Endorsement: Lake Worth Beach voters should support Diaz, ballot questions

Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·3 min read

The Lake Worth Beach City Commission experienced major turnover in last year’s election as the mayor and three commissioners were all ousted and the only other incumbent, Herman Robinson, announced his retirement. With such a lack of institutional knowledge in office, voters must elect a replacement who’s ready to step in on Day One.

Three people want to fill the District 4 seat: Reinaldo Diaz, Craig Frost and Daniel Morgan. Frost ignored our request for an interview and to submit a questionnaire. Diaz and Morgan, both of whom are Hispanic, would bring diversity to City Hall in their advocacy for people and places that need much more attention from local government.

Diaz, 38, serves as a Lake Worth Waterkeeper, which is part of a global network called the Waterkeeper Alliance that advocates for local clean water issues. He’s an advocate for Lake Worth Lagoon and its surrounding watershed. He has a law degree and specializes in land use, which provides relevant expertise on smart growth and infrastructure, which he cited as two top issues in the city.

Morgan, 27, worked for three years at the Guatemala-Maya Center, a Lake Worth Beach-based group that advocates for the community’s large Guatemalan population. As case manager, he kept people informed on current events and public health issues in multiple languages.

Still, we believe Diaz’s work in protecting our waters and Morgan’s work for an underserved minority population would make either of them a fine addition to the commission, but Diaz’s education and deeper experience in advocacy and nonprofit work make him the better candidate.

The Sun Sentinel recommends Reinaldo Diaz for Lake Worth Beach City Commission District 4.

Questions and answers

Voters in Lake Worth Beach also will decide four ballot questions. We recommend a yes vote on all.

The first is term limits. The city has none, and Question 1 would limit commissioners to two three-year terms. Generally we oppose term limits for higher office, such as Congress, because we’ve seen how term limits in Tallahassee have done far more harm than good, robbing the state of institutional knowledge and shifting power from novice legislators to entrenched lobbyists and staffers unaccountable to voters. But local government is different. The potential for fresh ideas and the fact that daily operations are largely in the hands of appointed staff members make term limits less of a threat, and natural turnover will spur more people to run for public office.

Question 2 would allow the city to dispense with a runoff election if the second-place candidate concedes defeat. In 2019, a candidate who was in second place after the first election conceded, but the city still held a runoff to comply with the city charter, wasting time and money. This change would prevent future needless elections.

Question 3 would require commissioners to run from single-member districts, with each member elected only by voters in that district. At present, commissioners run city-wide or at large and all voters vote in every race. Single-member districts can breed parochialism, but the ability of commissioners to concentrate their advocacy on a smaller set of constituents in a geographically defined area offers greater accountability.

Question 4 would require commissioners to fill a commission vacancy before the candidate qualifying period in the next election. Unfilled seats disenfranchise residents, leaving them without a voice. On all four questions, Lake Worth Beach residents should vote yes for better government.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its staff members. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.