Race and recriminations again roil Riviera Beach politics as bond referendum looms
Riviera Beach City Council member Julia Botel's re-election opponent has appealed a judge's ruling that she can remain on the March ballot despite the city's determination that she failed to follow state law in qualifying as a candidate.
Glen Spiritis, a former Long Beach, New York, city manager whom Botel defeated in 2021, said Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Scott Kerner erred when he ruled that the city was "ultra-sensitive" and "draconian" in its reading of state law requiring candidates to file their paperwork by noon on the last day of a two-week qualifying period and to submit a filing fee from a campaign account.
Botel missed the deadline and Spiritis, her opponent, filed an appeal Friday that would knock Botel off the ballot if successful and make him council member-elect, as there are no other qualified candidates in the race.
Botel's off-then-on bid for re-election highlights the intense political and racial divisions that still permeate civic life in Riviera Beach and could have implications for the fate of its administrative leader, City Manager Jonathan Evans, who, with Botel's backing, is trying to guide hundreds of millions in infrastructure projects to fruition.
Riviera Beach voters will consider a referendum in March that, if passed, would allow the city to raise $115 million in bond revenue for various projects. City officials have said passage of that referendum is crucial to moving the city forward.
Municipal ballot fights have happened before in Palm Beach County. Last year, West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James challenged Rodney Mayo's residency and got another four-year term when a judge determined that the prominent businessman had not lived in the city long enough to run for mayor.
The Julia Botel issue is not just about the election ruling
But the Botel battle in Riviera Beach comes with layers of invective and animus. Botel, who is white, alleged in court documents that, on the last day candidate qualifying documents could be submitted to the city clerk, a fellow City Council member, Tradrick McCoy, who is Black, hurled racial epithets at her and badgered the clerk's office staff in a bid to keep her from filing her paperwork on time.
If true — McCoy would not discuss the exchange, while Spiritis told The Palm Beach Post he had seen video of it that refutes Botel's account — such behavior would be a stunning departure from the collegiality elected officials often observe in dealing with one another.
Botel announced in November that she would not seek re-election. Her second term hadn't been a smooth ride.
The only white City Council member in majority-Black Riviera Beach, Botel angered many Black residents who said she spread racist misinformation about a Singer Island beach party that was expected to draw a large Black crowd on July 3, 2022.
Botel apologized, but that did not quell the anger of many Black residents, who saw it as another moment of racial division between the largely Black western portion of the city and the more affluent, largely white Singer Island portion Botel represents on the City Council.
Residents obtained thousands of signatures in a recall petition that failed when the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office determined the signatures were invalid because the petitions did not include the name of the city or the county, as is required by law.
Nonetheless, Botel remained the subject of Black resident anger, despite her protestations that her actions were spurred by suggestions from an unnamed police officer and not racism.
Why was Julia Botel late in filing her application?
Instead of running again, Botel had planned to support her former legislative aide, Sammie Brown, but she said an arrest for driving without either a license or insurance imperiled his would-be candidacy.
"When his arrest became known just hours before the deadline to file, I began receiving calls from constituents and political leaders imploring me to file because, in their opinion, Mr. Brown would no longer be a viable candidate and that the remaining candidate would automatically be elected if unopposed," Botel wrote in a text response to questions from The Palm Beach Post. "In their opinion, and in mine, that sole candidate would be a disastrous representative for my district and for the entire city of Riviera Beach."
Spiritis was that remaining candidate, saying he wanted to "put my over 30 years of community involvement, private development, and municipal government experience both here and in New York to work for the people of Riviera Beach."
Botel said she did not make a last-minute decision to run for re-election. But that assertion is refuted by documents she filed in her challenge to the city, which state: "On Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 9:14 AM, Dr. Botel was informed that an individual intending to run for election to succeed her in representing District 4 — Riviera Beach City Council, was no longer a viable candidate. Upon receiving this news, Dr. Botel determined to run for reelection."
That meant Botel had less than three hours to fill out the candidate paperwork and submit a filing fee before the noon deadline.
Asked why voters should support a candidate who had not planned to seek office again, she said: "I was not going to run because I thought that Mr. Brown would be running and that my district would be in safe hands with him."
