Posted on 10/19/2010 10:25:43 AM PDT by Libloather
North Miami mayor returns Porsche
Mayor Andre Pierre says the Porsche he was driving earlier this year was lent to him -- but he never reported the loan and there are conflicting memories of who did the lending.
BY NADEGE CHARLES
Posted on Sunday, 10.17.10
For a few weeks over the summer, the mayor of North Miami was riding in style on the streets of a city that had been pinched hard by the recession.
The dark blue, four-door 2010 Porsche Panamera that sat in Mayor Andre Pierre's city parking spot has a sticker price of $100,000.
And if the mayor needed to get somewhere in a hurry, the Panamera -- with its all-leather cream interior, high-end surround-sound system and dual-zone climate control -- can hit 193 mph in seventh gear.
But the ride raised a ruckus: It wasn't the mayor's car, so who gave it to him? Why did he not report it as a gift or a loan? And just how long did hizzoner cruise around in it?
The mayor admits he picked a bad time to show up in ostentatious wheels: The city had just slashed more than two dozen jobs and imposed salary cuts and furloughs.
Part of the problem, Pierre says, is he doesn't think like a politician.
``I'm not a politician, I'm a public servant.''
An e-mail from a constituent alerted him that residents were talking about the car and warned him that, ``It didn't look good,' '' Pierre said.
That e-mail prompted him to return the Porsche.
Asked by The Miami Herald who lent him the car, Pierre gave conflicting stories.
The mayor said he borrowed the car in June from a ``close'' friend, David Kidd, so he could take his family to Orlando and Key West. He then canceled the trips and began driving the car to City Hall and around town.
But Kidd, a Miami Gardens chiropractor, said he is ``not the mayor's close friend,'' he didn't lend the car to the mayor, and he doesn't own the Porsche. He said the car belongs to his business partner, Renal Roberty, president of Soleil Lakay Corp. of Miami Gardens. Soleil Lakay is registered with the state as a nonprofit corporation.
Roberty, a client of Pierre's law firm, agrees he is the one who lent the car.
But the mayor contends he got the car from Kidd. ``I know I have a very good memory,'' Pierre said. ``I'm very sharp.''
``No way,'' Roberty said. ``He can't say the car was given to him by David Kidd. That can't be true.''
Roberty said the Porsche is registered to Nu Look Rehab, a business owned by Kidd. Soleil Lakay Corp.'s offices are in the same building at 190 NE 199th St. as Kidd's chiropractic business, according to state documents.
When told of Roberty's and Kidd's accounts, the mayor said it was possible he received the car from Roberty.
``I have no idea what the mix-up is,'' Pierre said.
State and county ethics laws require public officials to disclose gifts valued at more than $100.
``It sounds suspiciously like a gift and the mayor only returned it because people started to ask questions about it,'' said Bob Jarvis, who teaches ethics at Nova Southeastern University.
``The right thing for him to do is pay the fair market value'' of leasing the car or report his use of the car in his next gift disclosure, Jarvis said.
The mayor's recent financial-disclosure statement makes no mention of the Porsche. Several luxury car dealerships estimated that it would cost between $1,000 and $2,000 a month to lease a Panamera.
The only gift Pierre disclosed is $800 in free laundering services between April and September provided by A Cleaner World Dry Cleaners in North Miami.
Violation of state and county ethics laws can lead to civil fines.
In 2008, state and Miami-Dade County ethics boards each fined former Miami Police Chief John Timoney $500 for not disclosing that he had driven a luxury SUV free of charge for more than a year.
Neither Pierre nor Roberty said he could remember when the vehicle was returned.
Pierre said he thinks he returned the car in July.
But on Aug. 3 the Porsche appeared in the mayor's City Hall parking space during a city-sponsored National Night Out Against Crime event.
``If it was there on August third, then I don't know,'' he said.
Pierre dismisses suggestions of impropriety, but he admits the Porsche may have brought unwanted attention.
For the moment, the mayor is driving his Mercedes-Benz CLS 500. ``I have a lot riding on this,'' he said. ``There's nothing going on.''
Ah, the old “I can’t remember who lent me the Porsche” ruse...
...hey, he’s a democrat, it should work FINE!
At least he had to ride around in an embarrassingly ugly ride.
This thing makes people laugh at you, not be envious.
Boy people are being pretty picky here. I mean who HASN”T found themselves at one time or another tooling around in a hundred thousand dollar sports coupe they just couldn’t account for.
Hey, if no one wants to claim ownership of the car ... I’ll take it. Yeah, it’s ugly, but I can trade it in for a 911.
Corruption at ALL levels of politics in this country has reached a new level of high. The SWAMP must be drained. Repeat...the swamp must be drained. FIRE ‘EM ALL!
Yep, it looks like the design team of the Karmann Ghia decided to come out of retirement and take a whack at the Cayenne.
He should have requested the 911 GT2 RS.
Go green. It's a cross between a smart car and a Porsche.
It's a Smorsche!
Sure it’s not a Phart for two?
Unfortunately they decided a four door 911 was what the doctor ordered. I think its more like the Thing than the Karmann Ghia.
``I'm not a politician, I'm a public servant parasite.''
Ha! That Porsche could fit on my porch!
Only if he used it to pick up women who were not his wife. Otherwise, fellow Democrats would see this as a wasted opportunity that he was clearly not smart enough to see.
-PJ
Good point!
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