At first blush, it may seem like a difficult decision. But it’s really a no brainer.
Because the the circuit court race that pits former School Board Member and State Rep. Renier Diaz de la Portilla against 
Assistant City of Miami Attorney Veronica Xiques Diaz is really a choice between a promise and a puppet.
Sure, Baby DLP can be hurtful with his sarcastic tongue and mean if he thinks you’ve hurt his family. And a stubborn pain in the ass when he thinks he’s right, which is all the time. And, yeah, he can be a little hard headed. And he doesn’t deserve to be as cocky as his older brothers can be by rights.
But you can’t say anything really bad about him.
Even Diaz knows that — which is why she and her people are talking about red light cameras and campaign finance late reporting fines, issues that haunt Baby DLP’s big brothers, not him.
There’s nothing negative for her to use against Renier. Just wait and see.
I’m not so sure that we can say the same thing about Diaz, however.
She might have told the Miami Herald editorial board that she’s never been investigated for ethical breaches, but that’s not true. And there isn’t just one but two investigations, both with a central theme allegation — that Diaz used her official position as assistant attorney in the city of Miami to benefit herself and her friends.
That’s not something we want near the bench.
Diaz is accused of snagging pricey VIP Ultra Music Festival tickets for herself, plus one, while she was negotiating what some argue is the worst agreement ever signed with the city of Miami. She’s not the only one. A total of 14 comp tickets were given — two to her and 
12 more, under her watch, to Bayside Trust members. But none of those people are running for judge.
The report from Independent Auditor General Theodore Guba asks City Attorney Victoria Mendez — who gave a $175 in-kind contribution to the Diaz campaign — and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust to render an opinion “as to whether the distribution of comp tickets as described above was lawful.” It also recommends that the Office of the City Attorney ensure that all its employees attend mandatory training programs every three years — principally because Diaz, who has worked in the city since 2007, has not attended mandatory ethics training.
But in the same report, Guba notes that, according to city policy, “every officer, official or employee of the city, including every member of the board, commission or agency of the city is expressly prohibited from accepting, directly or indirectly, from any person, company, firm or corporation to which any purchase order or contact is or might e awarded, any rebate, gift, money or anything of value whatsoever, except where given for the use and benefit of the city.”
That sounds like it was an illegal gift to me. Except for those key words: Benefit of the city. Diaz told Ladra that she took the tickets so she could go to the event and monitor activities to ensure that the city’s controversial agreement was being upheld. But couldn’t she just go for a bit and be let in with her city id, check on everything and leave? And why would she then need two VIP tickets, at $850 a piece?
Read related story on Al Crespo’s CrespoGram Report: Veronica Diaz wants to be a judge
As an attorney, she can argue all she wants on the benefit angle or mince words like contract and agreement. But as a candidate for judge, she should understand that she is violating the spirit of the policy.
Now she gets a different kind of gift from Ultra Enterprises, the people who put on the party that draws tens of thousands to Bayfront Park every year: Three $500 donations to her campaign. What are they buying with those $1,500?
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