Local Buzz: Spence-Jones’ tangled web
From the Miami Herald: an object lesson in inopportune song selection…
Flanked by an entourage of clergy and supporters singing We Shall Overcome, a still-defiant Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones swore innocence and vowed to clear her name before surrendering at the county courthouse to face a grand theft charge.
Original post: Last night, in an exclusive interview with Jawan Strader of CBS 4, Miami Commissioner for District 5, Michelle Spence Jones, wrapped herself in the support of her community.
“I just know that in my heart, and I know that my constituents believe and we believe that this too shall pass.”
I don’t doubt it. As of this writing, I’m told a group of pastors has formed a human prayer chain at the commissioner’s home, hours before she is supposed to surrender to authorities on charges she misappropriated (a kind word for “stole”) money intended for public use. At her swearing in yesterday, the newly re-elected commissioner defiantly recited every churchgoers platitude imaginable as she protested her innocence. She’s come too far to turn back now. No weapon formed against her shall prosper; and the battle is not hers (it is the Lord’s) … She knows that “for every level, there is a devil (that actually was a pretty clever one) … And God didn’t bring her this far to leave her. And the crowd of supporters that gathered to hear her speak cheered and applauded, especially when she recited the now familiar (to Miamians who’ve been here awhile) list of black leaders who had been subject to “public lynchings” by unnamed devils determined to bring them down:
- Art Teele (still beloved by many in Miami’s black community) who nearly became Miami-Dade mayor back in the 90s, and held seats in both the county and city commissions (the same seat Spence-Jones just got re-elected to) but killed himself in the lobby of the Miami Herald in 2005, having faced federal charges that included money laundering and wire fraud, plus newer charges that he improperly steered $20 million in electrical contracts at Miami International Airport to a small minority firm that couldn’t do the work …
- Miller Dawkins, who also held the District 5 seat, but got got stung in the FBI’s FBI’s “Operation Greenpalm” and did 27 months in federal prison back in 1997 after pleading guilty to taking $30,000 in bribes, at a time when the city’s manager and assistant manager, Cesar Odio and Manohar Surana, were also going down in legal flames …
- Carrie Meek, the former Congresswoman whose name, and leased vehicle, popped up in the “House of Lies” / Dennis Stackhouse scandal …
- Plus her political mentor, and sometime recipient of conveniently-timed consulting contracts from developers seeking Spence-Jones’ favor: Barbara Carey Shuler, who retired from public office just in time (thank you, statute of limitations!) …
For good measure, Spence-Jones warned the crowd: “they’re tryin’ to do it to your president, y’all.” Nice try, commissioner. To close out, she repeated over and over to the cheering crowd, that “they” (whoever “they” are) “don’t know that this nappy headed child of God has her armor on.” Somebody shout hallelujah.
Ms. Spence-Jones called her mission on behalf of the people of D5, “ordained,” and said that no man can take from her what God has given.
Well, according to the day-late and dollar-short gumshoes at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, God didn’t give Ms. Spence Jones’ family business, Karym Ventures, $25,000 in grant money that later got comingled with personal funds. And according to Carey-Shuler — who I’m sure the commissioner was surprised to learn is cooperating with prosecutors – she didn’t give Karym the money, either. From the Miami Herald:
Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones stole $50,000 in county grant money in a scheme to benefit her family business, prosecutors charged Thursday — plunging City Hall closer to chaos just hours after she was sworn into office for her second term.
Spence-Jones is expected to surrender Friday morning to face one grand theft charge. Prosecutors say she used forged letters — including one in the name of former Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler — to steer the grants to a family business in 2004 and 2005, before she was first elected.
Some of the money later went to Spence-Jones and her brother personally, or was used to pay credit card bills for travel, clothes, satellite television and other expenses, according to an arrest warrant signed late Thursday.
Of the case against Spence-Jones, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said: “We have all been agonized over this. . . . This whole thing is sad, sad for the citizens of District 5 who suffer year in and year out.”
And why would Kathy agonize? Because the case involves her pal, Carey Shuler, and her pal’s mentee. Guess which one Kathy decided to flip?
Hours after Spence-Jones’ fiery speech, a Miami-Dade judge signed the commissioner’s arrest warrant. The governor will likely suspend her.
