How The Judicial Candidate Snared A Big Endorsement
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Steve Feren must have been a Boy Scout: He believes in being prepared.
Being prepared is how Feren snared a big, big endorsement in his race for judge from Gov Charlie Crist.
Feren, a dedicated Democrat, endorsed by the Republican Crist!
Judicial races are non-partisan. Still, Republican big shots usually stick with Republicans and Democrats with Democrats.
This made the endorsement highly unusual. So unusual that the leadership of the Broward Republican Party questioned whether Feren was telling the truth in his ads about the endorsement.
Here is how Feren got the endorsement:
Feren likes to keep cards in his pocket and a pen. There is always the chance he will run into someone who will agree to support his campaign.
The cards and the pen are needed because Florida law requires any endorsements used in campaign advertising to be in writing.
So with the cards and pen in his pocket, Feren was ready when he bumped into Crist at a charity event in March.
Feren approached his former legislative colleague. Crist and Feren served in the Legislature from 1992-96.
“He asked how I was doing and I told him I was running for judge, Feren recalled. “He asked if there is anything he could do to help me.
“I said, ‘You can sign an endorsement.’ I pulled a card out of my pocket and he signed it.
Feren has been the mayor of Sunrise for 12 years after leaving the Legislature. He is running against lawyer Mark Rickard for Group 27, circuit court.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:38 am
I know Chaingang Charlie is still popular around the State as a general rule, but aren’t his poll numbers slipping in Broward lately? Also, given that Broward County has a 2/1 Democrat to Republican split and is likely to give Barack Obama a 25%+ victory of McCain in November….is a Charlie Crist endorsement of a Broward judicial candidate really worth all that much?
No criticism of Steve Feren for getting the endorsement…How can you not at least get the endorsement card signed by teh governor…I voted for him and likely will again in November.
I just wonder whether Mark “In the Middle” Rickard has the savvy to spin this for his benefit.