Who is really in charge in Sweetwater? Some might think it’s the newly elected mayor, Orlando Lopez, who won Tuesday with 55% of the vote after he booted his main opponent, defacto incumbent acting mayor Jose Diaz, off the ballot when a court agreed with his lawsuit that said Diaz should have resigned his commission […]
Sweetwater Commissioner Orlando Lopez is expected to become the new mayor of Sweetwater after today’s elections. Not just because his allies, including Commissioner Isolina Maroño, are adept at the collection of absentee ballots. And not just because Deborah Centeno, a Nicaraguan activist who should win because she is the only really clean one, couldn’t muster enough of […]
Absentee ballots for Sweetwater’s May 12 election were supposed to land in mailboxes this week. But they will be delayed at least a week after a judge ruled Monday that Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz cannot be on the ballot. An appeal has been filed and the court has granted an emergency stay of the ABs […]
A judge ruled on Monday that Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz cannot run for mayor because he did not officially resign from his commission seat, as required by Florida’s “resign to run” law. Miami-Dade Civicl Court Judge Barbara Areces said Diaz — who was appointed mayor after former Mayor Manny Marana Marono was arrested on bribery […]
With about six weeks to go before the election, Sweetwater Commissioner Orlando Lopez, who is running for the mayor’s seat, has filed a lawsuit to remove Mayor Jose Diaz from the ballot. The lawsuit claims that Diaz, who has served as interim mayor since shortly after the August 2013 arrest of Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” […]
Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz just won’t have it. He says that a Brothers to the Rescue Memorial Plaza on 109th Avenue just across from FIU will not have to share its name with the Nicaraguan poet hero Ruben Dario. He vetoed last month the commission’s actions to do just that and the veto is expected […]
Three of the six city employees let go by Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz last month in what he called a “clean sweep” were re-instated by the commission on Monday. Former Human Resources Director Joanna Rubio was the only department head to be rehired by the minimum required 5-2 margin. But I hope she doesn’t get […]
In what has been characterized as a political ploy a full year before what is shaping up to be a heated local election, Sweetwater Mayor Jose M. Diaz — a 12-year commissioner who took over last fall after the previous mayor was arrested on federal public corruption charges — said he has absolutely no idea […]
Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz has fired pretty much everyone except the Police Chief. Or everyone that is left, anyway. Diaz will have a press conference Tuesday to announce the dismissal of several department directors and employees as part of the “cleaning house” he has tried to initiate since he took over for the suspended former Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño, who […]