She’s Back….But Who Wants Her?
BY BUDDY NEVINS
She’s back…but does anybody want her?
We’ll find out next August if voters support Former Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom of Fort Lauderdale’s latest quest for office.
This bid comes after she lost an election for the county commission last year and an election for the Fort Lauderdale commission earlier this year.
Rodstrom opened her latest campaign for county commission on Tuesday.
When Rodstrom ran last year for county commission it was for District 7, which includes her Fort Lauderdale home. She lost to Tim Ryan.
Now she is trying her luck in a different area of the county — District 2, which includes Coconut Creek and portions of Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Margate and Coral Springs.
Fort Lauderdale is not in District 2.
In fact, District 2 is far from her base – folks in east Fort Lauderdale McMansions or in older manses sheltering those living moneyed lives.
To win next year, Rodstrom will have to convince voters that she is moving to middle-class Broward.
Maybe she will leave her home of several decades. It is on deep water on Nurmi Isles and is valued at $1.623 million on Zillow.
Maybe Rodstrom will to move to a rental in the heart of her new district, maybe to Wynmoor.
Wait a minute. Didn’t one of her opponents already do that?
Yup, Democrat Mark Bogen claims he is living in a Wynmoor rental. The lawyer, who lived for the past several years in six-bedroom, 5,732 square foot home in Wellington in Palm Beach County, suddenly moved into the Wynmoor senior condo community to run.
As of now, the third candidate in the race, Coconut Creek Commissioner Lisa Aronson, is the only candidate who has consistently lived in the district.
Meanwhile, I would like to meet the political genius who told Charlotte Rodstrom she could win far from her home when she couldn’t win in her own district among her neighbors.
Oh, yeah, I’ve met the genius: John Rodstrom, her husband and a former county commissioner.
Charlotte and John Rodstrom
XXXXX
After I posted this, a local political consultant pointed out to me Tony Man’s Twitter feed from this a.m. when Rodstrom filed for office.
Tried for photo of lobbyist Judy Stern & pal-turned-enemy Char Rodstrom just now at county Govt Center. Stern raced up escalator to flee./AM
The background: Stern was bosom buddies with Charlotte Rodstrom for years. Then Rodstrom decided to run for county commission in 2012 against the wishes of Stern. The two had a falling out, with Stern even working for Tim Ryan’s campaign against Charlotte Rodstrom.
This same political consultant said that Rodstrom had a good chance to win.
He called Aronson a “lazy” campaigner and a “horrible” fund raiser. He believes there is a good chance Aronson will drop out.
He said Bogen had too much baggage, with his carpetbagging. “At least Charlotte lives in Broward, not Palm Beach County. And he’s breaking rules by living in a senior community and being too young.” He pointed me to the story you can read here in Mediatrackers.org.
December 3rd, 2013 at 3:10 pm
sounds to me like the people of District 2 should vote for whoever is going to run and actually comes from the District
December 3rd, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Aronson needs the money, she was annointed this seat almost a year ago but did nothing to act on it because she needed the extra paycheck from the Delegation. She is still working for the Delegation now. Double Dipper, Delegation Salary and Commission Salary.
Speaking of double dippers, what about Sandy Harris, maybe Aronson can explain, if true, her role is covering for Harris while she “retired” so she could come back in 6 months to collect a pension and a salary. If so, is this the type of ethics we want?
Aronson knows if she does not win this seat she would have to run in a special election against Josh Ridell and many others. How much will that cost the taxpayers?
At the end of the day Lisa could easily lose twice and be out of a job.
Is it true the Chair of the Delegation Rep Waldman and most of the Creek Comission has backed Bogen?
Yeah, Rodstrom is a carpetbagger.
In the end Mark Bogen is the one to beat.
December 3rd, 2013 at 5:43 pm
Its a lost cause for sure but wait and see how many of the usual broward lobbyists and developers donate to her campaign
December 3rd, 2013 at 6:18 pm
I have known Ronny Aronson for years and he never stops talking about all the work Lisa does in the community and how she is always out and about. The Aronsons have been very generous to me and my family over the years and have our total support.
