Joe Carollo’s latest beef is over a song list for a Venezuelan benefit concert
Joe Carollo’s latest tiff is over a request for a music list for a Venezuelan benefit concert at Bayfront Park last Saturday. The bombastic Miami commissioner has somehow linked a Miami cop’s request for the list to his adversary Bill Fuller, owner of Little Havana’s Ball & Chain restaurant, who Carollo believes is trying to steamroll Little Havana’s identity.
On Saturday, for some unexplained reason, Carollo suggested a Miami cop asked the commissioner for a set list for the concert at the behest of Fuller. The cop, identified in a police report only as Sgt. Valdes, says it’s nonsense. And now Carollo’s refusal to hand over a list of songs has caught the ire of the Fraternal Order of Police, which fired off a note Wednesday to all of Miami’s elected representatives.
“On Saturday March 23, 2019, I received information from one of the union members, a police officer and in this case a victim, that Commissioner Carollo was engaged in and acting in the following behavior; abuse of power, making false statements against a member of service regarding potential wrongdoing,” wrote FOP President Tommy Reyes.
To which Carollo replied: “This is the biggest bunch of crap. Bill Fuller coordinated it. Now he’s starting with these kids who have taken over the FOP.”
Fuller’s response: “Absurd. I have no business with anything related to the Venezuelan festival or its music.”
Never before has such a tiny slip of paper caused such a huge uproar. But in Miami, with Carollo once again seated behind the dais, it’s probably as likely a place as any.
As briefly as can be explained, on Saturday just before the start of the concert, Sgt. Valdes requested the set list of an event organizer, he said, so police would know when to increase presence. Valdes was working off-duty at the time. The person he requested the information from made a call and handed the phone to Valdes.
On the other end of the line was Carollo. The commissioner claimed he recognized Valdes’ voice because he says he spotted Valdes last month lurking behind a wall and watching him as he drove near Ball & Chain while awaiting to meet New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez.
Carollo has never clearly said why Valdes, who worked off-duty as a valet at the restaurant, was allegedly tracking him. Fuller believes Carollo is harassing him because he supported Carollo’s opponent in the past election and the commissioner has called code enforcement on him.
But back to that piece of paper. Not only has Reyes of the FOP said he’s taking his complaint to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust, but a city cop wrote an after-action report on Carollo’s Saturday phone encounter with Valdes.
The report said there were no significant incidents at the Bayfront Park event Saturday, other than Carollo stating concern about the set list and the Ball & Chain and Valdes and Fuller. Carollo said somehow Valdes got the list. The commissioner claimed the officer snatched it from someone and that he wanted it back.
“I then returned the song list to the commissioner,” the officer who wrote the report said at the end of his brief, two paragraph statement.
This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 7:25 PM.