Greg Badinger, Michael Gongora, Randy Hilliard

June 6, 2012 By David Arthur Walters Miami Beach I arose early yesterday morn, not being able to sleep well, recalling how I got up early on a previous morning, to revise my article about the Florida Bar and the COE handling of the complaint against Commissioner Michael Gongora, that he had made an allegedly unethical or corrupt offer to advance Club Madonnas effort to obtain a liquor license provided that its owner hire his consultant Randy Hilliard to poll the Miami Beach Commissioners on how they felt before he publically came forward. By implication, that meant to lobby them, since for him to speak to them privately on the issue would be, at least theoretically, a violation of the Sunshine Act, a violation the bickering commissioners are prone to accusing each other of from time to time. Club Madonna owner Leroy Griffith and his publicist Carl Zublotny affirmed under penalties of perjury that the offer took

place. On the other hand, neither Michael Gongora nor Randy Hilliard denied under oath that it was made. Mr. Gongoras lawyer simply wrote a letter of denial to the Florida Bar, and that regulatory arm of the Florida Supreme Court summarily dismissed the complaint for want of evidence to show probable cause, as if oaths and affirmations of witness do not qualify as evidence nowadays, even when the testimony is not impugned and the witnesses not impeached. I was not satisfied with the Bars finding. Mr. Gongora along with too many other lawyers whose cases are inadequately investigated view such decisions as if they were the final word of God. That defect in judgment was my subject. I wanted to see oaths or affirmations from both Mssrs. Gongora and Hilliard. Once those were on hand, there would be a stalemate provided that immunity was not granted from prosecution for illegal surveillance, in which case either one could be prosecuted for perjury if they had lied. My first article on the subject had been rejected by the SunPost. I did not blame the editor, for it was not artfully done, quoted too much of the public record, and the context given was inadequate. Therefore I promised the SunPost editor that I would edit it, and I made a considerable effort to render the information into a good story, which she would eventually deem good. But she did not run the piece. Therefore I resubmitted it to her on June 3, but on June 4 she advised me that she had promised Mr. Gongora that she would say nothing further on the matter. Again, my exposition was never about Commissioner Gongora, but about the conduct of the investigation; yet all anyone could apparently think about was Gongora and strippers. As I was

twisting and turning on the morning of June 6, I resolved to change the subject, and shed some light on the characteristic nature of the commissioners behavior. When I arose and checked my email, I was gifted by an inquiry from the editor, asking me why I had sent a copy of my resubmission to Mr. Hilliard. To which I replied, in the more or less informal form of a Letter to the Editor: Thank you for advising me that Randy Hilliard was copied on my resubmission to you. Gee whiz, I do not have his email address, and I have never met the man or discussed anything with him by any medium. And, as I said in response to your previous question, I do not know the owner of Club Madonna and his publicist, and I have never communicated with them in any way. Thus it appeared that Mr. Hilliard, who proudly calls himself The Prince of Darkness i.e. Satan, a satan being an informer to the imperial authority, and who has a history in the political corruption business, is still Michaels counsel, for Michael must have copied him. I suppose that would not astonish anyone, given the reputation of politicians for lying, the more so if they are lawyers; we should not blame them for hiring the Slanderer to assist them. That being said, I think that, since you have asked me for an explanation, and I am complying, it is only fair to send along to me their email to you or at least to paraphrase its content, so I can write a fair and balanced story on this old subject in a new bottle. As I did clearly indicate on the email to you, I copied Michael, and I did so because my original submissions to you in respect to Michael have never been a secret between him and me, as you

can see from our previous communications. In fact, I interviewed him on the subject. I think that should suffice to explain why I sent him a copy of the revised article with my resubmission; but let us entertain the new subject, which is not about the Florida Bar or the COE, but about the commissioner and his agent, and their style of dealing with the press, in order to render it somehow dependent instead of independent. Incidentally, as per our previous email, I did an extensive rewrite to please you, and got you some authoritative quotes from the COE. I did all that because I was certain you would appreciate the quality and balance of the story, and the importance of the exposition to the enlightenment of your readers. I heard nothing further from Michael. I was surprised when the story did not appear. But then I intuited what had happened, that Michael and/or his agent had put pressure on the SunPost not to say anything that might reflect adversely on him. Michael had a choice, to behave nobly, and to recommend to you that you publish my excellent article on the subject of how investigations are conducted by the Florida Bar and the COE, or to behave ignobly, and urge you to suppress the story because he happened to be the subject of that investigation. I even wrote out a magnanimous response for him, a response that a man of high public character would be proud to make, but he took the low road, the cowardly road, despite the fact that he proclaims public service not money and power as his sole motive for being in office. As I previously said, I was advised that he threatened to withhold advertising from your paper if the story was published. I have not attempted to corroborate that angle except to ask you

