Meek Loses More Key Broward Democrats
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Support for Kendrick Meek’s U. S. Senate campaign continues to erode among key Broward Democrats, as party members abandon him for Gov. Charlie Crist’s independent bid.
Perhaps the most interesting D to join Crist is Walter “Skip Campbell, who was the state party’s nominee for Attorney General four years ago.
Campbell is a former state senator and partner in the downtown Fort Lauderdale law firm Krupnick Campbell.
The Coral Springs multi-millionaire is putting his money where his heart is in the U. S. Senate race. He will throw a $500-a-person fund raiser at his home next week for Crist.
Campbell said that he was just being a pragmatist.
“I’m realistic about the chances of (Meek) winning,” he said, adding the important thing for Democrats should be to stop GOP nominee Marco Rubio.
“Usually in the general (election), the Republican goes more towards the middle. Marco Rubio continues to court the extreme of the Tea Party,” Campbell said.
Campbell served in the Legislature with Crist and Rubio. He also ran a statewide campaign, so he knows something about a candidate’s chances of winning.
Campbell said he didn’t believe Meek was well-known outside of the Gold Coast and that he would do poorly upstate.
“When I ran, I thought I was known everywhere,” Campbell said. “Sometimes you’ve got the belief that you are bigger than you are.”
Campbell added that his embrace of Crist did not mean he was abandoning the Democratic Party. He will be a co-host of a fund raiser for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink the night before the Crist event.
Other surprising names on the fund raising list include Stephanie Toothaker, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer with Ruden McClosky who was once an aide to U. S. Senator Bob Graham; State Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs and several other notable Ds.
Stephanie Toothaker
Take a look for yourself:
Host Committee
Representative Ari Porth
Skip Campbell
Ed Curtis
Susan Maurer
Tom Panza
Stephanie Toothaker
Bruce Udolf
Brian Walsh II
Cordially Invite You to a Fundraiser Honoring
Governor Charlie Crist
Independent Candidate for United States Senate
MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION: $500 PER PERSON
MAXIMUM CONTRIBUTION: $2,400 PER PERSON
Thursday, September 16, 2010
6:00 7:30 p.m.
At the Home of Skip Campbell
1844 Colonial Drive
Coral Springs, Florida 33071
Please RSVP to Jeff Leiser at Jeff@CharlieCrist.com or 813-251-8712.
Individuals may contribute up to $2,400 for the general election,
and federal political action committees (PACs) may contribute up to $5,000 for the general election.
Contributions or gifts to Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate are not deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes. Contributions by corporations and foreign nationals are prohibited.
Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in an election cycle.
www.CharlieCrist.com
September 7th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Charlie’s switch to (I)was a brilliant move.
The people are sick and tired of the same old partisan politics and bickering.
Dems & Reps spend more time on posturing themselves to stifle, outwit, embarrass, block bills, etc. than they go getting any meaningful work done on their constituents behalf.
I know lots of Dems, myself included, who will be supporting Charlie come November 2nd.
This just might be the beginning of a whole new era in politics.
September 7th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
G.B.: Don’t count on it
September 7th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
I’m going for Charlie too!
September 7th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Two for Charlie, one against.
What do the rest of you think?
September 8th, 2010 at 8:15 am
ABR…anybody but Marco….damn this country has a short memory
September 8th, 2010 at 9:38 am
I’m a hardcore Dem. I don’t trust anyone who changes their party for political expediency. He never did anything for Dems when he was an R, and I just keep seeing that photo of him and Scott Rothstein blowing out his birthday cake. Sorry, Charlie. I’m with Meek.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:43 am
native Floridian is handing the election to Marco Rubio and we’ll have six years of a Tea Party senator.
Being a hardcore Democrat is going to be very lonely.
September 8th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Any votes for Meek puts a Tea Party vote in the Senate! It’s really that simple. Grow up!
September 8th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
G.B. and others – i was merely stating that it’s my opinion that Crist and Meek are splitting votes, not Crist and Rubio. Very few Florida voters that identify themselves as Republicans will vote for Crist, frequently seen with Alex Sink, Barrack Obama and Scotty Rothstein. Conversely, many Florida voters that identify themselves as Democrats WILL vote for Crist, rather than their party’s nominee. Simple math really.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
It is hilarious that I alone could hand an election to a guy who’s state party is composed of tea partiers fighting with old GOP standards.
