Toothless Broward Republicans Lose Again
BY BUDDY NEVINS
It was 0-2 for Broward Republicans in Plantation on Tuesday.
Losing were former Broward GOP Executive Director Rico Petrocelli and Plantation Commissioner and Republican stalwart Jerry Fadgen.
Unlike much of Broward, Plantation is swing city where Republicans have a chance of victory. It didn’t matter on Tuesday.
Petrocelli and Fadgen were beaten despite a vigorous campaign effort by the Republicans, proving once again that the Broward GOP organization (formally the Broward Republican Executive Committee, or BREC) is toothless.
The winners were incumbent Democratic Mayor Diane Veltri-Bendekovic, who beat Fadgen. And Democrat Pete Tingom, who beat Petrocelli.
Republicans tried hard to elect Petrocelli. Party officials conducted a robo call campaign, helped fund mailed flyers and some GOP activists canvased door-to-door.
Still he lost.
Petrocelli was defeated despite Democratic fears that the four Democrats in the race would split the vote, allowing him to win.
In the end, Petrocelli just had too much baggage to overcome – three bankruptcies and state ethics violations from his last term as commissioner.
Before Broward’s Democratic organization or the Plantation Democratic Club start taking credit, let me point out that their favorite — Democrat Louis Reinstein — also lost to Tingom. Although also a Democrat, the winner Tingom had lukewarm support from the party organization.
Tingom was helped because he was a comfortable familiar face from his previous time on the commission– he lost his seat four years ago — and his tenure as the principal of Plantation High.
The Plantation election proved once again that the Republican organization is totally ineffective. BREC is more like a tricycle with a missing wheel than a smooth running organization.
And the Democratic Party apparatus is not much better.
March 10th, 2015 at 10:16 pm
This republican knew to vote for Diane and Pete. Congratulations Plantation! You chose well.
March 10th, 2015 at 10:43 pm
the Worley/Phillips/Steffens/Platt crew aka the next gen of the DEC gets their collective asses handed to them again on Reinstein. Louis at least Lisa Aronson and Bob Mayersohn can feel your pain. Worst part, how much of your campaign money did you waste on these guys who don’t have a win between them?
FROM BUDDY:
For those of you unfamiliar with the insider baseball of the local Democratic Party, activist Nick Steffens is said to use the handle Fake Tony Man on Twitter. Anthony “Tony” Man is the Sun-Sentinel political writer.
March 10th, 2015 at 10:46 pm
Reinstein should run for the Clerk of Court seat.
March 10th, 2015 at 11:11 pm
Amy Rose lost some of her shine tonight. Rose clients Louis Reinstein and Ben Preston (who was an incumbent) both lost.
March 11th, 2015 at 7:57 am
wasnt Sean Phillipi was running Reinstien?
FROM BUDDY:
Reinstein’s mail advertising was done by a Royal Palm Beach firm associated with clients of consultant Amy Rose. Her company was also paid a small amount for labels early in the campaign.
Actually, Reinstein raised the most in his race — roughly $35,000. The four other candidates all raised around $23-24,000. That figure is startling low considering all the money being spent by developers to build in Plantation.
Mayor Diane Veltri-Bendekovic only raised $43,295. Her opponent Jerry Fedgen raised just over $33,000. Amazing for a big city.
I attribute the fund raising deficit to the realization in the business community that Planation City Hall is largely a closed shop with little chance for many new firms or vendors to win business. One lobbyist has a lock on everything in city hall, which in my experience is an ominous sign. The city attorney and before that his father has been in the city forever. The garbage contract remains unbid after a generation. No reason for firms to give money if they are not going to be given a fair shake in city hall.
March 11th, 2015 at 9:25 am
I don’t believe Mike Worley worked with Louis. The only race I know he participated in was Rydell in Coconut Creek.
FROM BUDDY:
I have no idea if you are referring to my comment, but consultant David Brown also worked on the Rydell campaign. Knowing Brown, he probably had the commanding role.
Reinstein used another firm used in campaigns managed by Amy Rose.
March 11th, 2015 at 10:03 am
2 garbage firms gave max contributions to Holness, and a number of attorneys/law firms were in the max range on Holness contributions as well. Now all they need is a candidate who can actually perform.
Holness and Reinstein both pulled more money from outside the city than the other candidates, so it’s appears the commercial interests are funding the younger crowd.
Next time the City’s election will be nothing but a line item on the Democrat’s palm card, with the move to November elections, so one suspects the landscape will be altering in the foreseeable future.
FROM BUDDY:
Funding to the maximum amount and bundling money to give 10 to 20 checks at the maximum amount are two different strategies. The firms were covering their base, not going all out.
March 11th, 2015 at 10:12 am
I really like Louis. He is a great guy, has a wonderful family, and would have been a fantastic commissioner, but I was not running his campaign nor did I have any role in his campaign.
March 11th, 2015 at 10:28 am
Shouldn’t this be a celebration in the victory of the mayor and councilman!!!??? instead of a celebration in someones loss??
I knew your type of people could not just be happy you won without taking joy that their has to be “losers”
the city is divided almost equally so the baggage from both canidates was not an issue.
Don’t you have a heart to think about the upset that half the city is going through or you are so shadowed by darkness that it doesn’t allow you empathy?
