Politics
Florida Mayor Accused of Tampering With Records Avoids Formal Reprimand
By Mike Harper · April 21, 2026
The vote to formally reprimand North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph failed. The investigation into him did not.
By a narrow 3-4 margin, the North Miami Beach City Commission voted against censuring Mayor Joseph on March 26 — sparing him a formal public rebuke after an independent investigation found his actions may have put the city at what investigators described as “substantial legal, financial and ethical risk.”
The censure failing doesn’t mean the matter is closed. Far from it.
The same commission had previously voted unanimously to refer the investigation’s findings to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Commission on Ethics — both of which are still reviewing the allegations. Criminal charges remain a possibility.
The report that started all of this was a 32-page interim investigation prepared by outside law firm Algo Law Firm at the commission’s request. It documented a series of allegations against the mayor that, taken together, paint a picture of a local official who allegedly used his position to manipulate official processes, steer city contracts, and stick taxpayers with personal expenses.
Among the most serious findings: at least one city employee told investigators that Mayor Joseph called him and asked him to disconnect recording equipment and edit official recordings of job interviews for the city manager position. If accurate, that allegation goes beyond an ethics violation — altering official government records is a potential violation of Florida’s public records laws.
The report also questioned thousands of dollars in public money spent on a first-class travel upgrade during a city trip to Japan, and alleged the mayor inappropriately influenced which vendors were selected for city contracts — including a company connected to an ongoing ethics investigation into U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, for whom Joseph had been conducting fundraising activities.
Joseph denied all of it.
“The claims made in the report are unverified and entirely false, and I am fully cooperating,” Joseph said in a statement after the censure vote. “I am confident that the conclusions drawn by the State Attorney and the Florida Commission on Ethics will ultimately confirm my innocence and resolve this unfortunate situation.”
His attorney, Luis Suarez, framed the censure attempt as procedurally premature.
“How can you make a resolution on something that in its own face is not final?” Suarez argued at the March 26 commission meeting.
Commissioner Lynn Su, who voted for the censure, had a different read on the investigation’s findings.
“A lot of things surprised me,” Su said. “What I heard that were rumors have been substantiated by recorded interviews and testimony.”
The censure’s failure doesn’t remove Joseph from office — a censure is a formal statement of disapproval, not a removal mechanism. What actually determines his political fate is what the State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Commission on Ethics decide to do with the referral. If either body determines the allegations rise to the level of criminal conduct, Joseph’s position becomes significantly more precarious.
For North Miami Beach residents, the situation is exactly what it looks like: a mayor under active investigation by state ethics and law enforcement authorities, still in office, still denying everything, with no resolution in sight.