Fadgen Gets Burned Twice In Plantation Mayor’s Race

BY BUDDY NEVINS

In the campaign for Broward’s last big city strong mayor, Plantation Commissioner Jerry Fadgen has a strange problem.

He has a company that likes him enough to donate $500. Except the check has bouncedtwice.

American Media Productions in Miami-Dade County state records indicate that a resident of southwest Plantation is the president gave a check to Fadgen’s campaign in September. It bounced and cost the campaign a $10 bank fee.

The company gave him another $500 check which again bounced costing the campaign another $10.

I would advise Fadgen to forget about American Media.

He doesn’t have to worry.  He had raised $34,714 as of December 31, compared to $21,502 for his main opponent City Commissioner Diane Veltri Bendekovic.

She has her first formal fund raiser Monday night so expect her to catch up fast in fund raising.

Once most big Broward cities were governed by elected mayors.  Now only Plantation remains with a strong mayor form of government.

Is a strong mayor form of government better?

I don’t believe there is any one answer.

Appointed administrators have experience and training. Elected administrators are definitely more responsive to the public, whose vote they need to stay in office.

Some city managers Sunrise’s former manager Pat Salarno comes to mind become dictators who answer to no one by running roughshod over a city commission with their expertise.

In some city’s the mayor acts like a strong mayor because of their forceful personality.  Fort Lauderdale’s Jack Seiler is one.

Unlike Seiler, the winner of the March Plantation election will have the real power to run the city.  There is a third candidate in the race.



7 Responses to “Fadgen Gets Burned Twice In Plantation Mayor’s Race”

  1. Miss Pompano says:

    Jerry is a good honest person. I don’t know about his politics and I don’t know his opponent, but I can say that he is about as down to earth as you’ll find.

  2. Plantation Truths says:

    Diana is a nice woman. Is she qualified to run a city?
    Jerry has a financial background and has run businesses. He should be the next mayor.

  3. Resident says:

    Both are really terrific persons, and I am sure both could be mayors. Both are honest and smart. So the city has an excellent choice between the two.

    The difference mostly is philosophy between them. Diane would be more consistent with how Plantation has been run in the passed. Which is by the way, is one of the best run cities in Broward.

    Jerry would bring something totally new. He has a much more conservative view, and Plantation would reflect a significant change in approach.

    Either way it could be good or bad, depending of what you hope from your city.

  4. Bruce Edwards says:

    Buddy, Plantation strong mayor form of government has a city administrator in Dan Keefe. Keefe is the one that has the knowledge to run the day to day operations of a city the size of Plantation. He is paid a salary comparable to the Mayor. This does not mean that Armstrong is any less of a strong mayor she has the leadership role. Frank Veltri also had administrator in Bob Breklebaum. No strong mayor ever elected in Plantation would have the credentials to be consider by any city to be it’s chief administrator. They do not have that skill set, they hire it. The strong mayor has the ability to set the direction of the city and is available to the voters for interaction. Plantation likes the strong mayor system, they receive the best of both.

  5. Kevin says:

    Buddy, those amounts raised for a strong mayor race are a joke…. In Miami-Dade, one would easily raise $600,000 for an office like that for a town of Plantation’s size.

  6. Mike Long says:

    Buddy- The City of Lighthouse Point is also has a strong mayor form of government. It appears to work quite well for our city.

    Mike Long
    LHP City Commissioner since 1999

    FROM BUDDY:
    Thanks for mentioning this. I knew it but didn’t mention it, which I should have done.
    The post specifies that Plantation is the last “big city” with a strong mayor. I believe Plantation has at least 10 times the population of LHP.

  7. Plantation Voter says:

    @Kevin says: “those amounts raised for a strong mayor race are a joke…. “. I ask, “In what respect are they a joke?” $600, 000 raised in Plantation would mean that the majority of that money would come from special interests. I would venture to say that most of the money raised for Jerry and Diane at this point comes from individuals…and loans from the candidates themselves. Of course, there will be businesses who donate more, but I wouldn’t want a Mayor who would spend over 1/2 million on a campaign- that is obscene!

    Sadly, it does take money to run these days, but I hope Jerry and Diane will continue their home-grown events, where they meet their constituents in restaurants and private homes. Plantation is still one of the best communities in Broward county and unlike other cities, there is not a whole lot that needs fixin’.