So far, Diaz has the field to himself

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz shares the joy with Ruben Diaz Jr. as he announces his candidacy for borough president on Monday, March 9. Photo by Karsten Moran

‘Rubencito’ gets a jump on special election for Bronx Borough President

By N. Clark Judd

Monday was a rainy day to stand on the steps of Borough Hall, but Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. was all smiles.

Over the weekend, he talked City Councilman Larry Seabrook out of running against him for borough president. Now he stands all but unchallenged in the race. Why wouldn’t he be happy?

“Now is the time, ladies and gentlemen, for us to strike while the stars are aligned,” Mr. Diaz told a throng of cameras atop the Borough Hall steps. He was announcing his candidacy for an April 21 special election to replace Adolfo Carrión Jr., who left to become the new director of the White House Office of Urban Policy. A dense knot of supporters filled the frame behind him.

Mr. Diaz spoke about his desire to steer the anticipated influx of stimulus money toward job creation, the preservation of the health care sector — the prime moneymaker for the Bronx — improving education and rehabilitating the environment.

After at least a year of preparation but a scant few days of campaigning, the man insiders call Rubencito, — a reference to the fact that his father is longtime state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. — is practically the last man standing in what was expected to be a brutal six-week battle for Borough Hall.

Maybe his potential rivals didn’t deem the contest worthwhile. The reward for winning the special election is a few months as the Bronx’s nominal chief executive, a post diluted over decades into a combination of city planner, public advocate and economic development director. The winner will only be able to keep the job for the rest of Mr. Carrión’s term, which ends with 2009. If Mr. Diaz wins the job and wants to keep it, he’ll have to do the whole routine again for the November general election.

Israel Ruiz Jr., the former councilman and state senator, Joel Rivera, the City Council majority leader, and Larry Seabrook, also a councilman, have all scrapped plans to run.

“I said let this kid have the special election, let’s see what he does as far as doing something positive in the borough president and re-organizing it,” Mr. Ruiz said March 6, after meeting with Mr. Diaz.

He had previously decried Mr. Diaz as merely the heir to a political dynasty. He says that’s still a problem.

“You have two clans now, the Rivera clan and the Ruben Diaz clan, and now you have the Pedro Espada clan, and these clans are now fighting amongst each other to see who controls the poverty programs, the economic development programs of the Bronx,” he said.

“It just wasn’t the right time,” said Mike Nieves, Mr. Rivera’s campaign manager.

In January, Mr. Rivera froze the assets he would have used for the November general election. Term limits had been extended to 12 years just two months earlier and it was unclear if Mr. Carrión was leaving or not. City Campaign Finance Board rules allowed him to hang on to that cash if he was willing not to use it until 2013. After Assemblyman Carl Heastie overthrew Mr. Rivera’s father, Jose, and took control of the party organization last year, Mr. Rivera’s borough president run would certainly have become more fraught.

“He’s running for City Council and that’s it,” Mr. Nieves said.

After waffling on whether or not he was really in throughout last week, Mr. Seabrook met with Mr. Diaz last weekend and decided to pack it in, Mr. Heastie said.

“They had a great conversation over the weekend, and Larry decided he was going to go with Ruben,” said Mr. Heastie.

Mr. Seabrook could not be reached for comment.

After a year of very public and often ugly dissent among the Bronx’s Democratic Party leadership, the borough president’s race, if not a show of lockstep unity, is certainly a marked change.

Party leaders deny that any fix is in.

“I have made no deals. I continue to say that. I make, and I have made no deals,” Mr. Heastie said.

But, if Mr. Heastie has his way, this behind-the-scenes decision-making will continue.

“The family can have disagreements,” he said, “but when you walk out that front door, you gotta be one family, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Mr. Diaz will face a Republican challenger, East Bronx GOP district leader Anthony Ribustello. Republicans are circulating petitions for him now, including in Riverdale, and have until March 16 to garner 4,000 signatures.

This is part of the March 12, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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