Update: Ex-Sen. Skip Campbell May Run Again

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

With the popularity of World War Z and The Walking Dead, anything involving zombies is appears to capture the public’s fancy.

But former state Sen. Skip Campbell?  Can he climb out of the political graveyard, where he has been buried since 1996?

Campbell told Browardbeat.com that he is looking at running for his old Broward state Senate seat.

“People from Tallahassee have asked me to consider running,” Campbell told Browardbeat.com.  “This is because — I hate to say this  — they hope I can bring some intellectual weight back to the Senate.”

He says he has talked to many others in Broward, too.

What about his age?  A multi-millionaire lawyer who could easily retire if he wants, Campbell will be 68 when he took office in 2016.

“I talked to (State Atty.) Mike Satz about the issue,” Campbell says. “He’s 70.  He said, ‘It is not your age, its your mind.'”

Campbell assures me that there is nothing wrong with his mind or body.

“Three years is a long way off. A lot can happen in three years,” Campbell says.   “If I still feel I can do the job in a year and a half and I get a good reception, that’s when I would make a decision.”

The seat is now held by state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, who is termed out in 2016. State Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, has been running for that seat for months.

“I’ve been hearing it for a long time that Skip is thinking about it,” Waldman says. “I don’t have a problem with it.  I’m not concerned.”

Then Waldman quips: “Of course, I would much prefer he write me a check and endorse me.”

 

walter skip campbell

Walter “Skip” Campbell Speaks To State Senate, 2004. 

 

A Campbell campaign would be a struggle. He left the state Senate in 2006 for a losing race for Florida Attorney General.

In 2012, the district changed.

State Senate District 29 now includes Southwest Ranches, Weston, western Sunrise and much of Deerfield Beach, in addition to northwest Broward.

Several pols I talked to believe Campbell is a stalking horse for his law partner Mike Ryan, the Sunrise mayor.

“He’s a place holder for Ryan.  He’s making all the old connections. Then he’ll turn the whole thing over to Ryan after Ryan gets re-elected one more time as mayor (of Sunrise),” one longtime Broward pol speculates.

Campbell vehemently denies this:

“It is a totally false rumor.  Mike is one of the ones who have encouraged me to look at the race again,” Campbell says.

Ryan also has told me in the past he is not interested in running for state Senate.

Campbell has one more problem if he is a serious candidate.  He filed a suit last year as part of the attempt to block Democratic Chair Mitch Ceasar’s re-election.

The suit asked the court to throw roughly 300 activists off the Democratic Executive Committee.

I can’t imagine those folks working for Campbell. Plus Ceasar, who has a notoriously long memory, can be a formidable opponent.

 

 

 



21 Responses to “Update: Ex-Sen. Skip Campbell May Run Again”

  1. corlsprigs says:

    Mike Ryan needs to take his populist mask off. He is not a populist- the moment citizens reach out, he doesn’t really want to hear it and freaks. I know, I am one of them

  2. scranbe says:

    Campbell?? Has he stopped drinking??

  3. Come On, Man! says:

    Wasn’t one of the people who went after Mitch the hardest Sean Phillipi, who was working on the Tim Ryan campaign at the time (and works for him now on the County Commission)? If Mitch was really that formidable, wouldn’t he have done everything he could to make sure Ryan lost his primary against not one, but two heavyweight opponents? I would guess that Mitch did if he does have a long memory and Ryan ended up winning anyway. Mitch is good at getting himself re-elected, but has absolutely no power when it comes to an actual election like a State Senate Primary.

    FROM BUDDY:

    Tim Ryan was on the same ballot as Mitch Ceasar last year. Ceasar was focused on his own race.

    Is Mitch Ceasar powerless, as you believe? Obviously candidates don’t believe he is because they tromp to his office before every election to get his blessing.

    Is he all-powerful? Nobody is anymore. There are lots of little fiefdoms and Ceasar holds power over one.

    You can surely win without Ceasar’s support. But why annoy him and have him spend the next three years bad mouthing you to every Democrats he meets?

  4. ghost of skip campbell says:

    Bring back the good ol days: trips to poseys, air skip, strip clubs, free drinks, and retired legislators having personal crisis that they are no longer relevant.
    The whole nine.

  5. Coral Springs Democrat says:

    The next thing is the Democrats will want to run Bob Butterworth. Broward Democrats are stuck in the past.

  6. Buddy Lies says:

    Everybody knows you are a mouthpiece for Jim Waldman. How much did he pay you for this?

    FROM BUDDY:

    He gave me a check and it bounced.

  7. Rico Petrocelli says:

    Buddy……”He gave me a check and it bounced”…

    Funny……

    Rico…

  8. Michael Ahearn says:

    You take checks? I thought it was gift certificates for the Plantation Diner?

  9. s only says:

    is that supposed to be a joke about a bounced check? I don’t get it

    FROM BUDDY:

    Yes, it is a joke. I wrote it in jest. Its a wisecrack.

  10. Alice McGill says:

    There is an opening on the Dania Beach City Commission. Maybe he could walk into that office and use it as a springboard to another office.

  11. That's funny ! says:

    I thought it was hysterical ! .. Lol… Good to see Buddy can be a wise ass… vs. a wizzzzze guy…. Just sayin. Breathe of fresh air ! Thanks for the laugh (;

    Some lose sight , some lose elections, most lose a sense of humor, in broward politics.

