Stacy’s Father Wrong For Tamarac
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter is guaranteed to be facing some embarrassing moments in the coming weeks… from her Dad.
Ed Portner, Stacy’s 84-year-old father, is running for mayor.
If the past is any clue to the future, watch out!
Portner’s is more like a circus clown than a city hall candidate.
Let’s look at his conduct while a commissioner from 1999-2008:
*Portner took his toupee off and waved it in the face of Mayor Joe Schreiber, 81, during a 2005 commission meeting.
The two were arguing when Schreiber said: “I still have my own hair.
The Sun-Sentinel says that “Portner then rose, removed his toupee and waved it in front of Schreiber.
‘You want my hair?’ Portner shouted. ‘You’re older than Methuselah! I can’t stand liars and your’re the biggest liar of all! Kiss my ass.’
This scene was played out publicly.
*Portner insulted veterans by giving a political speech during a 2005 Memorial Day ceremony designed to honor the nation’s military dead.
Portner’s said that the Korean, Vietnam and Iraq Wars were a waste of lives and President George W. Bush should be removed from office.
“He should be made to apologize to the families of the fallen members of our military, wrote just one of those complaining to city hall.
*Portner pulled his pants down to “moon” a critic at a city event.
*Female city employees complained to their bosses in 2003 that Portner had subjected them to “textbook sexual harassment.
Portner commented to one woman that “she should wear shorter skirts, according to a report on the incidents.
He told another woman her shoes were “sexy.
On another occasion, Portner and another commissioner were talking about a female in front of a city employee. They made “comments and (were) having a discussion of the woman’s physical attributes, including the fact that she was attractive and her breast size.
Portner also called all the female employees “hon and kissed them on the cheek.
Pornter discussed the complaints with an attorney hired by the city to investigate the incidents. The attorney wrote that “it is apparent Portner was “not taking the issue seriously and also had “serious issues about complying with city policies regarding sexual harassment.
The attorney said it “appears to be a generational issue.
*Portner apparently didn’t learn his lesson. Four years later was accused of sexual harassment again.
This time there were unwelcome invitations to dinner along with extensive compliments about the female employee’s appearance. He also asked her why she never called him on his cell phone.
Portner told a city investigator that the much-younger woman was “flirting with him. He said that the woman told him that “although she was married, she fooled around, according to a city report.
The city-paid investigator found no sexual harassment, in part because the woman didn’t work for Portner. It was suggested commissioners get yearly training in what constitutes harassment.
*This year Portner was in trouble although he was no longer on the commission. He insisted that because he was an ex-commissioner, he should have free membership at a local country club.
The management didn’t agree and he was booted.
My story on the incident is here.
If his conduct wasn’t not bad enough, lets deal with just two aspects of his voting record:
*Portner strongly backed paving over two golf courses in east Tamarac and filling them with condominiums, despite vehement opposition from the neighborhood.
*Portner backed building the Main Street improvement project by taxing the entire city rather than just the property owners who benefit from the project.
Since I’m told the local newspapers are not endorsing any candidates in the November elections, I’ll endorse one: Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco.
The record indicates that Portner is not only the wrong person to be mayor. His previous actions indicate that he has the real potential to be an embarrassment to Tamarac.
Talabisco has done a good job. She deserves re-election.
By the way, Ritter endorsed Talabisco and not her father. That should say something.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Ed Portner isn’t fit to shine the mayor’s shoes. He is a disgruntled, angry, nasty man.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Ed Portner has the courage of his convictions. Most of his decisions have been good for the city. Some are up for debate just like anybody else. But at all times Ed Portner is a gentleman and he most certainly has a lively sense of humor.
He does not insult women or make them feel uncomfortable. His vote on the golf course was because that course was economically dead and he wanted more tax base for his city.
I may vote for Beth Talibisco because she has been doing an OK job as mayor. People should decide which of them would be the best mayor. However Ed Portner is not a bad guy, nobody should suggest that, and nobody should vote on that basis. They are both fine people and we should keep commentary to the issues.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Tamarac is one of those places where the citizens would be better served by abolishing the city. Margate, North Lauderdale and Tamarac should be merged into Coral Springs. The service delivery in the small cities is wasteful duplication. The government is far from statesment like and too often like Portner. If the cities had a unique character to protect, like Parkland, it would make sense to be. These cities are suburban sprawls with one just like the other.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:12 am
J.T. – get real! If the people who live in Margate, N. Lauderdale, or Tamarac wanted to live in Coral Springs they would have moved there to begin with. As for Parkland, it should be the first to merge with Coral Springs. Parkland isn’t even a real city, just a collection of neighborhoods built in what used to be a swamp like every other Broward City west of 441 – real unique! As for Portner, I’m certain the voters in Tamarac can be counted on to sort that out in spite of your dim view of them – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist!
