The “incumbent” in the Miami District 1 race was suspended by the governor after he was arrested on public corruption charges that include money laundering, bribery and criminal conspiracy. Alex Diaz de la Portilla is accused of abusing his power and selling his vote to give away a public park in exchange for more than $245,000 in contributions to his political action committees.
The charges were not a huge surprise. This is a guy who has had three ghost employees in his office and was recently taken to civil court accused of shaking down a marina operator for a stake in the business.
But, apparently, these are just the kind of qualities that the Miami Police union wants for their elected leaders.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal
The Miami FOP has endorsed Diaz de la Portilla in the Nov. 7 race. It was announced by FOP President Felix del Rosario in a text message that was forwarded to Ladra:
“The Police confide in Alex Diaz de la Portilla. ‘As President of the Miami Police, I back and support Alex Diaz de la Portilla because of his track record and is respect for the law. He has always been on our side. I ask that you vote for Alex Diaz de la Portilla. He always does what’s right!”
He always does what’s right? Respect for the law?
Are we talking about the same person?
The second picture is from social media, taken during the commissioner’s first campaign in 2019, when del Rosario was kissing up to be his Sgt. At Arms.
Sources within the union say that Del Rosario made the announcement without seeking any guidance from the board. They confirmed that ADLP had been endorsed, but said it happened in August, before the arrest on public corruption charges. All the Diaz de la Portilla’s get the police endorsements.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla is suspended after arrest on public corruption charges
But some board members may have preferred not to endorse anyone this year.
Still, while they may not have known about the pay-to-play scheme with the Centner Academy owners for control of Miami Biscayne Park, they certainly knew about the arrest of Jenny Nillo, the drunk-driving DLP lackey he had getting paid without working at the OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency. An investigation showed that Nillo was running errands for the commissioner instead and helping out on the Renier Diaz de la Portilla campaign for county commission.
Didn’t the FOP endorse Baby DLP in that race, too? And we saw how that turned out.
Despite arrest, Alex Diaz de la Portilla scores FOP endorsement in D1 race added by Ladra on
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