“They’re baaaack,” the mailer says on one side, because everyone knows that if you elect former State Rep. and Miami-Dade School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, you get both of his brothers, too.
“The Diaz de la Portillas,” (yes, plural!) says the Halloween-like mailer that landed in mailboxes last 
week, with Renier looking like an extra in The Walking Dead, the first season.
“More ethics violations! Pay-to-play politics that line their PACs with special interest money! More career politicians looking to get rich off your TAX DOLLARS!”
And on the other side: “Hasn’t Miami had ENOUGH of the Diaz de la Portilla political zombies?” Plural, again.
The mailer is just as much about Alex Diaz de la Portilla‘s infamous misdeeds as it is about Renier’s repeated candidacy for whatever (state rep, county judge). And the PAC referenced is The Dean’s committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County, which has collected about $600,000 in contributions since ADLP was elected to the city commission in November (more on that later).
“The Diaz de la Portilla PAC has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from well connected insiders with business in front of Miami and Miami-Dade County,” the mailer says. “The Diaz de la Portillas even took money from Chinese backed interests and political insiders tied to brutal Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.”
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla got $740K between the runoff and general
In fact, las malas lenguas say that Renier was plan B, as usual, because Alex, a relatively newly elected Miami city commissioner, won’t give up his seat to run again for a county post he came in third for in 2018. Once again, Fredo is the consolation prize.
The hit piece is paid for by People Powered Politics, a Tallahasee PAC that has been getting and giving 
funds from and to other PACs since 2018. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is certain that the attack comes from the campaign to re-elect Commissioner Eileen Higgins.
“She’s the only challenger,” he said in a text message to Ladra Sunday. “I can smell the desperation. Based on the polls, I think she’s the zombie.”
The Dean would not, however, share those poll results.
Higgins’ consultant, Christian Ulvert, neither confirmed nor denied it was him in a short text message after Ladra asked him to please save a copy for her collection. “Ha,” Ulvert scoffed. And then, a promise (threat?): “I’ll find out who did it.”
It would make sense that Ulvert did it. Except it’s too obvious and PACs like to be shady.
And if you follow the money, which is not easy to do (which is completely by design), People Powered Politics is funded by traditional state GOP donors — Publix, Disney, Florida Power & Light and other energy companies, Big Sugar, Anhauser Busch, HC freaking A, 
the healthcare conglomorate once owned by Sen. Rick Scott. Maybe the Republican House Speaker, too.
Oh, not right away, and not so obviously. That’s the whole point of these political committees — to hide the original source of the funding. But People Powered Politics isn’t powered by people at all. On paper — or on campaign finance reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections — it is powered by one Tampa law firm and four other PACs that all trade checks between them like some complicated shell game, money laundering pyramid. They are Florida Prosperity Fund, The Florida Institute for Politics, Floridians for Economic Advancement and the Democratic Services Network.
They sure sound like progressive PACs. But when one looks at the campaign contributions for those PACs, you find these same and some other PACs swapping checks. And you’d do well to create a flow chart. But you might get dizzy on the merry-go-round anyway.
Read related: More mysterious dark money attacks on Miami-Dade’s mayoral candidates
Florida Prosperity Fund gave $140,000 to Democratic Services Network in 2018. Floridians for Economic Advancement got more, $173,500 from Florida Prosperity Fund. And Democratic Services Network gave a total of $143,500 to Floridians for Economic Advancement between 2018 and 2019. The Florida Institute for Politics gave Floridians for Economic Advancement $57,500 and got $122,500 from A Better Miami-Dade Inc.
Wait a minute. What’s that? A new one? Yes, and no. A new one to this campaign, but not to this blog.
A Better Miami-Dade is the questionable non-profit that funded attacks on Commissioners 
Esteban Bovo and Xavier Suarez in the county mayoral race, the one with a middle man taking all the heat while the real wizards behind the curtain make all the moves on behalf of either former mayor Alex Penelas or Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who want the job, too. The one featured in the story on Political Cortadito right before this post. That PAC’s fingerprints are all over this mailer, too — giving $122,500 to Florida Institute for Politics in 2018, $52,500 to Floridians for Economic Advancement in 2018 and $27,500 last year to Democratic Services Network.
You know who else supports Floridians for Economic Advancement and Democratic Services Network? The Voice of Florida Business PC, which has given more than $200,000 to each. And they get their money from Disney, Big Sugar, HCA, FP&L, etc. — and $100,000 last month from Conservative Principles for Florida, a PAC chaired by Republican State Rep. 
and House Speaker Jose Oliva (House Districts 110).
That could have been funneled into People Powered Politics. The timing is right. And there are las malas lenguas who say the hit piece was ordered by Oliva, whose grudge match with the DLP brothers (plural) is pretty well known and who has been using his buddy David Custin‘s PAC, Citizens for Ethical and Efficient Leadership — which also got $400K from his Conservative PAC — to attack State Rep. Daniel Perez (House District 116) on his trip to Cuba with his then fiance in 2018.
And the anti-Renier piece does have that David Custiny feel to it.
Oliva must like to spend money and will bite his nose to spite his and the GOP’s face because Perez, the incumbent Republican, has a barely-there primary challenge from a last minute candidate named Gabriel Garcia who has loaned himself $3,000 and hasn’t collected a dime from anyone else, according to the latest campaign report. Is Oliva trying to help the equally unknown and unthreatening Democrat?
At least in the District 5 commission race, there is another Republican running: Miguel Soliman, a city of Miami gadfly supporter of City Commissioner Joe Carollo — ain’t that awkward? — who may benefit from the war between the two front runners, but only enough to force a runoff.
Y cuida’o con eso.
Renier Diaz de la Portilla & brothers get hit with negative mystery attack mailer added by Ladra on
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