As expected, a plantidate in the Miami Lakes mayoral race has forced a runoff between Commissioner Josh Dieguez and Vice Mayor Tony Fernandez, who came out of Tuesday’s first round with 47% and 42%, respectively. Yuniett Gonzalez, a political newbie who had donated to Dieguez before jumping in the race — not a good sign for a candidate — got 11%.
We can expect Gonzalez to endorse Dieguez any day now, hoping to throw her 1,793 votes his way. There were only 731 votes difference between Dieguez and Fernandez in Tuesday’s results.
They are vying to replace Manny Cid, who is termed out and lost a bid for county mayor in August, coming in second behind Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. The local Miami Laker reported that Cid, a teacher who also is co-owner of a town diner, has applied to be deputy town administrator at the Town of Southwest Ranches.
Some casual observers might think that Dieguez, who interrupted his second term to run for mayor, is the natural frontrunner for the runoff, what with a five point lead in the Nov. 5 results. Dieguez has certainly said so. But they could be wrong. The Nov. 26 election will have a much smaller turnout than the presidential election this week, where people came out to vote for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris and against legal marijuana or abortion restrictions. None of that will be on the ballot for Round 2.
The voters who come out in the Miami Lakes runoff will be the more locally engaged voters, the ones that are more privy to the real political comings and goings, the campaign manipulations, the quiet vote to reward a former corrupt mayor. There won’t be any of the voters who probably just bubbled in the first name on the local race.
Read related: Bryan Morera wins special election in Miami Lakes, creating new majority
These voters know that Dieguez is the one who quietly pushed to have the city pay $1.7 million to former Mayor Michael Pizzi for the legal fees during the defense of his federal bribery trial. In fact, Dieguez made sure the swing vote for the settlement was elected when he backed Bryan Morera for a council seat in a special election in April. It’s like he orchestrated the deal by creating a new majority.
Pizzi was caught in 2013 conspiring with FBI agents posing as grant facilitators willing to steal U.S. funds meant for economic development. In a separate but equal sting, Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño, was also arrested on the same charges. Maroño pled guilty and was sentenced to three and a half years. Pizzi, who took a $3,000 cash payment from a lobbyist in the closet of his office and another envelope in the bathroom of a pool hall, was acquitted in 2014 after his legal dream team of eight of the county’s most prominent attorneys was able to sell the jury on the slightest shadow of a doubt.
In 2015, Pizzi sued to regain the seat he was suspended from after his arrest and won. He then turned around and sued the town for his legal fees in both the civil and criminal cases.
Read related: Miami Lakes votes to pay former Mayor Michael Pizzi $1.7 million for legal fees
Cid got a lot of heat for that in the August election for county mayor, even though he voted against it. If Fernandez’s campaign is smart, they’ll remind voters that Dieguez pushed for the settlement offer. He claims his vast experience as an attorney — he’s a parter at papi’s tiny law firm — gave him a better grasp of the town’s potential liabilities.
Fernandez believed that the town could prevail in court and voted against the settlement.
Only one of the council seats was on the ballot after Council Members Juan Carlos “JC” Fernandez, 53, and attorney Steven Herzberg, 35, were re-elected without opposition. Angelo Cuadra Garcia, 63, a road and bridge supervisor for the Florida Department of Transportation, beat Mario Pinera, Jr., 45, chief operating officer at an auto parts store, with 54% of the vote for that seat.
But, for some reason, nearly 1,000 fewer voters who chose a mayoral candidate weighed in on that race.
Cuadra Garcia will join JC Fernandez, Herzberg, Morera, 34, and Ray Garcia, 52, a businessman who is in the middle of his term. He and whoever is elected mayor will be sworn in Dec. 10 at Miami Lakes Town Hall and have their first meeting in January.
Miami Lakes plantidate forces mayoral runoff: Josh Dieguez vs Tony Fernandez added by Ladra on
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