KSW
December 3rd, 2013 at 7:16 pm
I saw Aronson quote in the paper making nasty comments towards Rodsttrom. Stay classy Lisa getting catty only makes you look scared.
FROM BUDDY:
Aronson was quoted in the Sun-Sentinel as saying: “I’m the only candidate in the race that has truly lived in the district — for 12 years. I’d be happy to give Charlotte a tour of the district.”
December 3rd, 2013 at 7:18 pm
Kathy Willets, an old friend of Ronny Aronsons. How nice of her to speak of on his behalf. Guess one of the benefits of being in the community for so long is to have old friends like Jeff and Kathy.
December 3rd, 2013 at 11:09 pm
Trust me on this – all of the skeletons in Bogens closet have not been revealed. When they are, it’ll be a disaster. Poor Barbara Miller.
December 4th, 2013 at 11:14 am
What’s up with the references to Kathy Willets? Willets was a prostitute whose husband was her pimp…and he was a BSO deputy. They both did time back in the 90s. The case gained some notoriety because her lawyer claimed Prozac had made her a nymphomaniac which made her do it, but also because of some names in her “little black book.” Anyone know why it’s coming up now???
FROM BUDDY:
Somebody with the name Kathleen Willets posted a comment earlier on this post.
I highly doubt whether it is Broward bestknown prostitute Kathy Willets.
She always uses the name “Kathy,” not Kathleen. Also, she now lives in Las Vegas and is a porno actress. Her Twitter account uses the name “Kathy.” (@kathywillets)
For those of you who may not remember Willets, here is two paragraphs from the Sun-Sentinel, Nov., 1, 1991:
“Kathy Willets , 33, and her husband, Jeffrey Willets , 41, are charged with running a bordello in their Tamarac home. The couple were arrested in late July.
Police say Kathy Willets serviced as many as eight men a day, while her husband, a Broward sheriff’s deputy, hid in the bedroom closet, taking notes and sometimes videotaping customers having sex with his wife.”
It was a sensational case because it was revealed that Fort Lauderdale’s vice mayor was a client. This right-wing religious conservative politician immediately resigned.
Willets was later charged with illegally videotaping the vice mayor having sex. Willets’ husband, Jeffrey, was a BSO deputy who did the videotaping. Her lawyer Ellis Rubin was alleged to have tried to market the tapes.
Known as a publicity hound, Rubin defended Jeffrey Willets using the theory that his wife was a nypho who needed constant sex as therapy.
Like I said, it was a thoroughly sensational case.
It was also sensational because Willets claimed to have kept the names of clients. The claimed their clients included some locally well-known folks. That claim was false.
There was great debate among editors whether the Sun-Sentinel should print the names.
Editor Gene Cryer decided we would publish only those names where the identities could be confirmed.
The Sun-Sentinel decided to publish today only the names of the men whose identities could be confirmed. Here is how the paper described the decision in 1991:
“The list does include the names of businessmen and professionals, although none is well known. Some of the names are common.
The Sun-Sentinel decided to publish today only the names of the men whose identities could be confirmed.
”We have to be responsible in what we do,” Cryer said. ”Going with the whole list now would not be the right thing.'”
Jeffrey and Kathy Willets pleaded guilty to prostitution related charges. He was fired from BSO and did some time in the stockade. She went into porno.
December 4th, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Does this mean the Commissioner’s husband was a “client” of Mrs. Wilets? If so, this is a good thing for the Commissioner. Shows me she’s the smart one and she has my vote!
Ron Aronson reminds me of Jabba the Hut ( I, also, would have paid Kathy to keep him off me too) He is mean and always putting the Commissioner down in public. Too bad she can ditch him. The Commissioner would have to pay him alimony, since she is the breadwinner in the family. OH VEY!
