Sweetwater Commissioner Orlando Lopez is expected to become the
new mayor of Sweetwater after today’s elections.
Not just because his allies, including Commissioner Isolina Maroño, are adept at the collection of absentee ballots.
And not just because Deborah Centeno, a Nicaraguan activist who should win because she is the only really clean one, couldn’t muster enough of a campaign.
And not just because nobody knows who Douglas Mayorga, director of the Minority Chamber of Commerce, is.
No. Lopez will win in what is arguably the dirtiest, nastiest campaign in Sweetwater’s recent history because he simply took the front runner, current and, apparently, Interim Mayor Jose Diaz, off the ballot.
Read related story: Sweetwater’s mayor ordered off ballot, would go back on dais
No votes for Diaz will count based on a court ruling that he was required to resign his commission seat before qualifying for this seat — even though he has been serving as mayor since after former Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño was arrested in August of 2013. And even though there has been a commissioner appointed to sit in his seat since then.
So, Ladra is going to go out on a limb here and say that Lopez will win today — at the polls.
Because he doesn’t really necessarily win more friends or influence. What does he get for his trouble? A lot of headaches.
Because Diaz goes back to the dais as a commissioner and Lopez loses Catalino Rodriguez, who was his ally. He will become mayor but Diaz will likely hold on to a majority of the commission and that means Lopez won’t have the votes to do anything.
Trust me, if he had thought he could beat Diaz square and fair he would never have moved to boot him from the ballot. Because then he would keep Rodriguez and it would be a whole different story.
So, don’t expect things to change much in Sweetwater just because there is a change in leadership.
In fact, Ladra suspects that the scandals that have been plaguing the city since the arrest of Maroño almost two years ago will just keep on coming.
Sweetwater election ends today, but war is just starting added by Ladra on
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