City Hall Stinks

Indeed, soon after Winton was suspended after tussling with two Miami-Dade Police officers, Sarnoff began campaigning for the seat. The immediate favorite was Linda Haskins, the city's former chief financial officer, whom the commission appointed to the position on an interim basis. (She declined comment for this article.)

Sarnoff and his supporters relentlessly hammered Haskins for her ties to Mayor Manny Diaz and for receiving campaign contributions from lawyers, lobbyists, and people working not only for Home Depot but also other controversial developers. At one point, doctored images depicting Haskins wearing a Home Depot apron and carrying barrels of cash found their way into the in-boxes of the district's voters.

Sarnoff even received help from an unexpected ally: Joe Arriola, who had resigned as city manager after a series of scandals. Before his departure, the city manager helped Sarnoff win some brownie points with parents who had been alienated by the dog park dispute. Via e-mail, Sarnoff asked Arriola to replace playground equipment at the park. Arriola replied, "Your wish is my command!!!" Soon the manager ordered the purchase of $26,000 worth of new equipment and replacement of a fence separating the children's area from the dogs' space.

During the Haskins-Sarnoff race (which also briefly included Rollason), Arriola publicly attacked Haskins, claiming she was a lush who drank on the job and had to be driven home from city hall every day. Haskins emphatically denied the claim, but it gave Sarnoff a substantial boost with voters.

There's another interesting twist: In the final days before the runoff election, Sarnoff switched parties from Republican to Democrat. Soon the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee endorsed him, sent out mailers, and paid for a phone bank to support his candidacy. On November 16, Arriola, a Republican, contributed $5,000 to the Democratic Party. Between November 18 and 20, three Arriola friends — Allison Traeger and Dante and Annie Starks, contributed $6,000 to the Dem's PAC.

That money helped Sarnoff beat Haskins in the November 21, 2006 runoff; Haskins raised twice as much money.

Arriola admits he gave the cash to help Sarnoff's campaign. "Absolutely," Arriola says. "I figured I'd write one big check to show I supported him."

The alliance with Arriola, which Sarnoff denies, would play heavily into the drama over the famed memo: It all began with two controversial projects. The first is a much-disputed plan by Mercy Hospital to sell a piece of land for a three-tower condominium. The second is Crosswinds, an Overtown complex that residents oppose.

Last May 8, Sarnoff says, he received a call from Arriola, who asked to meet at the Grand Bay Hotel. "It was a really hot day, because I was walking to the hotel," Sarnoff says. "But my driver [Miami Police Sgt. Alfredo Alvarez] pulled up next to me as I was walking, and he insisted he drive me over there."

When he arrived at the Grand Bay, Sarnoff says, Arriola was acting strange. The former manager advised him of an April 30, 2007 meeting he had with three people: Related Group executive Alicia Cuervo, Miami's operations chief Mary Conway, and public works director Stephanie Grindell. Cuervo informed Arriola and the others that two Spence-Jones associates — former county Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler and campaign strategist Barbara Hardemon, Billy's wife — had to receive $100,000 if Spence-Jones was to approve the project. And, Sarnoff recalls, Arriola claimed Spence-Jones was holding up Crosswinds because she wanted $50,000 from the project's developer. When the meal was over, Arriola picked up the tab. In the valet area, the ex-city manager allegedly bear-hugged Sarnoff's wife Teresa — who had come to pick him up.

A week later, Sarnoff recorded details of the meeting. He titled the memo "Arriola Conversation," wrote his own name in the "from" line, and addressed it to "File." On the reference line, Sarnoff typed, "Arriola Conversation May 8, 2007, @ 5:15 p.m. at Grand Bay Hotel." He labeled it "Confidential."

The four paragraphs are written in stilted legal language, including phrases such as "to achieve Michelle Spence-Jones's vote" and "requires $50,000 from the Crosswinds applicant prior to the modification for more time on the Crosswinds matter." Sarnoff ends it by stating Arriola "further indicated he was going to try to monitor the situation with the Crosswinds deal and that he wanted a meeting with Joe Centorino of the State Attorney's Office concerning this."

Related Group Chairman Jorge Perez told the Miami Herald this past December 20 that his company did in fact hire Hardemon and Carey-Shuler to conduct community outreach, but emphatically denied they were paid to secure votes at city hall.

"I am not the judge or the jury," Sarnoff says. "I was conveying information about a possible crime, and I had a duty to make sure that it was being investigated. When the state attorney's investigation is concluded, the truth will emerge."

Mary Conway is a key player in the Sarnoff/Spence-Jones drama. Sarnoff asserts she told a tale virtually identical to Arriola's a week before he spoke with the former manager. That conversation was not addressed in the memo.

A fair-skinned woman with straight, light brown hair, Conway is a civil engineer who spent the first 12 years of her career working for Florida Power & Light and the Florida Department of Transportation. Before accepting a post at the City of Miami in 2004, she spent two years working for a private engineering firm.