NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph was not at City Hall on Thursday or at his home to address being held in contempt of Congress.
Joseph’s colleagues are now responding with concern.
Calling his conduct “egregious,” members of the House Ethics Committee said he ignored requests and subpoenas to testify and produce documents as it followed a web of potentially illegal donations involving then-U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Florida.
Joseph chairs a political committee with Cherfilus-McCormick’s brother and is alleged to have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from an oil company executive doing business with the Haitian government.
The contempt report said Joseph refused to comply, despite extensions and accommodations, and did not offer justification for that failure.
Last spring, the interim results of an unrelated internal city investigation found Joseph’s actions put the city at “legal, financial and ethical risk,” documenting questionable spending and interfering with North Miami Beach employees.
North Miami Beach Commissioner Lynn Su called Joseph being held in contempt of Congress “deeply concerning.”
“Public officials have a responsibility to respect the legal process, cooperate with lawful oversight and uphold the public’s trust,” she said.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Fortuna Smukler said that Joseph “needs to stop trying to ruin the reputation of people and that of the city, and he needs to look in the mirror.”
Joseph, in an email to Local 10 News late on Thursday afternoon, commented on the matter, calling the Ethics Committee report “inaccurate” and saying that he was not served subpoenas in the way he had asked to be served.
He said he contacted his attorneys to have the committee “rescind their report and recommendation.”
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