about it, and you have not yet responded. Did he or his satan threaten you or your associates in any way, to withhold some advantage or benefit from your publication, in order to suppress my story? I happened to notice yesterday an article about threats made to a journalist in the Dominican Republic, where it was noted that there are two threats to investigative journalism besides death threats: defamation suits, and lack of independence. That was said as if the Dominican Republic were a backwards country; yet the threats are familiar to us in the United States, where licensed thugs suppress the truth about themselves and their clients, where the powerful routinely bribe and intimidate people into silence. As for the media business that calls itself the fourth branch of government, it preaches Sunshine but it does not want the Sun to shine on its own operations, where truth is routinely twisted and suppressed. Here comes the Sun: how do you, editor of the Sun Post, feel about that? Why would anyone care if the light shines on his or her behavior, except in the bathroom or bedroom? Diogenes would not even exempt bath or bed: He bathed and fornicated in public, saying that, if what is done in private is really good, then it should be done in public as well, and if the private acts are evil in public, they should be banned in private. And when he visited a wealthy nobles home, he spit in his face because he did not want to spit on the admirable dwelling. Now there is an independent thinker!

If he is worthy of noble office, why should Michael Gongora care about publicity one way or the other? If he is a reasonable man instead of an irrational hysteric, why would he panic and lean on his satan for support? Even if he is subjected to slanderous calumny, he would retain his peace of mind. As Epicurus said, The wise man may be injured sometimes through hatred, envy, or contempt, without disturbing the calm and tranquility of his mind, because in those trials he is supported by the strength of reason. Recall that Thraseus was not alarmed at Neros anger because virtue was his only crime, and that Phocion was tranquil when he was dragged through the streets of Athens to his execution. No less than Solomon said that patience is a testimonial of a mans wisdom, that it is glorious to be indifferent to ill usage, not to be the least dismayed by it. So now we have an even better story than the original one I submitted, which was not really about Michael Gongora. Now we are in possession of some truth about the nature of our likeable commissioner and his fell advisor, and what they do to suppress that truth. The people should know the truth about the choices Commissioner Gongora has made, dont you think? Of course whether you run the story or not is your choice. There are plenty of places for stories. Some of my pieces on the Internet get over 100,000 views, just for example, when I spread them around to various sites. As Sir William Temple said in his book on gardening, The best fruit that is bought has no more of the masters care, than how to raise the greatest gains; his business is to have as much fruit as he can on a few trees; whereas the way to have it excellent, is to have but little on

many trees. So for all things out of garden, either of salads or fruits, a poor man will eat better, that has one of his own, than a rich man that has none. You know I contribute to the cause of making your place one of the better ones. Perhaps, in your opinion, everybody all ready knows the truth about Satan therefore enough has been said. But I am inclined to persist because I believe we have a commission of fallen angels running this town into perdition. Finally, I suggest that you forward this letter to Michael and Randy, because I am not one to stab people in the back, and would like to have their perspective on what I have said as well as yours. The editor did not honor my request, leaving me to assume whatever seems reasonable. As of this writing, my Letter has not been run, which is of no great moment since I shall put it in The Cloud for all to see, particularly those who want to know who their political leaders are. This is an important subject for the residents of the City of Miami Beach, for the community is plagued by scandal, they are sick and tired of what they perceive to be either the negligence or corruption of the city commissioners and other officials, and they want to do something about it. It is to that end that they be well informed about their conduct and character. As I had said during my email interview of Gongora, I imagine that you are the sort of public spirited person that welcomes inquiries into the behavior of public institutions and officials,

and wish there were more people like me to make them. At least that is the public image I have of you. I was wrong. References: Walters, David Arthur, Pasties and Thongs Dirty Secrets of The Florida Bar, World Wide Web Walters, David Arthur, Club Madonna Coverup, World Wide Web
http://www.scribd.com/doc/91833783/Club-Madonna-Coverup-Pasties-and-Thongswere-insufficient http://miamimirror.blogspot.com/2012/05/club-madonna-coverup.html