Gunzburger Is Campaigning Again After Death Of Husband
BY BUDDY NEVINS
County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger is back.
Challenger Steve Geller had better watch out.
Two weeks after the death of her husband of 49 years, Gunzburger is campaigning again for re-election.
And she’s back at the county commission. She was at Tuesday’s meeting.
Gunzburger is locked in a re-election fight with former state senator Geller.
The commissioner curtailed fund raising and campaigning while attending her ill husband Gerry.
He died April 23 and now Gunzburger is starting to circulate. Getting out. Meeting potential supporters.
On Wednesday, Gunzburger munched on a chicken, rice and beans lunch with a group formed by former state Rep. Ken Gottlieb.
Gottlieb calls it the Non-Group. A dozen or so folks meet weekly in a Cuban restaurant in Hollywood to discuss affairs of the day.
Attending were a couple of lobbyists, a Young Democrats officer, a woman active in the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, a few political activists, a physician and some other professionals.
Just the kind of people Gunzburger needs in her corner in the 2010 Democratic primary.
She must to sew up her base in Hollywood early to win.
Gunzburger has been a city commissioner and then a county commissioner representing Hollywood since the 1980s. But Geller has represented portions of Hollywood, too, in the Legislature.
Wednesday was Gunzburger’s day. It was a successful lunch.
She collected at least a half dozen endorsement cards.
Expect Gunzburger to immediately seriously juice up her campaign. She needs to.
Geller is clearly the toughest opponent of her career.
He is like the Pillsbury Doughboy on crack a relentless campaigner who will stop at nothing to turn her into a political piñata.
Let me tell you about a campaign I covered between Steve Geller and now state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff for the state senate. Geller won and served until 2008. Bogdanoff went on to win a seat in the House years later.
Geller was one of the most persistent and single-minded campaigners I ever met.
He called me three or four times-a-day to spin or whisper tips. He called the editorial board to lobby for their endorsement. He called the editor on his private cell phone.
He called talk radio stations. He called TV assignment editors. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he was constantly on the phone to Action Line in the hope they would plug his campaign.
And he was everywhere in the district.all the time.
Whether Geller has that kind of energy or focus a decade later remains to be seen.
Gunzburger isn’t waiting to find out. She told me today that she is back in the race more dedicated than ever.
I believe her.
May 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Believe her. Sue is very dedicated – reads her e-mails, reviews the weekly agenda with a fine-toothed comb, and truly cares about her district. Whatever you may think about her personally, know that she is a dedicated public servant. No, I do not work for her or her campaign. I don’t even live in her district. I see her in action every week.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I to Believe her. Sue has always been a true public leader and someone who cares about the people she has worked with.
I do not live in her district but I would love her to win. Sue I am on your side!
Robin
May 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Sue is the winner because the people trust her. She is personally wealthy and can not be bought. Geller is a developers lobbyist and is already bought.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Go Sue is wrong. Sue Gunzburger’s late husband made a fortune selling bus benches to the county. If that is not “being bought,” I don’t know what is.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Shame on you “Go Sue if Wrong.” You know what you wrote simply is false. You even forgot to mention that Gerry’s contract with the County was awarded well before I was ever elected to the Commission. By the time his former company won a second sealed competitive bid/low bid contract after I was elected, he had already sold it to a New York firm. Like I said: shame on you for lying.
FROM BUDDY: “I believe Sue Gunzburger’s memory is incomplete. Just to make the record clear, here is a portion of a Sun-Sentinel article from 1999 on Gunzburger’s Better Than Wood sales to the county:
BTW was awarded its first contract in late 1992, just before Sue Gunzburger was elected to the County Commission.
She was already the heavy favorite to win. That three-year contract earned about $137,000 for the firm.
At the same time, the firm won a contract to do at least $500,000 in work at the Anne Kolb Nature Center for a boardwalk and observation tower.
When Gerald Gunzburger’s contract expired, (American Recycled Plastics’ Michael) Hazlett’s company won the county contract for recycled plastic through 1997.
But in 1997, Hazlett’s company lost the contract and BTW was picked after Gerald Gunzburger wrote a letter encouraging the county to change its bid specifications.
American Recycled made products using only milk jugs and other high-density plastic. BTW uses co-mingled recycled items, mixing every kind and color of plastic product into its lumber.
Gerald Gunzburger wrote county purchasing officials that a co-mingled product like his firm makes “usually has more strength and rigidity than ] lumber made using only polyethylene.”
The county staff changed the bid specifications to allow co-mingled plastic. This gave BTW a significant advantage, since its co-mingled products are substantially cheaper. That’s because when manufacturing co-mingled recycled plastic, BTW does not have to pay for the trash to be sorted.
BTW is the only company making co-mingled plastic in South Florida. With the new specifications allowing its cheaper product, BTW won the new two-year county contract in 1997, underbidding the closest competitor by almost $300,000.
Hazlett filed a formal bid protest, alleging that the bids were rigged because of the change in bid specifications and that Gerald Gunzburger’s firm had a conflict of interest because of his wife’s position.
Glenn Cummings, the county’s purchasing director, rejected the protest.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Sue wants Geller to run against Diana Wasserman Rubin and would likely endorse him if he did.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I don’t know anything about Mr. Geller,however I know I am not a fan of Mrs. Gunzburger. She is a member of our synagogue and she holds herself above everybody else which is not an attribute for a politician. I am very sorry about her husband. However, I can not vote for her again.
May 9th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Ooops Sue. memory failing or your nose is growing. Which one?
May 11th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Say what you want about Gunzberger, but Geller is a million times worse. He’s a total scumbag who was deeply involved in that Mutual Benefits $60 million viatical ponzi scheme (the scam that the feds are still criminally investigating and plan to arrest even more people soon). And Geller has been a paid lobbyist for the developers and special interests for years. Like I said, he’s a total scumbag!!
May 12th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I was the GM for BTW and lets set the record strait. Although, we were the only manufacturer in So. Fla that used comingled plastics, there were dozens of such companies across the nation. The contract numbers appeared large, but so was the cost of manufacturing,ie repairs, payroll, utilities, etc. The profits were barely enough to sustain us and Gerry frequently had to kick in his own funds to sustain us from week to week. All that glittered was not gold!! We kept our business as far away from Sue as humanily possible to avoid even the appearance of conflict. Ive known her during her entire political life, and she is one of the most honest and dedicated politicans that there is today. No strings were ever pulled for BTW’s favor. HEr political opponents tried to make it seem that way, but it simply was not the way it happened.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Is it really any coincidence that Broward County was BTW’s biggest account?
I think not.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
They were not our biggest account.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I would support Sue Gunzburger regardless of who her opponent was, but Steve Geller?? No way, no how!! Keep County Commission District 6 in the halds of the people… KEEP SUE GUNZBURGER!!