The Julia Botel controversy: Politics, race and ire behind drive to remove Riviera Beach councilwoman
She added that, "as a two-term elected official who ran two very well prepared campaigns, if I intended to run I would never have waited to file at the last minute. Why would I have put myself under that pressure and risk?"
In her texted responses to The Post, Botel said her filing fee was drawn from her campaign account.
Riviera Beach: Julia Botel violated campaign filing law
Riviera Beach, in its response to Botel's suit, disputed that contention.
"As it was impossible for BOTEL to open a campaign account and obtain a proper tax EIN to open such an account in a short period of time, it was obvious that BOTEL’S cashier’s check came from her own personal funds and NOT a campaign account," a lawyer representing the city wrote. "By NOT qualifying with an official campaign check, BOTEL violated Chapter 106 of the Florida Statutes as the source of the funds she used to qualify cannot be properly reported. Additionally, as BOTEL filed her final paperwork AFTER the time allowed, she did NOT properly qualify by her own violation of the law."
The city, which initially accepted Botel's filing fee and declared her to be properly qualified before reversing itself, wasn't done blasting Botel.
RELATED: Julia Botel recall supporters in Riviera Beach sue Wendy Link, argue protocols were not followed
"BOTEL was careless in her qualifying," the city's lawyer wrote. "Rather than properly assessing the situation to be properly prepared to run for office, BOTEL was a last-minute candidate who had not set up a proper campaign account nor properly filled out any forms before the last day to qualify. Not only did she fail to qualify with a lawful campaign check, BOTEL simply did not do everything she needed to do in a timely manner and thus failed to present all her paperwork on time."
Did Councilman Tradrick McCoy obstruct Julia Botel's filing efforts?
Botel alleged in court documents that McCoy was at the clerk's office and obstructed her efforts to file her campaign paperwork on time.
McCoy was at the clerk's window and "upon seeing Dr. Botel enter the office to collect the forms necessary for filing her application, began to scream at the clerk's staff and shout racial slurs at Dr. Botel," she alleged, adding that "McCoy’s behavior was so inappropriate, abhorrent, threatening, disruptive, and undemocratic, constituting substantial and unrelenting interference" that the then-clerk, Tawanna Smith, had to come out of her office and "stop McCoy from delaying, hindering and bullying her staff."
Smith has since left the clerk's position. Reached by The Post and asked if her departure had anything to do with Botel's candidacy or any other city issue, Smith said only that she left for personal reasons and that her retirement had nothing to do with Botel's candidacy.
Spiritis said he did not personally witness an exchange between McCoy and Botel.
"However, the entire transaction was videotaped, and I have seen the video," he wrote to The Post. "Neither Ms. Botel or staff were accosted by Councilman McCoy as Ms. Botel claims. The video directly refutes her testimony."
The Post was unable to obtain or view video of the exchange.
Asked specifically what McCoy said to her, Botel wrote: "He loudly accused the clerk's staff of allowing me to proceed because I am white and he is black. Check with the former clerk. Other people were in the area and heard it, too. McCoy was videoing all the time I was there so perhaps he will show you his video unless of course he turned off his phone for those moments when he was threatening and accusing staff."
McCoy and Botel frequently spar on the dais, disagreeing on issues like Evans' tenure. In 2020, police body-camera footage showed McCoy in an angry, profane exchange with a now-former city employee.
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McCoy said he would not be responding to questions from The Post about Botel's allegations, which he called "defamatory."
"It's still being litigated," McCoy said, "and it would still be premature."
It's an open question whether and how Botel's allegations could affect her candidacy.
Without clear proof that McCoy hurled racial epithets at her, some Black residents could view Botel's allegations as an attempt by a white woman to castigate a prominent Black man in terms that fit the stereotype of Black men as threatening, angry and dangerous.
Botel said her filing dispute and lingering anger over the 2022 party could impact her performance in the race.
"I believe that it may possibly cut down on the margin of my win, but not prevent my re-election," she wrote. "There are too many voters on both sides of the bridge who are smart enough to see through the lies and misrepresentations being spread by my opponent's supporters about both of those disputes."
Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Candidate wants to keep Julia Botel off Riviera Beach ballot
