When Mike Diaz ran his city council race in 2016, he promised that if elected he would only serve Chula Vista for two-full terms, if allowed by voters.
Diaz, 59, completed his first year in office this week, and although his seat on the dais is warm and he enjoys what he does, Diaz maintains the position that he won’t seek higher office or be an elected official for the long haul.
“I don’t see myself as a politician,” he said. “I know I am by virtue of being here, but I am hoping that there are things that separate me from what people normally see out of politicians,” he said.
Those things include not being a career politician.
The city of Chula Vista has a long history of former council members and mayors returning to the same post years after being termed out.
But Diaz, a retired Escondido firefighter, said that won’t be him.
“It’s not going to be a career for me,” he said. “When I get termed out I am done. I am out.”
Diaz said he is against the concept of career politicians because he believes that power corrupts and the longer someone is in office it becomes for their own gain and not the good of the people.
He said former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham is a perfect example of someone being corrupted by power. Diaz said Cunningham was an American hero but turned corrupt when he got political power.
Diaz said he is working to create legislation that sets permanent term limits for all elected office holders. He has approached the Charter Review Commission about looking into lifetime term limits.
Diaz said based off of conversations he has had with other members of the council, he has support from his colleagues.
Being a council member is not an easy task, Diaz said
For Diaz, he has to make decisions that could affect more than 60,000 residents in Southwest Chula Vista and vote on citywide issues.
Diaz, a devout Christian, said the biggest challenge he faces is confronting his Christian beliefs while dealing with issues that go against it.
For instance, he said, the legalization of marijuana troubles him.
Diaz said as a Christian he is against the legalization of marijuana, but said the reality is marijuana is now legal in California and there are petitions going around trying to make recreational use marijuana legal in Chula Vista.
He said he is also against marijuana because as a former firefighter he has seen the affects alcohol and drugs have on people. He said as a firefighter there were many calls he responded to where he would have to save someone’s life because of drugs and alcohol.
In Chula Vista, being on the city council is a part-time job with a salary of about $70,000 which includes health benefits and car allowance. Diaz said for him it is a full-time job because it takes a lot of time to make things happen.
In his first six months in office, he basically spent it learning the city’s history, figuring out who the players are in the city, and learning about all of the different issues in the city.
Now, he says, he spends most of his time trying to deliver on his campaign promises for Southwest Chula Vista.
Under his leadership in just one year, Diaz said he has helped bring in new paved roads, thanks to voters passing Prop. P. He said through grant funding, Diaz is working to put in more sidewalks in Southwest Chula Vista.
“There’s a lot of places in my district that don’t have sidewalks,” he said.
“Kids are having to walk when it rains on the street because what should be a sidewalk is mud and it’s not safe.”
Diaz said taking care of public safety has been a top priority for him. He said the council last year approved funding to put a fourth firefighter on engine 51 and improve staffing levels in the fire department.
Diaz has three years remaining before he faces re-election, something he said he is not too worried about.
“I am not driven by the need to get re-elected,” he said. “I am driven by the need to do what’s right for my community.”
