With about six weeks to go before the election, Sweetwater Commissioner Orlando Lopez, 
who is running for the mayor’s seat, has filed a lawsuit to remove Mayor Jose Diaz from the ballot.
The lawsuit claims that Diaz, who has served as interim mayor since shortly after the August 2013 arrest of Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño, had to turn in his resignation in order to comply with the “resign to run” law. The argument is that Diaz’s term isn’t up until 2017 and that even though he stepped up as interim mayor because he was the commission president, he can return to his commission seat after that mayoral term is up.
Lopez, whose term is also up in 2017, resigned his seat March 6. It is effective May 11 — one day before the election.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Jose “Pepe” Herrera, who also happens to the new owner of Southland Towing or Southeast Towing — the towing company that used to belong to Maroño y compañia. The new owner is also a key witness in ongoing cases that may end in more indictments (more on that later) and Herrera says he has the blessing of the U.S. Attorneys office to represent him.
The Florida “resign to run” law states that you cannot hold two seats if they will overlap at all. Lopez’s argument is that Diaz sort of has a hold on the commission seat as he serves as interim mayor because he is entitled to go back to that seat once the mayoral term is up. In other words, if Diaz doesn’t win, he is entitled, by the city charter, to get his seat back from Commissioner Catalino Rodriguez, who was appointed to replace him.
But former State Rep. JC Planas, who is now the election attorney to most pols and represents Diaz, said that scenario is absurd and added that the resign to run law does not apply here because there is no seat to go back to. Diaz, he said, gave up his commission seat when they appointed Rodriguez. Even if it was temporary?
“There is no judge in the country who would return him to a seat that he gave up 19 months ago,” Planas said.
“Nobody is above the law,” Lopez said, adding that the case was being expedited.
The funny thing about Sweetwater is, either man could be back on the commission should he lose the mayoral election in May. Because Lopez isn’t officially gone until May 11, there can’t be a special meeting to appoint a successor until after the election. At which point Lopez could, technically, be appointed.
But then again, so could Diaz.
Sweetwater commissioner sues to get mayor off the ballot added by Ladra on
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