Suspended Miami commissioner’s vicious attacks on prosecutor smack of stale Trump antics | Opinion
Suspended Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla is running for reelection next Tuesday, trying to beat four opponents while also trying to beat a series of corruption charges. Meanwhile, he’s spending his political capital — literally — attacking the prosecutor who put him in jail with mailers going out to voters dozens of miles away from the district he represents.
In Diaz de la Portilla’s twisted narrative, he is Miami’s own Donald Trump, a victim of a conspiracy by liberal state attorneys engaging in what he told the Editorial Board was “election interference.” Instead of waiting for their day in court, both men have viciously attacked the legal system — including a judge and his staff, in Trump’s case.
Diaz de la Portilla’s political committee is running mailers in Broward County — where residents cannot vote for him — attacking Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor, whose office filed the charges that got the commissioner arrested in September and later removed by the governor.
The Spanish-language ads, first reported by Channel 10, call Pryor a “leftist,” “shameless” and a “liar” who “attacks and defames our Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla.” He told the Herald Editorial Board his committee “will be mailing again this week more truths about this defamer and liar.”
Pryor is a Democrat, but a Republican, Gov. Ron DeSantis, assigned him Diaz de la Portilla’s case after the Miami-Dade County state attorney recused herself from it. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to DeSantis, handled part of the investigation.
However, any insinuation that Diaz de la Portilla is target of a partisan witch hunt is “a work of fiction,” to use the commissioner’s own words to describe the charges he’s facing, which include bribery.
The political committee paying for the ads is called “Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County,” which is ironic given the politician behind it. Proven Leadership is one of two committees mentioned in Diaz de la Portilla’s arrest affidavit as the recipients of $245,000 from a wealthy Miami couple who needed the City Commission’s approval to build an athletic facility. The money was funneled to the committees via a Delaware-based corporation that prosecutors say was set up to conceal the origin of the funds. That “unlawful scheme,” according to the affidavit, led to the charges of money laundering, bribery and criminal conspiracy.
That is what we would call “shameless” if proven in court.
Also reprehensible is how Diaz de la Portilla is running for reelection when it’s likely that, if he wins, the governor will remove him again. That would leave his constituents without representation and put the City Commission in a bind, having to decide whether to appoint someone to replace him or spend tax dollars to run a special election.
Proven Leadership is also paying for Diaz de la Portilla’s legal expenses. The committee transferred $150,000 to his defense attorney Benedict Kuehne six days after his arrest, the Herald reported. Kuehne also defended Commissioner Joe Carollo against a lawsuit filed by two Little Havana businessmen. Carollo, who’s appealing a June judgment against him, didn’t pay for his legal fees because the city of Miami picked up the tab.
It’s easier to fight legal battles and attack your accusers when you’re not the one footing the bill. If Diaz de la Portilla is truly innocent, he should let a jury of his peers determine that. Right now, he’s acting like a bully.
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This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Suspended Miami commissioner’s vicious attacks on prosecutor smack of stale Trump antics | Opinion."