October 5th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Ed Portner moved one big step closer to the Mayor’s seat today.
Seems that Gunther Livingston, the third candidate (term used loosely), is dropping out of the race for personal reasons.
Yep…you heard it here first.
Typically in a 3 way race, the two challengers would split the dissident vote i.e. 30% for Portner & 30% for Livingston = 60%against the incumbent Mayor. She could get only 40%…hardly a majority and still win.
With Livingston out, now the race will be even.
Buddy, while your article has some merit, you failed to mention that Mayor Talabisco ardently campaigned against paving the golf courses over and when the moment of the vote came, she voted in favor of paving them over. At least Portner was not two faced.
She has also been criticized as being arrogant and elitist…two traits that tend to not endear voters.
In other words, she has a lot of baggage that you did not mention.
The cool thing about not working for the SS is you can write biased opinions now, which you did in this article.
We still love you Buddy, BUT…..
This race is now a toss up.
FROM BUDDY: Thanks for your comments and your news.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
A lot of journalist, as did you Buddy, made a big deal out of Mayor Beth getting the endorsement from Stacy Ritter. What you failed to state is this endorsement of the Mayor was made long before Ed Portner entered the race. Maybe you should ask what Ritter’s endorsement would be now. While you tidbits are always welcome Buddy, try to lay out the whole picture so that your readers can get all of the information.
FROM BUDDY: The problem with laying out “the whole picture” is that everybody has a different idea of what it is.
I do try to answer questions posed to me, if I know the answer.
I talked to Stacy Ritter last week. She remains in support of Mayor Talabisco.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Actually, I think the Tamarac Mayoral race is the furthest thing on Stacy’s mind right now.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Buddy, in regards to your last comments to my post, it is not up to you to decide what everyones ideas are, it is up to the reader to decide there own ideas based on the information in your writings. You just need to give us the details accurately and if you don’t know the answers to seek it prior to your writing something as fact. Certainly your readers deserve this and it should be a part of your personal journalistic code regardless of you writing a news story or an opinion piece. This is what builds our trust in your writings. If you are to be believed then perhaps the first posting should have read “that prior to Ed Portner entering the race, Ritter supported Mayor Talabisco. I have since confirmed last week with Ritter that she still endorses Mayor Talabisco regardless of her father entering the race”. Since this is not how you elected to write it in the first place, it provides doubts as to your new statements in your post. You may believe that the “gist and sting” of your writings were the same therefore it is o.k. That would only make some of us think you think that you are dumbing down for us readers. Still support you but please tread more carefully in the future. If nothing else, it is the right thing to do.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
To those of us who wear toupees, we salute you Ed Portner…OUR NEXT MAYOR!
October 5th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Talabisco will be the one laughing at all this stupidity on Election Night! My call: Another Talabisco landslide in Tamarac!!!!!Gunther equals 30% of the vote? Don’t quit your day job at the Burger King drive thru!
October 5th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Watch Talabisco drop Ritter’s endorsement like a hot rock after her husband Klenet gets nailed. Talabisco will go from touting Ritter’s endorsement to Stacy Who? Talabisco will want the Feds confined to the Broward County Offices, not the Tamarac City offices.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Hey Nosebleed Seats:
I never said Gunther Livingston would get 30% of the vote. What I said was he was dropping out of the race. Then I gave an EXAMPLE.
Must be the thin air up there clouding your thought process, but if you READ the post and notice that the paragraph began with the word “Typically” and also notice the i.e., which some people use to denote an example, prior to the percentages listed, it was simply a description of the typical three way pie scenario.
Please read these posts thoroughly before commenting on them. I saves embarrassment.
Beside, I cannot predict election results this early…only Buddy can do that.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Oh, i forgot to mention one more thing:
Word is that Gunther Livingston will publicly endorse Ed Portner.
October 6th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Hey Buckle Your Seatbelts: READ THIS THOROUGHLY – Talabisco in another LANDSLIDE! Also, Livingston’s past won’t help him or Portner, do your homework so as to not embarrass yourself or anyone else – keep your day job!
October 6th, 2009 at 11:33 am
There won’t be a LANDSLIDE, more like a EXODUS if the Feds start checking the Mayor and the Tamarac commissioners.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
[…] Some of Portner’s history was recounted in an earlier Browardbeat.com post here. […]