Sean O’Neill, Contributor
After reading a recent article on the candidates running in the municipal elections on March 14, 2023 in North Lauderdale I was left wondering, Why hasn’t the Republican leadership in Broward County, including the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC), put up a candidate in this election? Couldn’t the Republicans find a candidate or two? An honest, GOP supported, hardworking person would easily win this contest. Let me explain…
Link to Municipal site below:
There are three candidates currently standing for the vacant City Commissioner seat, two of whom are registered Democrats and one No Party Affiliation (NPA). All of their application forms with resumes are available online and viewing them would compel any interested party to dig a little deeper. Here are just a few points to consider:
All of the candidates demonstrate an unusual attitude towards rules or laws.
One example is the ownership of a food preparation business which appears to not be registered with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
One candidate claims to be a member of at least two Broward County boards. Stating this is obviously done to impress the voters but the problem is the “Florida Constitution prohibits a person from simultaneously holding more than one office under the government of the State, Counties and Municipalities. The prohibition applies to both elected and appointed offices”.
(Link to FL Statutes Title IX Chapter 99, 99.012 below)
So, if this claim is true what happens now?
Questions of Eligibility - the application form clearly states -
“Must be a full-time resident of District D for one (1) year”.
There are serious doubts whether one of the candidates meets this standard and clarification is needed for a second person.
One of the candidates admits to a conviction on check fraud charges some time ago. Are there other skeletons hanging around? She is also in the process of legally changing her name, why? All have been known by other names in the past and some name changes might be for good reasons e.g. marriage/divorce, but using more than one name at a time brings up the obvious questions, why? Are you hiding something?
(Ed. note: Although the events occurred a number of years ago, 2 separate counts, it is important for the citizens to understand the issue when it comes to handling the large sums of money that a City holds in it's accounts. See ethics statutes in link below)
As weak of a turnout as the Democrats have in this City, why hasn’t the Broward GOP identified the opportunity this race presents and sponsored a strong candidate?
(Census Information for the community is in link below)
North Lauderdale Municipal Finance Documents (up to 2021)
Neighborhood issues (plus and minus)
Was it unwinable? One of the candidates stated she only needs 1,200 votes to win due to low turn-out for such elections. There are more than enough Old School Democrats,Republicans and Non-Party Aligned voters who desperately want honest, forthright and hard working candidates to represent them in office; people with little to no skeletons in their past.
Is it down to lack of funds? That would seem unlikely as BREC coffers are still full from their underspend on the recent mid-terms and the monies raised from the Lincoln Day function.
Maybe they think it’s not important enough because it’s only a municipal election? Don’t forget LtGen (Ret’d) Michael Flynn has stated time and again “Local Action = National Impact!” Every election is important and gives the candidate and helpers valuable experience which can be utilized again in the future.
So, unless there is some unknown hinderance playing out behind the scenes one has to assume it comes down to lack of leadership or apathy!
Or is there another reason BREC?
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