December 4th, 2013 at 1:43 pm
I looked on google I saw it was mentioned here when Lisa won her election. If Aronson didnt have an association with Willits they they should say so. Why let it sit out there as innuendo?
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/parkland-fl/TBM54EIFL8SB0TSCN
FROM BUDDY:
Oh, pleeeeze.
Don’t supporters of Bogen or Rodstrom have anything better to throw at Lisa Aronson?
First, there is no proof Aronson’s husband had anything to do with Willets. His name did not appear in newspaper stories that reproduced lists of her clients that I looked at.
Second, it happened more than 20 years ago.
Third, Lisa Aronson is running and not her husband! What her husband did or didn’t do two decades ago is not relevant.
December 4th, 2013 at 7:58 pm
I don’t think Aronson has an advantage over Charlote Rodstrom just because she is a comm. in Cocunut Creek. I mean the district is huge. And Mr.Bogen doesn’t live in the district either. Aronson has one small slice of the district. To say that she could give Charlotte a tour of the district is really overstepping her status(commmisoner in one city doesn’t qualify Aronson to run the entire district). This area district is always quite ignored. People in this part of Broward this is your chance to get things done in your neighborhoods. You will like Charlotte , give her a chance to prove herself, you will be quite impressed. I didn’t see either Aronson or Bogen get front page access like Charotte did when she announced. See what I mean people in this neck of the woods. She can deliver. As far as the report that Judy Stern ran from her , I find that hard to believe. Live and , let live….
December 4th, 2013 at 8:29 pm
Funny this all surfaces the day Rodstrom files. Who do you figure more likely to have known about something that happened to the Fort Lauderdale vice mayor 25 years ago – John Rodstrom or Bogen? Especially when you consider that Bogen has been running for months with Aronson as a potential opponent and now an actual opponent… Just saying.
December 4th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
let ’em all run and let the voters decide regardless of how many apathetic stay home
free country and loving the USA
we get what we choose to participate in
the big show up to vote is 9++ months away
December 5th, 2013 at 7:57 am
All Bogen, he knows if the two female candidates start going at each other it is better for him if they split the vote in the end. You think Barbra Miller didn’t know about Willets? If Bogen played it himself he is a jerk one on one with Lisa, if he uses it to pit the ladies against each other it is genius. Miller still rules the roost.
December 5th, 2013 at 9:38 am
Nick Steffens – haven’t you learned that what happens on blog comments doesn’t impact the outcome of elections? The anonymous supporters of candidates sniping on here will mean ZERO to the voters in Wynmoor. Does it occur to you that Lisa Aronson might have a handful of people who just don’t like her?
December 5th, 2013 at 11:41 am
Protip: Nick when you are an attorney (still eligible to practice law, right?) it would reflect badly if you create an ECO named after the first name of a candidate, take a donation and then fail to timely file the reprts for said ECO.
http://www.browardsoe.org/CFFilingSummary.aspx?file_id=5221
Protip: FYI most who create an ECO to benefit a candidate running for office usually use an neutral names (Common Cause, Broward Residents Against Suspended Lawyers) for the ECO so to avoid connection between the special interests funding the ECO and the candidate.
https://www.facebook.com/LISA4D2
December 8th, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Perhaps we should have a constitutional amendment that requires candidates to be domiciled in the district when they file to run. It wouldn’t prevent anyone from running, but would require a candidate to be serious about the race.
December 10th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
I have been friends with Lisa Aronson for more than 35 years. She is one of the most honest and caring people I have ever known. Broward politics can get down and dirty, Lisa is above this. Her main focus is serving her constituents. She is a hard working, dedicated and sincere woman who would be a tremendous asset to the Broward County Commission. Lisa and Ron have been wonderful friends to me and my husband. They have always been there for us and there is nothing we would not do for them.
December 14th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
another column here by Buddy mentions Ahearn as campaign guy for Rodstrom
Too bad she made that choice.
I won’t be voting.