By Adrian Sainz, Associated Press Writer. Yahoo! November
13, 2001.
MIAMI (AP) - The race for the top spot in Miami government came down to a
former six-term mayor with 35 years of political experience and a political
upstart who made his name as the attorney for the family of Elian Gonzalez.
Voters were going to the polls Tuesday to decide between political veteran
Maurice Ferre and newcomer Manny Diaz, who exchanged heated words in the past
week after a relatively quiet campaign leading up to the Nov. 6 election.
Mayor Joe Carollo, who served since 1997, was voted out of office, narrowly
losing to Diaz for second place and a chance at the runoff.
Ferre, a Puerto Rican, took 8 percent more votes than Diaz, a
Cuban-American, during last Tuesday's election. Both candidates hoped to draw
from the mostly Cuban-American voters who backed Carollo. He endorsed Diaz on
Monday.
Ferre served as Miami's mayor from 1973 to 1985 during a time of economic
development and growth. Diaz has never held public office but has political
experience as a fund-raiser. He represented the Elian Gonzalez family during its
protracted and unsuccessful custody battle with the U.S. government to keep the
boy in the United States.
The runoff was shaping up as a referendum on how Miami's government handled
the Elian case. Ferre was drawing support from a coalition of
non-Cuban-Americans, while Diaz was backed by many Cuban-Americans.
The Elian issue fueled political sniping between Ferre and Diaz during the
past week after a first-round mayoral campaign that had been called one of the
cleanest in recent Miami history.
Ferre accused Diaz of running a campaign based on ``ethnic divisiveness.''
Ferre claimed Diaz's campaign was behind phone calls to Miami radio stations and
voters charging Ferre is anti-Cuban and backs former Attorney General Janet Reno
(news - web sites) for governor. Reno was widely criticized by some
Cuban-Americans for ordering the raid that led to the boy being returned to
Cuba.
Ferre denies supporting Reno because of his ``respect for the Cuban-American
community.''
Diaz, in turn, denies his campaign is behind the phone calls, and said the
charge is ``classic Miami politics in the mid-1980s.'' | 
