Despite arrest, corruption charge, Miami police union still all in on Diaz de la Portilla
Law enforcement officers are usually a loyal bunch. But Miami police may have taken it to a whole new level.
A month after Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was arrested on charges of trading a vote for hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations and gifts, it hasn’t cost him the support of Miami’s men and women in blue.
In June, Miami’s Fraternal Order of Police announced it was putting its considerable political heft behind Diaz de la Portilla, a former state representative who was once chosen politician of the year by the union. And Monday — a month after Diaz de la Portilla’s Sept. 14 arrest — the union’s president made it clear that as far as he was concerned, nothing had changed.
“There are two kinds of people that are always presumed guilty before innocent, cops and politicians,” said FOP President Felix Del Rosario.
Diaz de la Portilla, 59, was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sept. 18. That was four days after he was jailed and charged with a single count of money laundering, three counts of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, bribery, one count of criminal conspiracy, four counts of official misconduct, a count of campaign contributions in excess of legal limits and two counts of failure to report a gift.
Broward sate prosecutors — who inherited the investigation two years ago after Miami-Dade’s state attorney conflicted out of the case — say the commissioner accepted the money and gifts that included a lengthy stay at a luxury downtown Miami hotel. The gifts are alleged to have come from attorney and lobbyist William Riley Jr., who was representing a Miami private school named Centner Academy. Diaz de la Portilla is alleged to have offered up his vote to allow the Centner family to build an athletic facility on what is now a city-owned public park in downtown Miami.
Riley, taken into custody the same day as Diaz de la Portilla, is facing charges of money laundering, three counts of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, one count of bribery and one count of criminal conspiracy. Both men were released from jail on bond and have pleaded not guilty in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
The commissioner announced almost immediately after his arrest that he had every intention of continuing his run to reclaim his Miami District 1 commission seat in November’s election. And Diaz de la Portilla’s attorney Ben Kuehne said his client has been campaigning non-stop since his arrest.
The curious endorsement was first reported in Elaine De Valle’s blog, Political Cortadito.
Back in June, Del Rosario, the union president, posted a picture of himself on the FOP’s Instagram page, standing arm-in-arm with the commissioner, expressing how the union lodge was “proud” to announce its endorsement. “The commissioner has been a strong ally and voice for us on the dais,” Del Rosario wrote.
This week, Del Rosario said he still has faith in Diaz de la Portilla.
“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” he said.
