By Dessalines Ferdinand
Former North Miami Beach Commissioner Paule Villard faced a consecutive electoral setback last Tuesday (December 5) when she lost the mayoral race to Evan Piper, her sole opponent in this special election. This defeat came just months after the former mayor, Anthony DeFillipo, was arrested in May on charges of illegal voting. Governor Ron DeSantis promptly suspended DeFillipo days after the arrest, and DeFillipo’s trial is scheduled for February of next year.
With all eleven precincts reporting, Piper secured victory with 2,025 votes (57.04%), while Villard trailed with 1,525 votes (42.96%). Notably, voter turnout was low, with only 16.62% of the 21,391 registered voters casting ballots, despite the city’s population of roughly 43,000.
Reflecting on the city’s challenges, Piper remarked, “One of the biggest issues that North Miami Beach is facing is too much divisiveness. I want people to realize that they can trust the government, and one thing I bring to the table is the ability to restore trust in our elected officials.”
“The first order of business is to create unity within the commission, and then extend that unity to the city staff and subsequently to the residents,” Piper stated in an interview with the local newspaper Biscayne Times after his victory. “I have good relationships with all the current commissioners, and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to unify and become a cohesive team very quickly.”
The new mayor also expressed his intention to eliminate wasteful spending and introduce new sources of revenue to the city budget.
Piper, 59, is a lifelong resident of North Miami Beach. He has a substantial history of involvement in the city’s planning and zoning boards, spanning nearly a quarter of a century. Additionally, he serves as the president of the Greater North Miami Beach Chamber. Piper previously held the position of commissioner in 2018, appointed after the late Frantz Pierre was removed from office.
Piper holds several professional certifications, including Licensed General Contractor, Master Automotive Technician, Licensed Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor, and Aircraft Mechanic. His conglomerate, The Piper Companies, encompass multiple entities in the fields of construction, automotive/marine, real estate, medical, and speaking and training. Despite surviving a 2001 airplane crash and currently using a wheelchair, Piper has not allowed his disability to impede his success. His journey has imparted valuable life lessons, emphasizing the ability to excel in the face of formidable challenges.
Piper’s diverse interests and pursuits reflect a mindset that refuses to be constrained by disability, showcasing his determination to achieve goals and pursue passions, such as his recent accomplishment of becoming mayor.
Why did Villard lose?
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 marked her second political setback, as she lost last year in a runoff during her reelection bid against Commissioner Jay Chernoff.
In contemporary political campaigns, effective marketing plays a crucial role. Properly presenting a candidate to the public ensures that people are familiar not just with their identity but also their core principles. Marketing can significantly impact voter turnout and sway undecided voters. Unfortunately, as many political observers in the Haitian community noted, Villard was not the ideal Haitian-American candidate to challenge Piper. Her one-term commissioner role lacked a solid track record or any notable legacy, making her an unconvincing choice. Essentially, the former City of Miami police officer proved to be an unmarketable political candidate, as expressed by the sentiment, “Paule Villard pa yon kandida vandab.”
In politics, as in life, financial resources pave the way to victory. A candidate must be prepared to invest personal funds, assemble a competent team, and engage in fundraising efforts.
Interestingly, at least two individuals close to Villard, choosing to remain anonymous, revealed that a group of purported political experts had amassed over $100,000 for her campaign. However, the former commissioner claims she has not received even a fraction of that money.
Every candidate possesses a path to victory; it’s a matter of finding it. Unfortunately, it seems that the former police officer, Villard, lacked clarity on why she was running, her core values, and how to effectively communicate them. Villard appeared to lack a compelling message to persuade North Miami Beach voters to support her. In contrast, her opponent, Evan Piper, seized the opportunity to articulate his vision for the city during an interview on ‘This Week in South Florida,’ a popular segment on the local 10 News TV station. Regrettably, Villard, the Haitian-American mayoral candidate, hesitated to participate in this valuable platform, raising doubts about her qualifications and ability to engage with a large South Florida audience. It suggests a potential limitation in facing political challengers or perhaps an inherent difficulty in presenting her political platform, assuming she had one.
In the midst of an election campaign, experts emphasize the significance of knocking on doors—lots of doors. Winning an election involves this direct engagement, and it is strongly advised by political strategists.
Villard’s loss in the mayoral race can be attributed to a combination of her inadequate record as a former commissioner and police officer. Like many other Haitian-American elected officials in South Florida, she may lack a fundamental understanding of the role of an elected official. It appears she is incapable of articulating a clear vision as mayor for a city with a diverse population encompassing various cultural backgrounds.
