Nov 21, 2008 12:33 pm US/Eastern
Rumors Of Mayor Manny Diaz Going To D.C. Continue
City Hall Was Abuzz With Word That Diaz Could Be Considered For A High-Level Post With The New President
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, makes remarks at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Aug. 4, 2008.
Lawrence Jackson/AP
Reports are coming in to
CBS4 News concerning Miami Mayor Manny Diaz being considered for a cabinet post in the new Obama presidency, ranging from U.S. Secretary of Transportation to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
The last time
CBS4 News spoke with the mayor, he said he was proud to be "in the mix". However, a short time ago CBS4 News I-Team Investigator Jim DeFede spoke to his Democratic sources. They said that while Diaz might be under consideration, nothing is close to being final.
If Diaz is to make it from Miami City Hall to Washington, it will be after the "mother of all" background checks.
He and his associates will be interviewed by the FBI and there will be a huge questionnaire to fill out; at least, 63 pages worth of inquiries from the Obama transition team.
The mayor will have to answer previous dealings with controversial and former city manager, Joe Arriola, or a former city commissioner, Johnny Winton, who once was charged with two felony counts of battery on a police officer and disorderly intoxication. When all three were still in office, they were part of a multi-million dollar real estate deal in Coconut Grove. The county ethics commission called it "unethical".
Questions will be raised about a multi-million dollar fire service fee, which went to the courts, where seven people claimed they were entitled to all of that money in a refund. That was overturned. Miami property owners are now entitled to it.
A judge called the settlement outrageous. The mayor pleaded ignorance.
Mayor Diaz is also part owner in Monty's, a restaurant whose namesake did time in the federal pen for income tax evasion. He no longer owns a stake in one Monty's location, the one in the Grove. He gave it up after being criticized for having part of a business that the city was leasing space to, a business that at one point was behind in its rent.
If the mayor has had ethical challenges, he has also stood firmly behind his ethically challenged police chief who was sanctioned for accepting free use of a now notorious $54,000 Lexus vehicle.
"He made a mistake," the mayor explained.
It was on the mayor's watch also when there were alleged police abuses to protestors when the city was host to the Free Trade Conference of the Americas Summit.
"Manny's past business dealings, his background, that sort of thing may come up to haunt him", CBS4 Commentator Jim DeFede said. "He's going to have to address that."
The mayor has not responded to the reports of whether he's being considered for high-level posts, but Jim Defede has learned that people in the Obama transition team are concerned the mayor could have acknowledged - before it was time - that he was "in the mix" for a federal position.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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