  12. Tits McGee says:

    Skip Campbell? This smells like another Norm Leonard stroke of genius. you boob.

  13. Just Saying says:

    Good luck to Skip Campbell in trying to get through a Democratic primary with his anti-woman history in the legislature. “Scarlet Letter” bill? Remember it?

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×9333207

  14. Patti Lynn says:

    The purpose of that “Scarlet Letter” law was to prevent men from losing access to children that they may not have even known that they fathered. The Broward County Commission on The Status of Women wrote a strong letter to Mr. Campbell after the bill passed. The Broward Delegation was very angry at the CSW at the time, for sending the letter. However, Mr. Campbell, to his credit, listened to the concerns of the CSW and was instrumental in having the law rescinded. He was a strong supporter of women’s issues. This was a misstep, that he did rectify.

  15. Ha Ha Ha says:

    @14, do you have any ideas as to how that goal (“to prevent men from losing access to children that they may not have even known that they fathered”) can be realized?

    Three major scenarios exist here.

    The first is that a woman may actually have absolutely no idea who the father is. Example – I read not too long ago about a woman who conceived while at a rock concert, inside a restroom, while seriously intoxicated, with some concert-goer who seemed physically attractive at the time.

    The second is that a woman may not know exactly who the father is, but can enumerate all of the possible fathers. This is the “Maury Povich” scenario. On the “Maury Povitch” show, women come onto the show as guests to seek Maury’s help in identifying the father of their children. Maury brings the purported father onto the show and the purported father takes a DNA test. The women claim to be certain that the purported father actually is the father, but the DNA test often proves their claim to be false. Some women have appeared as guests on the “Maury Povich” show more than a dozen times, each time claiming that THIS man must be the father, only to be proven wrong every time. In some cases, Maury eventually does find the father only after doing 20 or more DNA tests.

    The third is that a woman may know exactly who the father is but she is so evil that she maliciously chooses to lie to the father in order to deprive the father of his right to make decisions where the child is concerned. After maintaining this lie for 10 or 15 years, she then files a paternity suit against the father requesting a DNA test and 10-15 years of unpaid child support for this child the father never even knew about until he was hit with this paternity suit 10-15 years later. The father literally never knows his own child as an infant, yet is legally forced to pay this lying woman more than a decade’s worth of child support. And to add insult to injury, the law provides absolutely no penalty against the evil woman’s behavior. She has stolen his parental rights, and there is absolutely no legal remedy. That’s a serious and unsolved problem in Florida law.

  16. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    This is what the link from Just Saying says happened:

    “The ad (run by McCollum against Campbell) features Charlotte Danciu, the adoption attorney who sued to overturn the law. The law became known for its most controversial element, which required women who wanted to put a child up for adoption to run detailed listings in newspapers with their names and descriptions and the names of potential fathers. It attracted national media attention and the Scarlet Letter moniker.

    That part of the bill was eventually ruled unconstitutional and repealed in 2003.”

    Thanks, Just Saying for the link.

    The court and Ms. Danciu took care of the ill conceived (sorry, couldn’t resist) part of the bill.

  17. Joseph Miller says:

    Strong supporter of women’s issues? Maybe you should be reminded that Skippy voted for several restriction on choice including a 24 hour waiting period for abortion. It wasn’t just the Scarlet Letter law – it’s a pattern. Check it out.

  18. Jack shifrel says:

    Knowing that Maury Povich is still on the air is bad enough. Having extensive knowledge about what happens on that trash & taking the time to post such a detailed “explanation” of anything related to Maury Povich & his show, here or anywhere, disqualifies someone as a credible source of information.

  19. Ha Ha Ha says:

    @18 – If anyone has no credibility, it’s a former Broward County elected official who has been convicted of serious crimes…
    ~~~~~

  20. Ha Ha Ha says:

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-02-02/business/8501040311_1_worthless-check-probation-bank-account

    Despite a recommendation that he serve time in jail, former Broward School Board member Jack Shifrel was sentenced Friday to three years of probation on grand theft and worthless check charges. […] While serving on the School Board, Shifrel admitted to bouncing several checks amounting to $3,000 to four employees of his failing business. […]

    FROM BUDDY:

    Please note that this article is from Feb., 1985. That’s 28 years ago.

    I would suggest we judge folks on their current conduct, not on a transgression they committed a generation ago.

  21. Ha Ha Ha says:

    No problem, Buddy! Here’s a 2011 story…
    ~~~~~
    http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/09/jack_shifrel_judge_john_hurley.php

    ​Add Judge John “Jay” Hurley to the list of people pissed at political operative Jack Shifrel. […] Shifrel had claimed Hurley hadn’t paid him for work the operative had done on the judge’s reelection campaign. Hurley claimed Shifrel had been “given several notices” to submit invoices but didn’t do so before Hurley had to close his campaign account. “You knew this, but still failed to submit invoices.” […]

    Shifrel has faced accusations of misdeeds for years. […] In 1994, then-State House candidate Jim Waldman threatened to sue Shifrel after Shifrel failed to produce $3,000 in campaign paraphernalia that Waldman had ordered from the consultant. […]