Strikingly, the warrant revealed Carey-Shuler — whom Spence-Jones has described as her political mentor and “other momma” — as a key witness for prosecutors.
With “other mommas” like that, Ms. Spence Jones might want to consider whether or not those weapons formed against her shall prosper after all. More of the Herald story:
The arrest report focuses on a pair of $25,000 county grants to two nonprofits supported by Carey-Shuler, then the County Commission chairwoman, in 2004. The money was later distributed by the Metro-Miami Action Plan Trust, MMAP, a social-services agency managed by the county.
Prosecutors allege that Spence-Jones — at the time an aide to then-Miami Mayor Manny Diaz — submitted a letter in Carey-Shuler’s name instructing MMAP to transfer the two grants to Karym Ventures, a company then owned by Spence-Jones and her family. Spence-Jones is no longer an officer with the company.
MMAP’s board agreed to transfer the money to Karym the next day, Feb. 16, 2005.
Carey-Shuler told investigators that she never wrote the letter submitted by Spence-Jones. The letter, she noted, was written on old stationery that did not reflect her title as chairwoman.
“Ms. Carey-Shuler has stated under oath that she did not sign this letter, that a stamp of her signature was used instead of her actual signature, that she would never sign a letter like this, that she had never seen or authorized this letter, and that she never directed MMAP to redirect funds to Spence-Jones,” the warrant says.
“Ms. Carey-Shuler stated that she was `shocked’ that Michelle Spence-Jones had gotten the funds instead of the intended recipients,” according to the warrant.
One of those intended recipients was Osun Village, a project aimed at restoring Liberty City storefronts. When the project’s co-founder, Harlan Woodard, saw a letter to MMAP purported to be from his organization, he called it a fraud.
“We are victims of identity theft!” Woodard told prosecutor Richard Scruggs and investigator Robert Fielder.
Fernández Rundle said it was “very courageous” of Carey-Shuler, who has never faced criminal charges, to cooperate. Spence-Jones was once a campaign volunteer for Carey-Shuler, and the elder politico helped Spence-Jones get the job at City Hall.
“Barbara Carey-Shuler stepped up. This could not have been easy for her — this was her mentee,” Fernández Rundle said.
Carey-Shuler’s attorney, Milton Hirsch, said: “Although she’s always prepared to comply with her legal obligations, she’s very well pleased that this case simply does not involve her.”
“Well pleased,” indeed … BTW, Carey Shuler might be the political cat with the most lives in Miami-Dade. Though she has been mentioned in more than a few scandals, it’s true that she has never been charged with a crime. (It sure pays to be friends with the state attorney.) Clearly, she was not prepared to break that record on behalf of her political “daughter.”
Spence-Jones is also accused of taking an $8,000 kick-back from a second $25,000 MMAP grant (MMAP was created in the wake of the deadly 1980s Liberty City riots, to try and bring economic development to Miami’s struggling black communities. Needless to say it didn’t work out, and a scathing audit last year pretty much sealed the agency’s doom…) to her then-pastor, Gaston Smith. Smith, who this morning might be musing that there’s plenty of room under the bus for everyone, goes on trial for allegedly using some of that money for personal gain — including a now infamous trip to Vegas. He has pleaded not guilty and says the commissioner secured the grants without his knowledge. Welcome to Miami.
This sad, sorry tale is made worse by the fact that the Miami-Dade state attorney felt constrained to hold on to this information until AFTER Ms. Spence-Jones was re-elected — overwhelmingly — by voters who, I don’t know, might of found the news of their commissioner’s impending surrender to authorities useful in their decision-making. Of course, had they done so, they would have faced accusations of interfering in the election, plus a battery of protests from members of a black community convinced that The Big Conspiracy is still at work (there is a conspiracy, folks — but it’s a conspiracy of people of multiple ethnicities and professions, who seem determined to live high on the hog using public money… aided by other elected officials, whose job is to prosecute them, but who seem equally determined to do as little about it as humanly possible to stop the theft until the last possible second.) To be fair, there is tremendous scrutiny on public officials, and who knows what financial pressures. And of course, Ms. Spence-Jones is innocent until proven guilty. But for her community, which has faced almost non-stop hits, even before the Great Recession of 2007, from blight to joblessness to a lack of adequate housing, to a community that still hasn’t fully recovered from those riots a generation ago, and on and on, not just during her term, but for decades, while money flowed in, from the federal government on down, but somehow never got to the people it was intended to help, these continual scandals are draining, distracting, and doubly tragic.
