Former Demo Boss Is Back!
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Former Democratic leader Mitch Ceasar kicked off his campaign for Broward Supervisor of Elections with $50,000 of his own money.
He raised another $10,000 from friends in his first formal month of campaigning for the open seat.
One of three Democrats trying to replace the disgraced Brenda Snipes, Ceasar is the only one with widespread name recognition.
The others are Oakland Party CommissionerTimothy Lonergan, Bamon Joevahn Scott and Ruth Carter-Lynch.
Ceasar is a lawyer who has had a general solo practice in Plantation for decades.
During his tenure from 1996 to 2016 as party boss, Ceasar was faced with an acute problem. The base of the party, the retiree condominium voters, was dying off. He is credited with helping expand the base of Democratic activists into different communities by reaching out to LGBTQ and minority voters, groups that could help him in this campaign.
Although he only formally began his race last month, he was laying the ground work for at least a year.
He lost a race for Broward Clerk of the Courts to Brenda Forman three years ago.
Now the hard part starts for Ceasar. He needs to milk every cash cow in Democratic politics he can find if he wants the donations to keep flowing in. How many will return his calls for a job that traditionally has little to give big-money lobbyists? That remains to be seen.
In Ceasar’s favor, he has a lengthy list of former clients and contacts from his long tenure in Broward.
Yet money won’t win this race. Name, gender and race will play a much bigger role. And Ceasar is the only one with countywide name ID.
Still, Ceasar needs to watch out for Carter-Lynch. If she remains the only woman in the race against three men, she has a shot.
Carter-Lynch has a controversial history with Democrats, which I’m sure we will hear about in this campaign.
As vice chair of the local party, Carter-Lynch was slapped down when she requested thousands of dollars to introduce candidates to key individuals in the black community.
She was also accused of misappropriating money earmarked for the party. That charge was eventually called false by the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida and the Florida Democratic Party.
July 12th, 2019 at 4:32 am
The past is the past. Ceasar should stay in it.
July 12th, 2019 at 4:34 am
Mitch is not stupid and will put a female African American in to cut into Ruth Lynch. Its not rocket science.
July 12th, 2019 at 4:38 am
This must be the year of the Last Old White Man Standing. Trump, Biden, Howard Forman and now Mitch Ceasar. Its time to retire buds and go look for your dentures.
July 12th, 2019 at 10:50 am
“Ceasar is the only one with countywide name ID”
This may be true, Buddy, but c’mon, how much name ID does a former party chair (and that’s really a very inside baseball thing) have with voters countywide? He’s a regular on Frank Loconto’s show every election night, but that only has dozens of viewers. I’m sure he has more name ID than his opponents at this point, but what are we talking about here? 8% versus 1%, or something like that probably.
July 13th, 2019 at 9:04 am
#4 . Exactly
July 13th, 2019 at 3:19 pm
He has no business running any organization with his past regarding women in his employ. Buddy you should be mentioning that about him since you mentioned the history involving Ruth. If you mention baggage on one candidate mention all of the baggage for each candidate. It is not a secret about his inappropriate behavior.
July 15th, 2019 at 7:07 am
For the good of the county and the country, Mitch Ceasar is needed back as Democratic Chair. The executive committee can not even obtain a quorum since he left. The woman who is running it is not able to run it. She can’t even convince hard core Democrats to come to meetings! Mitch ran the party like a finely tuned watch. He is needed now to beat Trump in Broward County.
If not, his success as party Chair is the best evidence that he should by the Supervisor.
July 15th, 2019 at 11:04 pm
Happy Birthday MITCH!!
July 15th, 2019 at 11:07 pm
On the Road to the Whitehouse!!
July 17th, 2019 at 9:11 am
Mr Buddie
Your bias is quite evident for Mitch the masseur, why only post his photo?
Where is the #MeToo Movement?
July 18th, 2019 at 2:48 pm
Mitch couldn’t win in a county wide race being the “political party boss”. How do you think he’s going to win in a very low information race such as SOE? Buddy your article touts Mitch as the best candidate and barely mentions Tim who is a well respected man in Oakland park and has zero baggage. This article is a puff piece for Mitch and very derogatory to Ruth and dismissive to Tim Lonergan. Buddy you are well aware of Mitch’s past but you are not mentioning any of that? Please provide your audience with the whole picture.
FROM BUDDY:
The piece “touts” no one.It features Ceasar because he is the best known candidate in the race on a countywide basis.
The baggage you talk about was unproven allegations. If you have something that can be proven let me see it.
July 21st, 2019 at 10:56 am
Mitch will be complicated by David Brown, another old man. Two old men splitting the old man vote will help Lynch
July 22nd, 2019 at 11:27 am
Not sure it is an “unproven allegation.” Ceasar and the DEC paid the woman an undisclosed amount to settle her sexual harassment claims before she filed suit in court. You wouldn’t pay her off that quickly if it was a crap claim. It was reported previously
July 23rd, 2019 at 5:11 pm
To #12
I’m certainly not an old man and if you spend any time with my 98 year young father you won’t call him an old man either. You may be able to beat him in a foot race don’t expect to best him in a debate on current affairs or presidential politics. I’ve got a lot of very good and active years ahead of me and my dad has taught me that we can never abandon our responsibility to contribute to the advancement of our community. #12 may be slowing down but I’m not.