Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz seizes power, fills void
Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz is flexing again and could get his colleagues to strip Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of more power by taking certain offices and departments from the mayor’s purview.
The commission already voted 10-3 in March at first reading to give Diaz “responsibility for fiscal review and managerial and operational oversight” of certain offices, including the hiring and firing of directors.
The resolution up for final vote Tuesday further requires “such offices to respond to inquiries by the Chairperson; transferring the Military Affairs Board from under the purview of the County Mayor to the Chairperson; eliminating certain responsibilities of County Mayor with respect to such offices; transferring certain responsibilities of County Mayor with respect to such offices to the Chairperson.”
Like, what’s she got left?
Read related: La Alcaldesa Daniella Levine Cava gets installed, declares war on COVID
As soon as he was named chair, Diaz stole Jennifer Moon from the mayor with a better job as the commission’s budget and policy advisor. Okay, stole might be strong. It looked like Moon was going to be canned by DLC. And having their own budget director is something the commission has talked about for years, something that will come in handy at budget time.
Last month, the commission took the $4.8 million county portion of the Miami Marlins settlement that DLC wanted for the general fund and divied it up between them. They each got almost $370K more in their slush funds. This was after Diaz took over the settlement negotiations, to DLC’s surprise, and got $1 million more than the original offer.
Then Diaz proposed that he represent the county in the state legislature and congress as the county’s top lobbyist, a job usually reserved for the mayor. Both went to Tallahassee last month. But only Diaz, a Republican, met with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“She handles the administration. I do the legislative part,” Diaz told Ladra.
La Alcaldesa has been pretty much in the back seat, not the driver’s seat, since elected. Sure, she’s out doing surveys and taking photos at COVID vaccine sites and unveiling art installations and fundraising (!) for Democrats. In fact, she is registered to seek contributions for four political action committees. Four! Not just her own Our Democracy PAC but also the Miami Women’s PAC, the Florida Democratic Party and the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
Not part of her job description, but whatever.
Read related: Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz takes the lead in his last two years
These, um, distractions have caused some things to move very slowly at County Hall. Ladra has heard complaints from staff and commissioners — and many say they love the way Diaz is taking charge — that it takes the mayor’s office too long to do anything.
So Diaz is stepping in to do it for her. He doesn’t characterize it as a power grab.
“I’m taking this seriously. It has to be serious. A lot of new people are coming in,” Diaz said, referring to five new commissioners elected in November. “We want to make sure we leave everything codified and done correctly.
“All I’m trying to do is leave the place better than I found it. Is it breaking some eggs to make an omelette? Yes,” he said.
Diaz has also taken the lead on issues while she has shrunk in her seat. She raises her hand to speak at commission meetings. Or doesn’t speak on matters that she coulda shoulda chimed in on, like the 87th Avenue bridge that she blocked as commissioner and her successor has resuscitated.
La Alcaldesa has even called Diaz “mayor” at public meetings. At least twice as Ladra watched live. Probably more times I haven’t seen.
It’s a law of nature: a vacuum will be filled. And even DLC recognizes it.
Ladra is surprised Diaz hasn’t moved on the $135 million from the naming rights at the soon-to-be FTX Arena.
La Alcaldesa Daniella Levine Cava weakens Miami-Dade ‘strong mayor’ added by Ladra on
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La alcaldesa really needs to grow a pair, I know many county employees that are so turned off by her management style. She is all about politics and photo ops for social media but has no idea what is really going down in the departments. Why are they forcing employees to come back to work? We are still in a danger zone in regards to Covid…
I like the new mayor. She is a nice lady. She’s been in power a few months and I hear everyday from multiple people from inside the county government that she weak and her staff has no clue of how things work. Unfortunately the perception is that she’s lost.
Time to retire a few directors: Aviation, WASD, and “Infernal” Services Department, to start off. These people have been milking it for all it’s worth for years. Time to go and bring in some new blood and fresh ideas.
Is Pepe gang making a short sighted grab stripping the mayor’s power and authority? What if he (they) want to be Mayor after termed out as commissioner? Herding seven votes to take power away from the mayor’s office is a piece of cake but getting 7 to give it back? Never going to happen!
Or is Daniella playing the long game letting Pepe neuter the office intentionally?
She’s big on mutual collaboration, never was a fan of authoritarian regimes like the one she served under as commissioner and wants to change the power balance for future commissions?
Nahhh.
Occam‘s razor.
Daniella Cava is very smart. She should step up and stop letting the criminal DUI felon Pepe Diaz take power from her.
Who in their Right state of Mind Will like the “Key West ” DUI Commissioner running this County ? We Had another Drunk before Clark and The County Don’t Know how to clear the mess Left behind ?
It doesn’t surprise me. It happens every time a woman reaches a position of power. Men with their fragile toxic masculinity try to take her down, because they feel threatened by her. Idiotas! They underestimate her power.
Cava is weak or appears weak from where I’m standing so the Cosa Nostra will devour her .
A person who posts here ‘ No Fan ‘ called this few days ago before it came out on news .
This wasn’t the link I was looking for but found it and found it ” funny ” but again he like EVERY Commissioner does what he wants , gets caught and gets reelected .
The link I was looking for is about Commissioner Jose ”Pepe” Diaz and how companies stopped putting in bids for work at the airport because only the Commissioners friends get the contracts ..
The office of Commissioners has been a disaster for Miami , costing a grotesque amount of money , pure nepotism.
My parents live further north in the state and something like this which here is no big deal will cost you reelection and your political career by them.
” Despite pocketing an $800 monthly car allowance, several Miami-Dade commissioners use sworn police officers to chauffeur them in county cars — costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands a year in overtime and raising concerns about personal abuse of public money.
Commissioner Jose ”Pepe” Diaz was ferried at least 144 times in 2007 and 2008 by Kevin Greenwood, one of the commission’s sergeants-at-arms who provide security at meetings and, of late, have essentially become personal drivers for a handful of commissioners.
Greenwood’s service frequently stretched beyond his normal eight-hour shift, according to his signed logs, earning him overtime on at least 125 trips. Some nights, he put in exceptionally long hours, dropping the commissioner off at midnight or later at least 15 times.
Being Commissioner Diaz’s personal chauffeur helped drive Greenwood’s $85,050 base salary to $142,240 last year.
Another officer, Paul Hernandez, drove Diaz to the celebrity-packed grand opening of the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach last fall, a fellow commissioner said. Hernandez logged 27 hours of overtime over that weekend with Diaz.”
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” La Alcaldesa has been pretty much in the back seat, not the driver’s seat, since elected. Sure, she’s out doing surveys and taking photos at COVID vaccine sites and unveiling art installations and fundraising”
If the election was again next week she would lose by a huge margin . The election was not about Dem vs Rep but new vs career politico .
Has anyone here emailed her , if so other then the automated response have you received a response ?
I emailed 2 months ago about tree’s which need to be trimmed because their branches hang over electrical lines and if a hurricane hits this summer or tropical storm hits there are areas that will lose electricity due to branches knocking them down and this is completely avoidable .
To start doing it a week before a hurricane might come is absurd as not enough time and now cost the city much more so it should start now .
Do I need to stop noticing these things ?
Yes , lol but basic city maintenance is not done in Miami yet multi million dollar projects are the norm.