A thorough analysis of Villard’s consecutive electoral losses reveals a key critical error, though: she repeated the significant mistake of hiring the same group of incompetent political advisers who contributed to her previous defeat in her re-election bid last year.
At 63 years old, it appears that she fails to grasp the essential principle that while you should never change a winning team, you must always consider changing a losing one. The wisdom behind this lies in the understanding that, if a system is performing well, there is no need for interference, as meddling may introduce new problems.
While it’s acknowledged by many political observers that Villard may not have been the best Haitian-American candidate to challenge Evan Piper, her political entourage bears a clear share of responsibility for her second consecutive failure. A more favorable voter turnout could have been achieved if the female candidate had chosen qualified individuals to manage her campaign—those who understand how to strategically allocate funds and effectively reach potential voters.
Many still recall the 2015 political triumph orchestrated that led Mrs. Darline Riggs’s campaign to a historic victory in Miramar. Riggs, a Haitian-American with minimal political and community engagement experience, faced a challenging race in a city where, at the time, less than seven percent of the population had Haitian roots, with many residing in gated communities. Despite these hurdles, her campaign manager successfully propelled Riggs to victory, earning recognition as one of the top political strategists in the South Florida Haitian Community.
Another took over candidate Marleine Bastien’s campaign last year, achieving the seemingly impossible in politics through a collective team effort. This highlights the potential for an apparently ‘weak candidate’ to win an election with the assistance of a skilled campaign team boasting a solid track record. As you can see, strong campaign managers help their candidates win. Consistently.
Paule Villard appears to have placed her trust with individuals like Maxo Sinal and Lesly Prudent, who are perceived by many as incompetent when it comes to political campaigns. Sinal, who boasts himself as a “political expert,” actually carries a losing track record. As a significant member of Paule Villard’s campaign strategists’ team, he has now added another loss to his growingly dismal record.
You have to give credit where credit is due. His firm, Sinal Consulting Group, LLC, may assist a campaign candidate with statistical analysis, but as a campaign manager, his record is disastrous to the point where some people have stopped counting how many elections he has lost. His numerous losses could potentially earn him an award for the worst political campaign manager/strategist if a local organization were to offer such recognition.
Le Floridien highlighted his failures and issued threats to those who dared to criticize him last year, following yet another unsuccessful campaign. It is evident that Ms. Villard either failed to comprehend or chose to ignore the message. It’s crucial for others to take notice; just because you have an LLC and call yourself a campaign manager or strategist doesn’t make you a good one.
Lesly Prudent, also known as ‘Mèt Pridan,’ falls into the category of a perennial loser. His track record as a campaign manager includes multiple electoral defeats, notably the unsuccessful 2018 Democratic primary run of Haitian-American candidate Joseph Beauvil, also known as “Mèt Bo,” for Florida House District 108.
Former North Miami Mayor Josaphat ‘Joe’ Celestin made an imprudent choice during his run for the Miami-Dade County District 2 Commission seat last year. He selected Lesly Prudent as his primary political campaign strategist, resulting in his defeat in the election.
Former commissioner Paule Villard has already expressed her intention to run again in 2024. As a citizen, she is free to run as many times as she wishes. However, it is clear that if she hires the same ‘eternally losing’ team to manage her next campaign, the outcome will likely be the same as her last two efforts. If she opts to continue in the same unsuccessful direction, there is “no question” that the new North Miami Beach mayor will likely secure an easy victory for a second full term.
Le Floridien is dedicated to not only covering news that’s important to our Haitian-American community of South Florida, but also providing support to those men and women who strive to take on the great responsibility of representing us all in government and other leadership positions. It’s unfortunate that despite devoting innumerable hours to praising and being critical (when necessary) of our leaders, and helping our fellow citizens here gain an honest and fresh perspective of all the facts that impact us, some people will not listen.
We continue to stand by our assessment of Maxo Sinal as an incompetent campaign manager and strategist and somebody people who have honest and sincere desires to win political office should avoid in this capacity. Wherever his strengths lie, it’s not in these roles. Haitian-American candidates and others need to start paying closer attention to the details, to one’s track record, and what knowledge sources, like Le Floridien, have reported on them rather than what people claim about themselves.
It’s unfortunate that Villard lost again, but if she seeks another run, continuing with the same losing strategy will likely lead to the same results. Anyone else who plans on campaigning in the future should also pay heed to one’s track records and results and warnings. It would be unfortunate to have to write another article next year or in 2024 highlighting yet another loss by an incompetent campaign manager or strategist who simply can’t get the job done.