September 8th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Ms Toothaker et al should be ashamed of themselves, supporting a candidate that is running against theie party’s nominee. But Toothaker works as a land use attorney for the biggest firm that represents big developers, and Charlie’s certainly not averse to big development and making the wheels turn. As for Porth, he’s shown his true colors numerous times, I can’t undersatnd why the big Democrat machine puts up with his craziness.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
the stategy to beat marco is wait til just before november and jump on the winning bandwagon…
September 11th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
It wouyld be a lot different – maybe – if Crist were to say that he would caucus with the Democrats. Otherwise his being in the Senate will be little different than having Rubio. If Rubio gets in it will teach Floridians a bitter lesson.
September 11th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
It might be different is Crist were to agree to caucus with the Demoocrats in congress. Otherwise it would be little different than having Rubio there. If Rubio wins it will teach Floridisns a lesson. The pendulum will swing back so that next time we will be assured of a liberal and progressive Democrat.
FROM BUDDY:
The pendulum has not swung back far enough to elect a “liberal and progressive Democrat” in the last 50 years of Florida politics. Democratic U. S. Sens. Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles were no liberals. Nor is current Democratic U. S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Moderates….maybe. Many would call them conservatives.
Someday the left wing of the Florida Democratic Party will understand that a liberal will not be elected statewide anytime soon. They had better go with a candidate who can win, or Florida will get a right-wing Republican.
September 12th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
It seems to me that principles and ideals have been cast aside by some Democrats. The fact is that, notwithstanding his finger in the air veto of the Ultrasound bill, Charlie Crist is against a woman’s right to choose. He has a 100% rating by the NRA (at least to some degree because of his opposition not only to gun control in general, but even against restrictions on assault weapons. And Charlie’s web site states that his position on Health Care is to let the “Free Market” determine health costs (you know, like HCA and Soantic). I could go on and on issue by issue, but the point is that Charlie Crist is a nice guy with great hair and a perfect smile who also happens to be a certifiable Conservative who will vote that way if he is elected to the Senate and has 6 years to worry about the next wind.
For anyone to believe Charlie Crist will caucus with the Democrats if elected to the Senate is ridiculous. He’ll say anything now, but he is who he is. Just like the hypocritical Republican leadership has now embraced the same Rick Scott they denegrated a few weeks ago, all will be forgiven with Crist once they need his votes.
Sure, the polls that had Obama down by 10 points in September 2008 have Meek the same number of points behind Rubio & Crist. One has to wonder how many Black & Hispanic voters they called. And by the way, to the uneducated who believe Hispanic voters will vote for Rubio, his position on Immigration includes opposition to Amnesty & any path to citizenship. Totally consistent with his radical Right Wing philosophy. Only Kendrick Meek takes the same position as the overwhelming majority of Hispanic voters, not to mention other mainstream Democrats. Kendrick Meek is also the only one of the three who took a strong position against off shore drilling before the Gulf spill.
With a coalition of Black, Hispanic and other real Democrats who vote for candidates on principles and issues rather than who they think might win, Kendrick Meek has a legitimate chance to reach 34% or more of the vote. With a three person race, 34 – 33- 33 is enough to win & definitely a real possibility.
I’m not so foolish as to believe that will be easy. What with all the bandwagon jumpers falling for fleeting poll results and a flashy smile, anything is possible. But I have faith thet there are enough Democrats who truly care about loyalty and principle so that Kendrick Meek will win.
The bottom line; A vote for Kendrick Meek is a vote for Kendrick Meek.
And as to my friend Skip Campbell, if he listened to those of us who pleaded with him to spend more time on the Broward County base he took for granted, I believe the turnout here would have been enough to have made him Attorney General.
September 12th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
It seems to me that principles and ideals have been cast aside by some Democrats. The fact is that, notwithstanding his finger in the air veto of the Ultrasound bill, Charlie Crist is against a woman’s right to choose. He has a 100% rating by the NRA (at least to some degree because of his opposition not only to gun control in general, but even against restrictions on assault weapons. And Charlie’s web site states that his position on Health Care is to let the “Free Market” determine health costs (you know, like HCA and Solantic). I could go on and on issue by issue, but the point is that Charlie Crist is a nice guy with great hair and a perfect smile who also happens to be a certifiable Conservative who will vote that way if he is elected to the Senate and has 6 years to worry about where the next wind is blowing.