This article is very distasteful and you should really reevaluate the words you choose and the mean spirited mind set you have.
March 11th, 2015 at 11:48 am
Skippy,
Many of the the contributions to candidate Holness’s campaign were probably not meant to help Holness rather than curry the favor of someone else with Holness’s last name.
March 11th, 2015 at 8:11 pm
I had nothing to with Louis’s campaign besides give some money that will appear on his final report. Sean and Seth had nothing to do with Bob’s campaign. Mike, Sean and Seth have a long list of victories, both politically and personally l, that I’m afraid whoever made post number 2 doesn’t.
Fwiw, I’ve been on a bit of a rough streak with campaigns lately, but it could be worse. These things are not the be all end all in the scheme of things, despite what some people say. I have fun and enjoy life, I wish the same for all of you.
FROM BUDDY:
The presidential campaigns hire the best campaign talent every four years. Still, one team wins and the other loses.
Everybody involved in campaigns — EVERYBODY — has a string of losses. Hopefully they have wins, too.
Hint to future candidates:
Ask a prospective consultant about their losses and why they lost. Don’t just be snowed by their wins.
March 12th, 2015 at 7:23 am
Louis Reinstein is a fine person and would have made a great commissioner. He did not do himself any favors by hiring Amy Rose. She carries a lot of baggage, is arrogant in her treatment of voters and campaign workers, and her #1 priority is herself.
March 12th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Ok Nick if you say so, lets see the list of victories for Seth, Sean and Worley.
Please don’t list;
Tim Ryan for Sean, as that was Judy Stern and Dave Brown was the guy running the Rydell campaign.
Everyone wins some and loses some. In the case of those above they have never won much of anything, but in fairness they made a lot of money off those losing suckers.
Nick, at least you don’t deny you are Fake Anthony Man.
March 12th, 2015 at 5:03 pm
I don’t understand why you won’t publish your name.
1. I don’t think Seth has ever been paid by a campaign and has donated thousands of dollars and many volunteer hours.
2. Mike doesn’t run campaigns and he has a lot of wins in Dade doing mail. A lot of his charges relate to the hard costs of postage and printing. He does make money as well, which is deserved.
3. Sean has won a lot of races as well. He can stick up for himself if he so chooses.
4. I have a lot of time for extracurricular activities, fake twitter accounts is not on the list. Sorry!
March 13th, 2015 at 1:05 pm
I do have a long list of wins, but as a rule I don’t engage with people who aren’t willing to post under their real name. I like to let my work speak for itself.
I don’t need to bash anyone else to build myself up, nor do I need to take more credit than I deserve for any of my wins. If other people choose to do so, then that is their choice.
March 13th, 2015 at 3:50 pm
FROM BUDDY:
The link just below is the beginning of “Ha Ha Ha’s” comment. A warning: By starting a comment with a link always runs the risk of being tossed out by my spam catcher.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/lucy-morgan-putting-the-public-back-in-public-office/2221249
Some governors are slow learners. Gov. Rick Scott is beyond slow. He doesn’t learn. He doesn’t appear to care about public access to records, meetings and information traditionally available to Floridians….
No recent governor has given as much access to the goings on in his office as [Bob] Graham did. Back then, reporters could simply walk into the offices of his leadership team and ask questions. Public records requests were quickly filled.
I once asked Graham’s office for copies of all correspondence between his office and a particular sheriff. I thought it would take weeks. The documents arrived by overnight mail and included all letters over a period of several years. That happens when the staff sees their role as communicating with Floridians and not just promoting the guy in charge….
After [Rick Scott] was caught lying about the firing of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey, Scott repeatedly refused to answer questions about the situation. When confronted with a Department of Corrections in chaos and under investigation for the deaths of inmates, his administration issued a gag order forbidding anyone at Corrections to respond to questions.
Scott kept the Open Government office that Crist created but it is essentially a joke. Meaningful responses to questions or requests have disappeared behind press releases. Any governor’s response to open government is important. It sets an example for the rest of state government as well as cities and counties who are covered by the law. Scott fails by any measure.
March 13th, 2015 at 4:17 pm
Plantation is once again fortunate to have elected responsible candidates, in spite of all the smoke screens being put out . Plantation , indeed Broward County and our State are lucky enough to have such bright and intelligent individuals as Buddy Nevins. His ability to investigate ,illuminate and present facts is unprecedented. He opens doors for those that care to look deeper into the truth of issues. To reveal those who seek elective office by hiding behind general statements that serve only to divide and confuse the voting population. One word only !Truth that is found when Buddy Nevins presents his well thought opinions I for one wish to thank Mr. Nevins for his continued presence.
FROM BUDDY:
Thanks so much.
For those of you who don’t know, “Tom Armstrong” is the screen name of my mother. Seriously, Tom Armstrong is a former state representative from Plantation.
March 13th, 2015 at 6:45 pm
Buddy, we know you have a habit of not saying anything nice about the Broward Republican Party …
If we lose an election that we tried to win, then you call us toothless
If we lose an election that we really didn’t put much effort in, you’d say we “didn’t do anything”
If a Republican actually wins, you’d likely say they won without the party’s help.
Seems like a no-win scenario.
March 14th, 2015 at 9:44 am
where is spell check when I need it ?