Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, whose term ends in November, has raised $640,000 for his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade. But we still don’t know if he’s going to use those funds for a re-election campaign — he has not yet filed any paperwork for that — or a mayoral run, which is what everyone knows he really wants.
Only $8,000, all from the electrical workers union — with which The Dean has a special relationship — came into the account in February. That means the other $633K was raised in two months — $287,500 in March and $345,523 in April.
That’s already noteworthy. Then there are the big gifts: $150,000 from BG Fund 1 LLC Biscayne Global, which is listed as a real estate development firm — but Ladra couldn’t find it in a search of Florida corporate records — and $100,000 from Pristine DE, which couldn’t be found either. But the company is connected to Bill Riley, who also got Diaz de la Portilla to give away Biscayne Park to his client, Centner Academy. Pristine also donated $170,000 to Renier Diaz de la Portilla‘s PAC for his county bid.
That’s a lot of investment in the brothers by one entity.
His PAC’s most recent campaign finance report says he also got $50,000 from Marc Sarnoff‘s PAC, Truth is the Daughter of Time. Sounds more like it should be Allen Ginsberg’s PAC. Also listed are $20,000 from developer Lewis Swezy and from the owner of several A+ Mini Storage facilities, $10,000 from The Wharf Venue Management and more than $200,000 from real estate development interests.
At this pace, Diaz de la Portilla should be reaching about $1 million by the next reporting period. It’s a good way to scare would-be challengers away.
Read related: Miguel Gabela wants a rematch vs Alex Diaz de la Portilla in Miami’s District 1
For now, only Miguel Gabela is on the ballot with ADLP. Gabela, who lost to ADLP in 2019, has already opened a bank account for the race and has only collected a loan to himself for $9,500.
In the other two commission races, Commissioner Manolo Reyes has raised $196,440 for his District 4 race. But he has not raised a challenge. Commissioner Sabina Covo, who has raised $34,400 for the District 2 race. Nobody else has any money but they haven’t announced yet, except for Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, who announced Thursday that he was running.
Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla nets $633K for PAC in 2 months added by Ladra on
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