For anyone to believe Charlie Crist will caucus with the Democrats if elected to the Senate is ridiculous. He’ll say anything now, but he is who he is. Just like the hypocritical Republican leadership has now embraced the same Rick Scott they denegrated a few weeks ago, all will be forgiven with Crist once they need his votes.
Sure, the polls that had Obama down by 10 points in September 2008 have Meek the same number of points behind Rubio & Crist. One has to wonder how many Black & Hispanic voters they called. And by the way, to the uneducated who believe Hispanic voters will vote for Rubio, his position on Immigration includes opposition to Amnesty & any path to citizenship. Totally consistent with his radical Right Wing philosophy and unnacceptable to the great majority of Hispanics. Only Kendrick Meek takes the same position most Hispanic voters, not to mention other mainstream Democrats.
Kendrick Meek is also the only one of the three who took a strong position against off shore drilling before the Gulf spill.
With a coalition of Black, Hispanic and other real Democrats who vote for candidates on principles and issues rather than who they think might win, Kendrick Meek has a legitimate chance to reach 34% or more of the vote. With a three person race, 34 – 33- 33 is enough to win & definitely a real possibility.
I’m not so foolish as to believe that will be easy. What with all the bandwagon jumpers falling for fleeting poll results and a flashy smile, anything is possible. But I have faith that there are enough Democrats who truly care about loyalty and principle so that Kendrick Meek will win.
The bottom line; A vote for Kendrick Meek is a vote for Kendrick Meek.
And as to my friend Skip Campbell, if he listened to those of us who pleaded with him to spend more time on the Broward County base he took for granted, I believe the turnout here would have been enough to have made him Attorney General.
September 13th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I was going to bet a co-worker lunch on this race and now that I see you are with Meek that will eliminate him from my choices. Considering your track record and all..
(Is Meek buying T-Shirts, or nail files from you?)
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2010/08/election_broward_norma_goldstein_barry_harris_consultants.php
UPDATE: Next, let’s see how Shifrel’s “Jack Rabbits” fared in yesterday’s election.
Lineup card, please:
The Jack Rabbits
John “Jay” Hurley: County Court Group 12 ($800) WON
Robert Jakovich: State Circuit Judge Group 15 ($1,000) LOST
Carlos Rebollo: State Circuit Judge Group 22 ($1,750) WON
Alan Bernstein: State Circuit Judge Group 23 ($3,000) LOST*
Lee Seidman: State Circuit Judge Group 51 ($4,500) LOST
Rhoda Sokoloff: State Circuit Judge Group 53 ($1,750) LOST
* I put an asterisk next to Bernstein’s loss, because he had a falling out with Shifrel midway through the campaign that Bob Norman reported here.
This was a fairly disastrous showing for the Jack Rabbits, with an overall record of 2-4. And of those two wins, one was Hurley, who didn’t spend enough on Shifrel to make the argument it made a difference in the race; and the other was Rebollo, an incumbent who won by just 1,300 votes, despite spending five times as much as his challenger, Bob Nichols.
September 13th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Too bad the coward who wrote under the phony name “Thanks Jack” didn’t have the courage to use his real name. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’d love to know who the weasel is. Cowards rarely have any guts, so I doubt I’ll ever know. They hide behind their mother’s skirts when they’re kids, and anonymous blog postings when they get older (notice I didn’t say “grow up”, because people like “Thanks Jack” never do. It’s so easy to take cowardly shots at someone when you can hide your identity.
To set the record straight, I did not manage any candidate’s campaign this year. I did some consulting for a few candidates but that’s it.
“Thanks Jack” put an asterisk next to Alan Bernstein’s name because of a supposed “falling out” as “reported” by Mr. Norman, but which never happened (a fact I told Mr. Norman, but he decided to write anyway – I’d love to know which journalism school he graduated from).
The point is, however, that the total amount of $11,500 is not as much as most individual candidates spend on consulting or campaign management services for a campaign.
