Broward Politics: Attorney Eugene Steinfeld Retires From Legislative Delegation After 33 Years

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

Eugene M. Steinfeld, a leading voice in government legal circles for over a generation, has resigned as the Broward County Legislative Delegation attorney.

He was the delegation counsel for over 33 years.

Two legislative delegation sources said one of the replacements for Steinfeld being considered is former state Senate Democratic leader Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, who lost a race for Broward County Commission last year.

Why Smith would want the job that now pays a few thousand dollars-a-year is a puzzle? Maybe he would like a position that allows him to help shape legislation again.

Smith could not be reached for comment.

Steinfeld was part of the wave of young Democrats who grabbed control of Broward governments in the late 1970s and 1980s.

 

Eugene Steinfeld, 1978 (photo: Margate.net)

He became close to the politicians elected by a wave of Democratic seniors moving into newly-built condominium retirement developments. The electeds in turn appointed him to a series of attorney jobs, where he became one of a handful of go-to Democratic lawyers for government legal work.

He quickly became admired as a cool-headed, reasoned expert in government law.

He became a chum of then-Margate political powerbroker and Commissioner Jack Tobin.  Steinfeld was named Margate City Attorney in 1978, a job he held until 2016.

After he was elected to the state House, Tobin was one of the forces behind Steinfeld’s appointment as Broward Legislative Delegation attorney. The appointment came shortly after the delegation chair became Democratic State Rep. Fred Lippman in 1982taking over from Republican Jim Scott.

Steinfeld also held many other posts in Broward government, including attorney for the Resource Recovery Board, which controlled waste disposal in the county for decades.  The resource board was headed by another former Democratic State Rep., Ron Greenstein.

Over the years, he did legal work for Coral Spring, Deerfield Beach and other governments.

In his non-government life, Steinfeld is a fervent supporter of the University of Miami, where he was a 1974 law school graduate.

Steinfeld, 68, lives in Plantation.

Eugene Steinfeld wearing the jacket of the University of Miami’s Iron Arrow Honor Society

 

 



One Response to “Broward Politics: Attorney Eugene Steinfeld Retires From Legislative Delegation After 33 Years”

  1. eunice sivertsen says:

    thanks for your service Also thanks for helping me in margate when i needed it god bless eunice sivertsen