Bogdanoff Snares Big Endorsement: Firefighters
BY BUDDY NEVINS
If you are thinking of studying Campaigning 101, take a look at Ellyn Bogdanoff’s early moves in her 2010 state Senate race.
Ellyn Bogdanoff
Bogdanoff is running the classic political campaign 13 months from the Republican primary.
She’s rolling out big name endorsements slowly to keep her name out there and build momentum.
Behind the scenes, she’s collecting money to chip away at the $1.5 million goal she has set to win the Broward and Palm Beach state Senate District 25 race.
Bogdanoff is doing exactly what she needs to do in a campaign at this point.
Her campaign spokesman Todd Richardson today announced she snared the endorsement of the Palm Beach County firefighters and paramedics.
I think that’s more important than her earlier big endorsement by U. S. Sen. John McCain.
McCain is not universally loved. The firefighters/paramedics are beloved by all.
More important, firefighters/paramedics have the time off between shifts to campaign.
Michael Mayo, the president of the local, said as much in the news release announcing the endorsement. Mayo vowed that firegithers/paramedics would take an active role in Bogdanoff’s campaign:
“She can count on the firefighters and paramedics of Palm Beach County to be with her every step of the way.
(Presumably this is not columnist Mike Mayo from the Sun-Sentinel, but the way things are going over there he may have needed to get a second-job. Only kidding, Mike.)
The endorsement has another benefit to Bogdanoff. Local 2928 represents firefighters/paramedics in the heart of the district in Palm Beach County, where Bogdanoff, a Broward resident, has to make inroads to win — Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, and Tequesta.
Earlier in the year, Bogdanoff announced endorsements by House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, Boynton Beach Mayor Jerry Taylor, West Palm Beach City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, Boca Raton Mayor Susan Whelchel, and Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie.
(A personal disclosure: My son Aaron Nevins is Bogdanoff’s legislative district aide.)
July 7th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Ellyn Bogdanoff has done nothing. She has blocked every progressive move to improve Florida.
We need a new candidate.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Bogdanoff is exactly what Florida does NOT need — a right-winger who (beside being the insurance industry’s pet lapdog) panders to the no new taxes crowd, no matter the cost to Floridians and the welfare of the state.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:21 am
This state doesn’t need new taxes. Taxes are out of control in New York and other states and they have the same economic problems. That proves that taxes are not the answer. Government must learn that it can’t do everything.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Florida’s per capita tax rate ranks 41st n the nation — I don’t think we are in danger of being overtaxed here.
I don’t want to pay more taxes than necessary, but I would like our roads maintained, libraries and parks open more than a couple days a week and an adequate safety net for the most vulnerable in our society (such as foster children and the mentally challenged).
Bogdanoff and her ilk respond to the challenges how? By trying to sell off our state’s infrastructure.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:01 am
If I remember correctly, Bogdanoff helped campaign for the Children’s Services Council tax, so she is hardly the rabid partisan anti-tax crusader you make her out to be “Floridan.”
Besides… Roads, libraries, and parks are all local decisions.
Although it is true FDOT and State Legislators have a small say in some road construction (because they approve the 5-year plan set by the MPO), allocation of funds and selection of projects rests mostly with the county MPO. A great deal of this is funded with the county authorized gas tax.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:23 am
My friend IP has no clue what the facts are. First, the MPO is a joke. The only agency that matters in terms of what road construction happens or doesn’t happen is FDOT. Period.
Second, Bogdanoff is a confused Republican. I happen to know that her heart is way left of her politics but she is a captive of her own ambitions and has had to sell out to the Republicans in order to advance her career. There’s a word for that kind of person where I’m from…let me not use it in connection with a lady.
And the way Bogdanoff and her crowd have imposed their twisted agenda on local governments, the “choices” IP talks about are indeed very limited. We no longer live in a home rule state. This state is run by the Republicans in Tallahassee, and the thing we must do is free ourselves of their twisted nowhere grip.
That is why Bogdanoff is not what we need for Broward or for Florida. She and her crowd have no answers to our problems, only the ability to make our problems worse, and they are out of touch with what Florida needs.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Kelly Skidmore will be here in a general election.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Maureen Dinnen will run for this seat. She is a union darling and has strong support in that area.
Wait and see.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
IPF: “Bogdanoff helped campaign for the Children’s Services Council tax”
That was at least four years before she ran and was elected to the State Legislature.
Since that time she has faithfully followed the party line.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Bogdanoff has been good for Florida and will win the Senate seat hands down. Obama’s reckless spending will guarantee that.
And please let it be true that Maureen Dinnen will run for the seat. Get her off the School Board and into retirement once and for all.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Republicanism is no longer a political dogma, it is a personality disorder, a learning disability, an emotionally based opposition to logic, a mean spirited agenda against anyone but themselves and their own special interest.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Gee whiz – Buddy writes a column praising his son’s employer. Let’s see how Ellyn does now that that she has to campaign away from the lilly white Republican beaches of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
FROM BUDDY: I disclose any potential conflict with my family and I always have. That disclosure is more than many journalists do in the South Florida media. You would be surprised.
If Bogdanoff’s opponents have news, I invite them to write me at any time. I will give them a fair shake.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Let’s see—is it better to have a legislator working changes from the inside (Republican) or have a Democrat—working from the outside and getting nothing?
July 9th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
OK so Buddy discolses his conflict (real not potential). To me that means he is anything but unbiased about all things Bogdanoff. In fact I can’t remember anything critical about Ellyn that Buddy has written, at least since his son started working for her. It would be nice for Buddy to do as we expect politicians to do when faced with a conflict – abstain. That would mean no more fluff pieces about his son’s employer. But than again this is a blog and he is only expressing his opinion which he certainly has the right to do. However it still stinks.
July 10th, 2009 at 10:11 am
That depends on the changes.
If the changes don’t make any good sense, which is what we’ve mostly been getting out of the Legislature since this Republican wave took over the state, then I’d rather have people working from the outside. There is no value in further adding to the ranks of idiots simply because they happen to be in charge. American is continuing to throw that crowd out of Washington, and I think that very thing will happen here soon.