Broward Politics: Staying Involved After Retirement
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Property Appraiser Lori Parrish retired from office, but she didn’t retire from politics.
Parrish has begun holding her fund raisers for the 2018 campaigns at her sprawling Southwest Ranches home. The setting is unique for a political event in urban Broward because her home is surrounded by sweeping landscapes, dozens of orchids hanging in trees and even a feature chickens.
Two of Lori Parrish’s chickens (from Facebook)
Her choices of candidates she supports are eclectic.
Three scheduled afternoon events will benefit School Board candidate Jim Silvernale, judicial candidate H. James Curry and Fort Lauderdale candidate for mayor Dean Trantalis.
Parrish was once one of the most influential and powerful political figures in Broward County. So it is no surprise she remains interested in who is elected this year.
First elected to the School Board in 1984, she jumped to the County Commission in 1988. She became property appraiser in 2004 and retired at the end of 2016.
During this period the support of Parrish could win a candidate thousands of dollars in contributions and dozens of endorsements.
She is still at it in a slightly smaller way.
Silvernale’s fund raiser was held on Sunday.
James Silvernale and Lori Parrish at her Sunday fund raiser (from Facebook)
A longtime union and Democratic activist, Silvernale is running in the South Broward-based District 1 against incumbent Ann Murray.
Murray is one of the most reliable supporters of School Supertendent Robert “Bob”Runcie. Silvernale promises to be more skeptical of the school system administration.
The planned second fund raiser on February 11 is for the recently renamed judicial candidate H. James Curry. He ran a losing race for Circuit Court judge in 2016 using the unwieldy moniker “Haccord James Curry Jr.”
The third fund raiser on February 18 is from Trantalis, a Fort Lauderdale commissioner in a March runoff for mayor against fellow commissioner Bruce Roberts.
XXXXX
Bruce Roberts blasted an email across Fort Lauderdale this week which featured the picture below. It prompted one Browardbeat.com reader to comment, “I don’t think I have ever seen three people more excited to read a road map. Who even uses a road map anymore?”
Browardbeat.com agrees.
January 30th, 2018 at 11:07 am
Since Bruce is looking at the map with a vocal supporter of Manhattan on the Beach a/k/a the Bahia Mar development, maybe they’re laughing at how many buildings got crammed into an already overdeveloped area? Even they look surprised by it.
January 30th, 2018 at 11:16 am
The Bruce Roberts photo to me looks like the nice caregiver lady is showing “special needs adult Bruce” where on the map he lives, just in case he ever wanders away from his group home and gets lost. Bruce seems very exciting to be learning this, as he won’t be so scared the next time he follows a nice puppy and wanders off.
January 30th, 2018 at 12:22 pm
Abby Laughlin, pictured to the right of Roberts, is an emblematic Judy Stern Stooge. She often speaks at Commission meetings decrying impacts to the beach community, yet will always come to the rescue for Stern’s clients no matter how awful their proposals are (Bahia Mar).
January 30th, 2018 at 5:07 pm
Lori is a resource for honest politics.
January 30th, 2018 at 6:37 pm
Jim Silvernale is a division officer for the AFL-CIO and as such must negotiate contracts for many School Board employees. How is he going to question Runcie critically, then turn around and try to get employees better wages and benefits from Runcie and his representatives at the negotiation table?
Maybe he is going to quit his union post if he is elected??? Or maybe he will just be another rubber stamp for Runcie.
January 30th, 2018 at 8:55 pm
#2 I should be as lucky at pushin seventy to look as good.Even though i just had a very complete physical last May which i had EKG.Colonoscopy,Prostate exam w/ PSA everything came back good, no issues.I would bet at Roberts twenty yrs.my senior our results if compared would be comparable.Thats says alot about his health.I didn.t support Comm.Roberts in primary.However, you have to give him credit he is in excellent health.Those comments you state are ridiculous.He is in great health.Unfortunate his biggest distraction his is campaign manager Judy Stern( she comes w/ more baggage than Samsonite suitcases(yes)).
January 31st, 2018 at 10:26 am
Maybe he is going to quit his union post if he is elected???
DUHHHH!
January 31st, 2018 at 10:55 am
I haven’t been involved at all in the FTL races but as an objective reader, that doesn’t look like a roadmap to me. That’s a precinct map! The kind you buy from the SOE. Granted I’ve never been THAT excited about a precinct map but they are interesting.
February 1st, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Will the chicken man make an appearance at the chicken ranch? Will anyone’s car get chicken scratched?
February 19th, 2018 at 7:04 pm
Candidates still seem to think that securing and advertising endorsements from elected officials (or former ones) are meaningful!
Using an elected official’s endorsement only guarantees you will piss off half, give or take, of your electorate at the expense of feeding your ego.
Oh, and Jim won’t have to worry about a conflict. He’s never going to get elected.