The Saga Continues: Sarnoff vs. Haskins

On the side to reinstate Winton: Linda Haskins, Miami’s former chief financial officer. Haskins was appointed by the City Commission to replace Winton following his arrest at the airport only to later lose a really bitter race against Sarnoff for Winton’s seat. In a May 31 e-mail to Paul Huck, Crist’s legal advisor, with the subject “Johnny Winton — We want him back!!” Haskins writes: “Please reinstate Johnny Winton to the District 2 Commission seat in the City of Miami. The voices of those opposed are part of a campaign funded by the elect Marc Sarnoff campaign. Johnny does not have the resources to fund such a campaign since he is not running for reelection in November. Please do not let the voices of the few continue to overshadow the belief of the many — Johnny Winton deserves to be reinstated.”

One person who came across that Haskins e-mail commented on June 8: “What makes a drunk, arrogant, combative, egotistical, self-interested, developers-hands-in-his-pocket politician deserve to be reinstated?”

“Remember this is Linda Haskins’ idea,” Sarnoff replied back to both the person and Haskins that same day.

“Yes. He tells the truth. Please do not contact me,” Haskins replied. She later added: “Additionally, since I suspect that you have started this harassment campaign, I will seek legal action if you do not stop. You fail to understand that ALL citizens have a right to their personal opinion. No one, not even you, should be harassed for expressing it.”

This prompted a 368-word reply from Sarnoff on June 9 that began, “I was prepared not to contact you as you suggested, and I will respect that as long as you do the same for me.” Sarnoff goes on to point out that letters to the governor are public record, that it’s improper to threaten legal action against reactions to statements on the public record, that all but six of the letters being sent support him being retained and reminding Haskins that he beat her by a 2-1 margin in the last election. “If you do not like being criticized for your opinion then do not place it in the public record. The age-old expression applies to you: ‘If you do not like the heat, get out of the kitchen’ is befitting of your present threat. Do not express an opinion and complain (or actually threaten someone) when it is not shared.”

This prompted a 303-word response from Haskins, which started: “Your actions show how ill-suited to a leadership position you are. Is it so important to you to find out who may not agree with you and then denigrate them in public that you would stoop to a public records request to find out who supports Johnny Winton?” She goes on to accuse Sarnoff of trying to compile an enemies list so he can intimidate political foes into silence. “Your actions, obtaining your ‘enemies list’ and then publicly distributing it to your campaign workers so that they can launch their latest rounds of personal attacks at your behest, does more to attempt to curb free speech than one personal e-mail from me to you…. This is the sort of environment in which my mother grew up in Nazi Germany. This is the environment of radical Islamic governments. This is not the sort of thing that a public official in this country should be espousing, supporting and participating in.” She repeated that she was now a private citizen and said the e-mail is “not for distribution.”

“Please do not use the Holocaust or Nazi Germany as an analogy to our conversation, by doing so you degrade the tragedy that 6 million Jews and 6 million others endured. You and I are just having a discussion, we are not making life or death decisions,” was part of Sarnoff’s 200-plus-word reply. He reminded her that e-mails to public officials are public record.

“As usual, you misunderstand me. I adore public discourse and freedom of expression,” Sarnoff wrote. “I realize you have not been in my office at City Hall but all day I have meetings with people who more often than not disagree with me. Sometimes people strongly disagree with me but always we share respect. Sometimes they sway me and sometimes I sway them but I demand information. I constantly demand my staff to bring me the opponents on every issue so everyone can be heard. I believe that is the only way I will make the best decisions.”

More Drama

Meanwhile, Morningside has declared its independence from Miami’s Upper Eastside.

“The Morningside Civic Association hereby announces its withdrawal from the Upper Eastside Miami Council, effective immediately,” wrote William Hopper, president of the Morningside Civic Association, in a recent letter. “This is an official action, reflecting a unanimous vote of the MCA Board of Directors.” That means the Morningside Civic Association will “represent itself on all public matters before any governmental agency, whether city, county, state or federal. This is especially true of any interaction with the city of Miami and the Florida Department of Transportation.”

Hopper stated that Morningside’s withdrawal was sparked by “recent actions of the UEMC” and “the orchestrated expulsion of Frank Rollason as the representative from Belle Meade.” Rollason, the former director of Miami’s Community Redevelopment Agency, recently ran for the District 2 seat on the City Commission against Sarnoff and Haskins.

But that’s not all. “Moreover, we do not believe that the UEMC serves the public’s best interest, and especially not that of the low-density neighborhoods in the Upper Eastside,” wrote Hopper. “With this action Morningside joins the Belle Meade and Palm Grove associations in leaving the Upper Eastside Miami Council.”

“They do stuff like that to deliberately cause a stir where it is not necessarily necessary,” said Allyson Warren, president of the Upper Eastside Miami Council. “If I were a press person I am not sure I would care.”

Warren said the neighborhood groups the letter referred to have fallen under the sway of a more radical group known as Miami Neighborhoods United. She said the three neighborhood groups were more interested in opposing any structure more than 35 feet in height than trying to work with the city for a solution that would be good for both residents and business interests. You see, the UEMC is now including businesses along Biscayne Boulevard and 79th Street, entities that have long been ignored by the city, Warren said. “Not a different focus but a different umbrella,” she said.

As for Rollason’s removal, Warren said that while the former city official was a nice guy, he was too divisive and preaching about how “the city is the enemy and we should stand up to them.” It got so bad that longtime member David Treece nearly quit a couple of months ago, Warren confided to Murmurs. Instead, the UEMC decided to ask Belle Meade to send another representative. “We’ve been able to negotiate in an atmosphere of fairness for everyone,” Warren pointed out.

Rollason said all he did was introduce a motion two months ago to reject Miami 21, a complicated rewrite of the zoning code that’s being pushed by Mayor Manny Diaz. The code, which will take effect in the Upper Eastside, downtown and Overtown areas, is scheduled to come before the Miami City Commission for a vote on June 28. But Rollason said there were so many concerns raised about Miami 21 at a Planning Advisory Board meeting that more work was needed on the code. “I’m supportive of the Miami 21 concept and idea but I don’t think it’s ready to go yet,” Rollason said. So he made a motion to reject Miami 21. “Allyson and her clique of people thought it wasn’t going to pass. It did pass. And then it went all shithouse.” Another meeting was scheduled, which not only transformed the Miami 21 rejection into an endorsement but also saw Rollason’s ouster.

“I came with a different point of view that was different from them,” Rollason said. “What is divisive to them is when you are not kissing the mayor’s office’s ass.”