Tony Diaz doesn’t waste a minute – files for House seat vacated by Vicki Lopez

Well that didn’t take long.
Not even an hour after State Rep. Vicki Lopez was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Commission to replace Eileen Higgins — who is in the runoff for Miami mayor — Anthony “Tony” Tony J. Diaz, one of the five who applied for the position, rushed to file for her now-vacant House seat. The special election hasn’t even been set yet.
It’s almost like he had the paperwork pre-filled. Maybe even pre-notarized. Maybe even sitting in the car with the engine running outside the Supervisor of Elections.
Because honestly, the timing couldn’t have been tighter if he’d synchronized it with Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez’s gavel.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioners silence voters, appoint District 5 replacement
And judging from his own words, Diaz kind of did plan it all along.
“I feel my talents are better suited for 113, but when the vacancy opened I thought I could adapt,” Diaz told Political Cortadito Tuesday night. But he also, at one point, thought he could “adapt” to the Miami District 4 seat, filing to run in the special election before withdrawing.
Diaz was obviously frustrated at the county process to fill the vacated seat. He said he held out hope that the commission would not take the right from voters and had already started to advertise on the side of county buses.
“Nobody even took my calls or talked to me. That was the funniest part, having a room of people saying ‘I’ve met and know them all and each of them is great,’ when they wouldn’t know me if I shook their hand,” Diaz said about the Tuesday meeting where Lopez was appointed. He added that Commissioner Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez was the “only one nice enough to return my call and ask about me.”
He told Ladra “the dream has always been Tallahassee even since my address was [in House District] 112 and Jose Javier and Dominguez were duking it out. Yeah, that was 13 years ago.
In his House candidacy announcement, Diaz says it “pains [him] to see the growing pains facing Florida.”
Ladra is pained too, but mostly by the déjà vu of Miami-Dade’s revolving-door political ladder. One commissioner steps up, another wannabe steps in, and everybody else is left dizzy.
Read related: Let the jockeying begin to fill Eileen Higgins’ Miami-Dade commission seat
Diaz — known a the fruit tree prince of District 5 — owns a horticulture business and a print shop and says he wants to bring solutions to the people. Which is cute, because the first solution he seems to have found is: Run for whatever seat just opened up.
House District 113 covers Silver Bluff, Little Havana, The Roads, Brickell, Coconut Grove and all of Key Biscayne — many of the same communities that just got Lopez appointed over their own desire for, you know, an election.
And now they get Diaz, who is suddenly ready to become the next Tallahassee power broker.
Diaz also wants us to know he has a degree in public administration and will work “tirelessly” to fix the state’s challenges.
Ladra wonders if that work begins now, or after the next nursery shipment comes in. (Your mango tree order will be ready after the legislative session, cariño.)
Diaz also promises to “sponsor and co-sponsor legislation with members across the aisle to put divisive rhetoric to bed.”
Very sweet. Very noble. Very campaign-season-slogany.
But let’s be real: if he wanted to put divisiveness to bed, he probably shouldn’t start his campaign by lunging for the warm seat Lopez just vacated before the upholstery even settled.
Talk about a choreographed dance.
Lopez applies for the commission seat. Rodriguez hustles to get her appointed. Special election gets crushed on sight.Lopez wins 7-5. Minutes later — boom — Tony Diaz is running for House 113.
Ay, Miami. It’s like watching a telenovela produced by the Supervisor of Elections.
The only predictable thing is that more candidates will pile into this race. Some serious. Some delusional.
But for now, Tony Diaz is first out of the gate — just as if he’d been waiting for the starter pistol.
And, mi gente, that pistol went off Tuesday at exactly 7–5.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Tony Diaz doesn’t waste a minute – files for House seat vacated by Vicki Lopez appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story