State Senate candidate Representative Julio Robaina, in his own words ... by gimleteye

After the Eyeonmiami post about the money pouring into the race for Miami Dade Senate District 36, I spoke on the phone with State Representative Julio Robaina (House District 117). Robaina is running for Senate District 36 in Nov. 2010 against former Miami Dade County Commissioner Miguel Diaz de la Portilla. I was curious about the apparent advantage of Diaz de la Portilla in fundraising. The state senate seat is currently held by Miguel's brother, Alex Diaz de la Portilla who is Senate Majority leader.

As a young county commissioner fifteen years ago, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla was a champion of community activists: no longer. While he was progressive, then, on principles of good growth management including community councils and advocating for a supermajority vote, today he is a board member of the Builders Association of South Florida-- a principal in the "growth at any cost" policies that helped plunge the economy into the worst crisis since the Depression. After leaving public service and running unsuccessfully for county mayor, Diaz de la Portilla joined the Miami law firm, Becker Poliakoff where he heads the Government Law and Lobbying practice in Miami-Dade, often appearing on behalf of advocates for suburban sprawl he once fought.

Robaina is an employee of ATT. As state representative, Robaina says that his main focus has been consumer protection. "For 8 years I have fought to protect condo unit owners. My number one opponent and nemesis for years has been the law firm where Diaz de la Portilla works. "We tried to pass a law to go after attorneys who give false and misleading information to boards, guess who opposed us? Becker Poliakoff fought us on every piece of legislation we tried to pass… when I fix problems in state law, guess what law firm loses business?" Robaina is also chair of the Florida House Joint Legislative Committee on Everglades Oversight.

From Robaina's point of view, the undisclosed motives of money aligning with the brother of a majority leader in the state senate deserve to be brought to light. "Tallahassee knows the money game the same way they know the name of their children, but South Florida never knows what is going on. This case is about one brother who is a Senate Majority leader, whose says if I see your name on a campaign donation list, you will have problems. You will not get your legislation done in Tallahassee. It's a good old fashioned shake down."

Why would Miguel Diaz de la Portilla trade out of a job that makes hundreds of thousands a year for one, in state government, that makes only $30,000? "It is about power. I’m working at a regular job for a living. The other side is trying to do what the Diaz Balarts did; he gets his family seat in Congress."

Robaina believes that in the upcoming re-districting based on a new census, that Alex Diaz de la Portilla--who is term limited out and cannot run again for District 36-- is planning to carve out a Congressional seat, the same way that the other political family of Miami, the Diaz Balarts, did in a new seat that was virtually gifted to now Congressman Mario Diaz Balart.

Robaina says, "Alex Diaz de la Portilla is Senate majority leader. He has told every lobbyist, he is going to kill their legislation if they don't give to Miguel's campaign. Four people have gone to State Attorney’s Office complaining that they have been shaken down for campaign contributions. Miguel doesn’t have to have fundraisers. His money comes from all these special interest groups. If Alex were my brother, you’d see tons of money in my campaign coffers."

Still, Robaina likes his chances. "I have 85 percent positives. They dropped $6 million against Alex Villalobos in soft money when (then governor) Jeb Bush tried to take him out. Villalobos still won. When you stand up, you will get hammered. "They are going to paint me as “a bad Republican”. The whole deal here is going to be Robaina works for both parties."