Council drops ethics probe of Diaz

The City Council dropped an ethics investigation into Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. after he agreed to use a private email address to send out his controversial newsletter.

Councilman Steven Matteo (R-S.I.), the committee's chair, said it voted unanimously to "close the matter, and take no further action at this time."

Diaz's column, dubbed “What You Should Know,” sometimes criticized other elected officials — prompting a complaint that he was violating rules by using a city resource, his Council email address, for political purposes.

Diaz, a conservative Democrat representing the Bronx, has maintained the emails — including one sent in April that alleged Controller Scott Stringer doesn't like Latinos serving in elected office — are informational and not political, and that his political views had made him enemies who complained about him.

He said he agreed to use a private email to close the investigation. But don't expect him to tone down his missives.

“Now I can promote candidates. It's private — before I was controlled because I couldn't use politics,” he said. “Now it's over. Now it's private. Now I can do whatever I want.”

Diaz (photo) said the person who complained about the emails should come forward — because people have been speculating about who it was and in doing so are hurting innocent members of the council, he said.

“I think the process was ridiculous,” he added. “It wasn't called for.”