And by the way, I don’t claim the credit for any of the candidates I helped who won. Neither do I believe I was responsible for the losses by candidates I helped who didn’t win. I do believe all or most of them would say I provided valuable help that was worth more than they paid. I would have done more, but as readers of this blog may remember, I had a heart attack during the campaign. I also went to the ER & ICU with Pulmonary Edema a little more than a week before the Primary. I tried my best to do what I could, but couldn’t do nearly what I would have liked to do.
As to Kendrick Meek, I am not a part of his campaign. I am a loyal Democrat, however. I support candidates whose position on issues is consistent with my own. I don’t help candidates, for money or not, who do not hold the same beliefs I do. I do not support Republicans or Independents over Democrats for that reason. I take my Loyalty Oath seriously.
I agree with Kendrick Meek’s position on a woman’s right to choose, his opposition to drilling off our coasts, and his long time support for Public Education. I also respect him for the courage he’s shown over the years in the fight for increases in the Minimum Wage, smaller class size and several other key issues. Kendrick Meek is a true Democrat who deserves the support of every voter who agrees with his positions, especially other Democrats.
And by the way, I have not nor do I expect to receive any money whatsoever from the Meek campaign for anything. I’m just going to do everything I can to help him win.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Jack
Click the link moron. I only cut and pasted what New Times wrote about you. If you have a problem call them.
September 14th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Jack – You protest a bit too much.
Take your lumps and move on.
Oh, and by the way, no matter how many times you complained to get the DEC to state that Laura and Lee Seidman (two of your clients in the last election) were not Republicans but really registered independents, we all knew they were right wing, gun toting, teaparty loving whackjobs.
And you chose to support and represent these two teaparty righties, who disagree with all your supposed “democratic beliefs”, against two Dem. Party members.
Just suck it up Jack and just admit that you decided to support and represent these two-Glenn Beck wannabes because they were willing to hire you and pay the fee you asked.
But hey, if you can’t, I’ll give you some slack. Whatever you need to do to sleep at night.
September 14th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I agree with you, Jack, on all your posts here regarding Crist. No good Democrat would vote for him or support him. I am loyal to the Democratic Party, and will never vote for an anti-choice candidate. I would think that any Dem who is a member of the DEC and publicly supports Crist should resign from the DEC or be asked to resign, because they are breaking their loyalty oath.
September 14th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Hey, “Thanks Jack”, you obviously don’t have the courage or class to use your real name, but how about being just a little decent and saying “Click the link Jack” You don’t know me well enough to call me a moron.
At least I’m honest enough to admit I missed the link & mistakenly thought the entire bit you posted here was your own. I should have known you don’t have the intellect to write more than one small paragraph at a time.
I guess I should be reading muckraker Bob Norman’s blog occasionally, just in case he writes about me again.
September 15th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
First, “Seidmans=good Democrats? NOT”, only a oouple of people knew about the Seidmans being upset about being listed as Republicans, so thanks for inadvertantly telling me who you are. Second, I did not complain about that multiple times, as you state. I advised the DEC one time about the mistake. I don’t make that point to protest, but to show that you either don’t know what you’re talking about or you just lie.
Regarding my reasons for helping the Seidmans, not that it’s any of your business, but I had personal reasons for working with them that had nothing to do with money or politics. My relationship with Lee and Laura Seidman has shown me that they are terrific people. I read all the garbage on the blogs, but just as I realize you don’t know what you’re talking about, I know most of what is written on blogs is put there by people with malicious intent, idiots or both.
Sure Lee and I are polar opposites when it comes to some issues, particularly guns, but he is honest and I like and respect him as a person, not to mention his knowledge of the law. The same goes for Laura. And in case you didn’t know, judicial races are non-partisan for a reason. If you pay attention, you’d know there have been many examples of D’s supporting Independents & Republicans in judicial races & vice versa. I would not support or work for a Republican or Independent in a partisan race on principle & because I take the Loyalty Oath I have signed more than 25 times over the years very seriously.
September 15th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Jack Shifrel is an asset to anyone running. I dont care what his enemies say because they will say anything to get attention. I am not a client, but a friend even though I prefer not to list my name for the sake of my family. Jack, you rock as far as we are concerned!