Renier Diaz de la Portilla raises judicial race funds from big bro’s city interests – Political Cortadito
Former elected and three-time loser Renier Diaz de la Portilla has raised $62,700 in little more than a month for his judicial race, according to the latest campaign finance report. And many of the campaign contributions are from real estate developers and special interests in the city of Miami, where his big brother is a sitting commissioner.
In addition to the $3,500 he’s loaned himself, the youngest of the Diaz de la Portilla brothers has collected a few checks and bundles most likely thanks to his brother, Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who is also the chair of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency.
That includes a $10,000 bundle of ten checks from companies associated with Nir Shoshani and Ron Gottesmann, real estate developers with land in the Omni area. They built the Filling Station Lofts on North Miami Ave, where a one bedroom, one bath, 810-square-foot unit can go for $370,000. There’s another $10,000 from DLC Capital Development, which recently purchased a large development site in Edgewater near the Related Group’s Paraiso development for $13.65 million.
There’s also at least $3,000 from former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, and $1,000 each from Carlos Lago, Brian May and Iris Escada, lobbyists registered for several zoning and land use issues with the city. Lago was also at the SlapGate lunch at Morton’s where ADLP was bitch-slapped by lobbyist Carlos Gimenez, son of the congressman by the same name.
There’s an additional $30,000 that came into the Local Leadership for Miami-Dade political action committee, the PAC he used for his failed county commission run, in the last couple of months. The bulk of that, or $20K, came in one check from Joe Wieselberg‘s Concorde Properties.
While much of the campaign funds have ADLP’s fingerprints all over them, there is not a lot that can be tied to eldest brother Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a former senator and talented fundraiser who was conspicuously missing from Baby DLP’s campaign committee.
Read related: Committee for Renier Diaz de la Portilla is a B-list minus big brother Miguel
Renier Diaz de la Portilla was once a state rep and twice a school board candidate. But he’s tried to get elected three times since 2012 and failed: Once for state rep against Manny Diaz, Jr., once for judge against Veronica Diaz and then for county commissioner against Eileen Higgins in 2020.
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He either doesn’t get the message or he doesn’t care because this is a revenue producing endeavor.
There is still more than two months before the August election primary, where the judges races will be decided. That gives Baby DLP and The Dean plenty of time to get more checks into their campaign coffers.
But contributors are trying to gain favor with the brother who is a city commissioner. They know the other one will never be elected judge.
