get to this point in the future. For example, I wonder if the compliance officers and the ethics commission investigators picked up the phone and called Dr. Winderbaum for his side of the story, or if they just took the city attorney's word for it because he is an attorney
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sworn to higher conduct than most men and women, and holding high office to boot. And perhaps the scope of your duties allows you to put a halt to a situation that could be a further embarrassment to your good city. I am told that the discovery process can dig deep and far and wide in cases like this, and go far beyond the protection of executive privilege and attorney-client privilege. I have refrained from suing the city attorney and the city he represents for heaping up insults on me for asking for his side of various stories and providing what I believe are fair and balanced opinions on the facts at hand. I myself am a dry hole and a virtually nobody, but as such I am the "Nobody" with a capital N about whom you may have heard in your Greek lessons, I have said that libel suits are for cowards and bullies, although there are indeed exceptions. I can understand why the city attorney gets upset with questions that might go to his competency and integrity as a public official. There was some truth in what Hitler said, that all journalists are scoundrels, and he picked a talented one for himself. I do not know what he said about attorneys. I tried to adopt a more humane or cosmic outlook on this situation over the weekend, and thought of how we tend to scapegoat individuals when we are frustrated by the truth of our existence. So we have negative transference, or negative projections onto individuals whom we would persecute to somehow justify ourselves and forget how flawed we are. Unfortunately, casting people as devils can turn us into devils. I am hoping that you may employ your high education and wealth of experience to arrive at a resolution that satisfies everyone as to their pride albeit somewhat reduced. Perhaps retractions, apologies, deletions or whatever, instead of a slew of lawsuits and dragging up tons of old dirt. Sincerely, David Arthur Walters # From: "Smith, Jose" JoseSmith@miamibeachfl.gov Date: September 3, 2013 3:18:51 PM CDT To: "Morales, Jimmy" JimmyMorales@miamibeachfl.gov Cc: 'David Arthur Walters' <davidarthurwalters@gmail.com>, "'drwinderbaum@yahoo.com'" <drwinderbaum@yahoo.com> Subject: RE: False statements made by Jose Smith, City Attorney Jimmy: Because this matter will lead to litigation, Winderbaum's comments must not go unanswered, I too need to "set the record straight", particularly since someone other than Winderbaum helped him write the email. To refresh my recollection,
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and insure accuracy, I reviewed the tenant file, spoke with persons who managed the property, and checked Winderbaum's extensive disciplinary history with the Florida Department of Health, among other things. Long ago, my wife met with Bay Harbor police to report that tenants were terrorized by Mr. Windebaum's bizarre behavior. Winderbaum also vandalized our property many times (including urinating in the hallways!). First and foremost, I must stress that this is strictly a personal civil matter between Winderbaum and my family. It does not involve the City or my role as City Attorney. It occurred long ago, beginning in 2006. I thought it would be over when my counsel evicted him in May 2011 for non-payment of rent. Unfortunately, it did not. I have never seen a tenant file with so many defaults, late payments and total disrespect for other tenants (one in particular was another dentist). Winderbaum is a landlord's worst nightmare. My wife and some tenants were afraid he would go postal. We even installed cameras for our protection. A police watch was instituted. After vacating, leaving the premises badly damaged, Winderbaum began open warfare against my family. He filed frivolous complaints with the City and the Ethics Commission (all dismissed), and posted defamatory accusations in media blogs under the name "Michael Wind" and "Dr SW." If he had assets, I would have sued him (there are several uncollected judgments). By the way, the reason he moved to Florida in the first place was because his license in New York was suspended (which he failed to disclose to the State of Florida). Even after Florida suspended his license (twice) he continued to see patients in violation of the State's Order. That too was a violation of his lease as was his failure to carry insurance. It now appears that Winderbaum and unemployed "blogger" Davie Walters are working in concert. The two are now joined at the hip. Finally, everything I state here can be easily verified. But why bother with the truth? Jose # [Smith did not bother with the truth, according to Walters, when he lied about Walters in his official City Attorney email, which prompted Walters to inquire into a matter he had dropped. Smith attaches no documentary evidence regarding Winderbaums licensing nor does he provide references for easy verification, which would be easily accessible public record. The state boards website is easily available, and the only record disclosed there is a decade old stipulation to take a bridge and crown work course and be tested, as a result of a patients complaint. The reference to Walters as an unemployed blogger whom he calls Davie is, said Walters, a continuation of Smiths characteristically insulting behavior towards Walters, who is a full time journalist and serves the community
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pro bono in his golden years. He would never treat retired lawyer Frank Del Vecchio in that unbecoming manner, said Walters. Del Vecchio, who has busied himself as an activist for several years and is unemployed in the sense of not working for gold, which Walters says seems to be Smiths reason for being given his continuous reference to unemployment. Perhaps Del Vechhios activism has never begged askance of his colleague. Smith from the beginning included Winderbaum and Walters in his email, to which Winderbaum and Walters responded, that being the harmony Smith himself created.] # Sep 3 David Arthur Walters <davidarthurwalters@gmail.com> Jimmy. Note that his statements are made in official city email. All that needed to be stated were facts about the office usage or not. I knew nothing about it and dropped the question. I did not know the people named and knew nothing of his business or family. But read what he says. He should chill out and drop the threats. #

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