October 3, 2107

Mr. Joseph Centorino

Executive Director
MIAMI-DADE COMMISSION ON ETHICS
19 W Flagler Street
Miami, FL

COMPLAINT AGAINST STEVEN W. ZELKOWITZ, MIAMI SHORES

VILLAGE COUNCILMAN

Dear Mr. Centorino:

This is an Ethics Complaint against STEVEN W. ZELKOWITZ, the Managing

Partner for the Gray Robinson law firm in Miami for purposely lying and
openly, willfully and knowingly refusing to comply with the Voter Registration
requirements to timely correct and amended their voter registration
information.

Mr. Zelkowitz is not only an attorney who has had a long history of serving
as counsel for various CRAs in South Florida, but he is also a Councilman
in the Village of Miami Shores.

Starting in January of this year there became an interest by some in the

Village, including former Councilwoman Ivonne Ledesma, to resolve the
rumors that claimed that Mr. Zelkowitz was not a resident of the Village as
required by Florida law.

I have written about this situation in several stores that you have been
provided, that include the publication of a letter in response to Ms. Ledesmas
concerns from Village Attorney Richard Sarafan where he claimed that Mr.
Zelkowitiz had confided to him that he still owned his home at 420 NE 95th
Street.

After my original story, Mr. Zelkowitzs ex-wife Allison, in response to

comments I had made about this on Facebook responded on Facebook
informing me that I should go and look at their divorce settlement, because I
would something interesting.

I did, and what I found was that on August 19, 2016, Mr. Zelkowitz as part of
the divorce settlement signed away all right to the house that they had shared
since 1999, and that he claimed was his residence in all of his public
documents, effective on the judges approval of the agreement, which
occurred mere days later.

For purposes of this complaint, and more important than signing away his
rights to the house at 420 NE 95th Street, was the fact that Mr. Zelkowitz was
no longer living in that house, thereby refuting the claims made on Mr.
Zelkowitzs behalf by Village Attorney Sarafan. (You can find my story and
all of the supporting documents here:
https://www.thecrespogram.com/zelkowitz-documents-mobile-.html and
https://www.thecrespogram.com/steven-doesnt-live-here-anymore.html

Even more amazing, in light of what has followed, Mr. Sarafan included a
paragraph in his letter that stated in part: (Letter attached.)

He had advised me that he still owns his home in Miami Shores

and that as a result of a particularly messy divorce he is temporarily
living elsewhere. He advises me that his drivers license, voter
registration, and all manner of other documents and records
are still maintained by him showing his Miami Shores address.

According to this claim, we should have every reason to believe that on

November 8, 2016, Steven Zelkowitz was not only NOT living in Miami
Shores, but that if he voted, he voted for candidates other than the ones
that he would have voted for had he been honest and changed his voter
registration address.
One of those people who would have illegally voted for would have been
running for Congress, which raises the question of whether what Zelkowitz
did constitutes an example of a federal voter fraud case?
In reverse, if he voted in the April 2017 Village elections - again, living in a
precinct other than one of the 5 that covers Miami Shores - that too would
have been illegal.

After the publication of my story, I proceeded to start asking Mr. Zelkowitz

for his home address at Council meetings, and he responded by claiming
that he would not tell me, including one memorable response where he told
me that, Its none of your business, sir. https://youtu.be/Lo_gkf7exuk
In my story about that incident I not only included the video portion of the
meeting, but also the copy of the Facebook post Allison Zelkowitz had written
to me on Facebook which include a telling rebuttal to Mr. Sarafans claim
about the Zelkowitz divorce being particularly messy.Here is that response.

This refusal of Mr. Zelkowitz to publicly reveal his home address although
revealing their home address is a requirement of everyone who appears
before the Village Council - led me again last week to ask Mr. Zelkowitz
where he lived, and once again, as hes done previously, he accused me of
terrorizing his teenage children, and this time his ex-wife, while stating that
he lived in Miami Shores. https://youtu.be/BQRPdV6vv2Q

That claim continues to be in doubt because several people close to Mr.

Zelkowitz have told others in the Village that what hed recently done was to
arrange with a property owner on NE 105th Street to rent an apartment for
purposes of establishing an address of convenience.

While I have not to date been able to verify that information, I was able to
verify that for the last 14 months that Mr. Zelkowitz has not lived at the house
that he shared with his former wife, he failed to change his voter registration
address to reflect his current living arrangement. I have attached a copy of
a certified Voter Status Certification that I personally obtained from the
Miami-Dade Board of Elections on the afternoon of October 2nd, that states
that Mr. Zelkowitz has continued to maintain and claim the fiction that he
resides at: 420 NE 95th Street, Miami Shores.

Given the evidence of his openly and flagrant efforts to deny that he is no
longer a resident of Miami Shores, including a bogus claim that be was the
owner of the house in Miami Shores in January of 2017, his refusal to change
his address on his Voter Registration and we must assume that he has
also failed to change his address on his Drivers License and any number of
other legal documents that he has done all of this as part and parcel of his
efforts to shield from public knowledge the fact that he does not live in Miami
Shores, but rather in a condo in the Brickell area with his new girlfriend.
I would also direct your attention to a story that I wrote in March of this year
where I alleged that Mr. Zelkowitz had cast a vote to support the award of a
contract to a company where he, and his law firm Gray Robinson were listed
as consultants in another RFP bid in Palm Beach County that I believe
warrant a review by your agency: https://www.thecrespogram.com/steven-
zelkowitz--conflict-of-interest.html

In my March 20th story about his illegal vote, I included a quote that Mr.
Zelkowitz gave to RISE NEWS during the time that your agency was
investigating Miami Shores Mayor Alice Burch for her ethical lapses related
to trying to get the Board of the Doctors Charter School to fire the Executive
Director.

Here is what he said:

"I live and breathe the Sunshine Law...I'm very cognizant

and I'm very careful with it. Maybe elected officials should
read the laws and understand them before acting."
- Steve Zelkowitz, Miami Shores Vice Mayor
RISE NEWS, November 6, 2015

For an attorney who brags about reading, knowing and understanding the
law, Mr. Zelkowitz seems to be deficient in obeying the law.

I trust that you will give these issues the attention they deserve.

Respectfully,

Al Crespo

Cc: Mr. Ken Detzner, Florida secretary of State

Ms. Christina White, Miami-Dade Board of Elections