The Wizard of Oster Takes On Sobel
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Russ Oster is Wizard of Oz of Broward politics.
Behind the curtains, Oster pulls the levers that shape campaigns.
Like the Great Oz, he sometimes is all bluster. Big campaigns he ran have lost like the Broward pro-strong mayor referendum and the first pro-slot machine referendum in Broward County.
He wins his share, too. In office with Oster’s help are several Broward judges like John Murphy, state Rep. Ari Porth and Parkland Mayor Michael Udine.
Oster is currently leading the attack campaign against former state Rep. Eleanor Sobel in the turbulent state Senate race.
Oster’s name is on the Integrity Counts Committee, which is paying for the ads against Sobel. The latest one accuses her of supporting a state income tax.
The latest state financial records of the committee aren’t due yet, so only two donors are known so far. Kicking in $1,500 seed money are Herman Russomanno, former president of the Florida Bar, and attorney Jon Krupnick of Fort Lauderdale, law partner of former state Sen. Skip Campbell.
Oster got his start in the mid-1990’s campaigning for Campbell and working as one of his state Senate aides. He then worked for Sheriff Ken Jenne managing his first re-election campaign. He went from there to run the campaign attempting to change the laws so that a strong mayor would run Broward.
The strong mayor referendum was defeated. Oster went into business for himself, landing on his feet as the manager of many Broward campaigns throughout this decade, mostly in the background.
Now he is working against Sobel.
This campaign has turned into a classic fight between two old enemies the lawyers and doctors.
The doctors have fought in Tallahassee for generations to curb suits against them by lawyers.
Both of Sobel’s Democratic opponents are lawyers former state Reps. Ken Gottlieb and Tim Ryan. Sobel, the wife of a physician, is heavily backed by the medical community.
Who do the lawyers want to win? They could live with either alternative to Sobel, but they seem to be leaning towards Gottlieb.
One hint: Gottlieb and Russomanno fought a losing battle shoulder to shoulder to block Gov. Jeb Bush from taking most of the control over judicial appointments from the Florida Bar.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
It sure seems like the anti sobel”stinky” piece is very similar to the “what smells” israel piece. Very similar themes makes you wonder if Russ is doing Lemack’s bidding as well. All them Hollywooders seem to stick together.
Coincidence I think not.