And now, we face a situation in which the Miami commission is short not one, but TWO commissioners (the other, Angel Gonzales, is resigning to avoid facing criminal charges connected to a no-show job he got for his daughter with a city contractor) and the voters of both districts have been effectively disenfranchised. Not that you can have total sympathy for the people of District 5. The ethical cloud about Spence-Jones had been hovering there since 2005 (though she recently beat a spate of corruption charges) and anyone with a pulse knew she was set to have a starring role in the Gaston Smith trial — and not in a good way — but more than 3,000 of those who bothered to vote, re-elected her anyway, (despite there being a viable alternative in the race, with no scandals, and the endorsement of not just the Miami Herald, but the community-based Miami Times.) And then there were the contributors, including lots of developers who don’t live anywhere near that District, but who loaded Spence-Jones’ campaign coffers wtih close to $180,o00. I can’t think what they could have expected in return.
There is nothing but tragedy in this case. Spence-Jones has two very young children, and she is the breadwinner in her home. Whatever happens to her, essentially happens to her kids. She may very well beat this rap as she has others. However, in the meantime, it’s hard to argue that she has served her district well by dragging her constituents through this never-ending psychodrama. The City of Miami — which is already broke — will have to spend money to conduct a special election, having already spent untold sums on the first, wasted one. And it’s tough to have confidence that this community, even now, has had enough. Ms. Spence-Jones is not the only scandal-plagued pol out there seeking to retain office. There’s a guy named Dorrin Rolle, who also figured in the Stackhouse scandals, is up for re-election at the county level, soon. Any money says he gets re-elected in a landslide.
Meanwhile, blog reaction to the Spence-Jones takedown:
What a sad spectacle that Miami and Miami-Dade’s inner city districts continue to be pulled down by local elected officials. … Too bad it didn’t happen before the Marlins’ stadium votes.
These situations with Commissioners Ganzalez and Spence-Jones are both very interesting and very sad. In the midst of this mayhem and foolishness, it’s important to not lose focus on the people and the government’s responsibility to them us.
Amen to that.
UPDATE: Ms. Spence Jones has turned herself in, still defiantly proclaiming her innocence, saying during an impromptu press conference that:
“This charge is about removing me from office and not seeking the truth,” Spence-Jones said at an impromptu news conference in front of the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday morning.
“I never forged any letters or stole any money.”
Meanwhile, Barbara Carey-Shuler is apparently trying to soothe the appearance of snitchery:
Carey-Shuler told investigators that she never wrote the letter submitted by Spence-Jones. The letter, she noted, was written on old stationery that did not reflect Carey-Shuler’s title as commission chairwoman.
One of Spence-Jones’ attorneys, Richard Alayon, said that Carey-Shuler called him Friday morning to say her statement was “taken out of context.”
“She was so incensed. She was hurt. She believes her statements were misconstrued,” Alayon said.
After the news conference, Spence-Jones was led into the courthouse, to then be taken to the jail.
Kathy Rundle’s press conference is still to come.
UPDATE: The Herald reports that Rundle’s office flipped Carey Shuler back in September, and that they deliberately waited to pull the trigger until after the election:
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said the Spence-Jones case began to crystalize in September, after former County Commission Chairwoman Barbara Carey-Shuler agreed to cooperate. Gonzalez’s case has been in the works for months.
In weighing charges against Spence-Jones — who won reelection this month — the state didn’t want to make the same mistake it made 11 years ago, when it arrested Humberto Hernandez a few months prior to an election.
As his trial date loomed, Hernandez opted to run for reelection. He won.
Fernandez Rundle said the Spence-Jones arrest had to take place after she was sworn back into office. “We were trying very deliberately to not interfere in the political process,” she said.
Yeah. Thanks for that.
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God damn Miami thieves. Throw the book at her.