Diaz de la Portilla: I was vindicated in the end but Miami voters lost out | Opinion

The Miami Herald’s headline in its Nov. 29 editorial referring to all criminal charges against me being dropped reads: “Embarrassing dismissal of Miami commissioner’s corruption case raises questions.”

I agree with the headline but for different reasons from those stated in the Herald’s editorial.

In my case, the result was accurate — I did nothing wrong and was rightfully vindicated. But the system was far from fair.

Undoubtedly, the criminal charges against me for campaign finance wrongdoing and my very public arrest were specifically timed to interfere with the 2023 Miami elections, for which I was the leading candidate set to retain my District 1 seat.

This was a sinister case of election interference, pure and simple. My attorneys and I want to know the genesis of the criminally unfounded charges against me, and I believe it begins with Karl Ross, an ethics investigator for the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics, who set this injustice in motion.

I believe Ross, a former Miami Herald reporter, fabricated and falsely swore to a criminal case against me and my co-defendant Bill Riley Jr., all based on legal First Amendment-protected political activity. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Karl Ross left the Miami Herald in 2004.] How could the state’s top investigative agency, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, accept and adopt a false narrative crafted by Ross without corroborating the core material facts?

The Miami Herald and most local media, however, helped create a false narrative designed to impugn my integrity or, worse, put me in prison. They championed the false accusations peddled by Ross. The baseless case against me was a textbook political persecution, as Ross’ emails, acquired by attorneys through discovery, indicate.

This was a failed attempt to criminalize legal campaign contributions, legal campaign expenditure and legal and unanimous city commission votes that were legal, ethical and appropriate.

In short, the consequence of this manipulated vendetta was that the citizens of Miami were deprived of a fair election by an orchestrated campaign of election interference.

I hope to help answer these critical questions in the near future in a way that helps restore trust in our justice system. One potential remedy my attorneys seek is to ask Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel de la O to review Ross’ motivation to misrepresent my case to law enforcement, the court, the media and the public.

I promised the public I had done nothing wrong and would be completely vindicated. That is just what occurred. Not only were the accusations false, but they made no legal or factual sense.

In its close-out memo explaining why all charges must be dropped against me, the Broward State Attorney’s Office agreed with me that entirely legal actions were misconstrued as criminal.

Yet, this weaponization of the justice system for political purposes was intended to cast me, an elected commissioner, in a dishonorable light. The state has enormous power and that authority must be exercised cautiously and only in furtherance of justice.

Here, the criminal justice system and the local media failed miserably to unearth the truth about the charges against me. The BSAO is deserving of the public’s thanks and praise. Let my case end all reprehensible usage of prosecutorial power to bring about a political persecution.

I am confident the public will see this case and the media coverage for what it was: unfair and unjust.

While there is no doubt that personal, political and financial damage was done to my family and me by false allegations and repeated ad nauseam, I am proud of the public’s willingness to see the truth. One need only look at the results of the August 2024 elections. I received more than 31,000 votes as was elected Republican Committeeman for Miami-Dade.

My commitment to public service remains intact. I am often comforted by the powerful words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Indeed, it does.

Alex Diaz de la Portilla is a former Miami commissioner and State Senator. He is a current Republican Party committee member for Miami-Dade.

This story was originally published December 27, 2024 at 4:34 PM.