By JEREMY JONES & DMITRY RASHNITSOV
The Broward County Commission has welcomed it’s one and only Republican member to the dais after Lighthouse Point Commissioner Chip LaMarca defeated Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl Nov. 2 for the District 4 seat. LaMarca, along with new commissioners Dale Holness and Barbara Sharief, took their seats on the county commission Nov. 16.
Keechl, who is openly-gay, had the second largest constituency for an openly gay elected official in the entire country, according to the Victory Fund. But that constituency wasn’t enough to grant Keechl a win over LaMarca, who managed to pick up 24,918 votes to Keechl’s 22,678 votes. District 4 encompasses Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach.
“The untold story is how close I came to winning,” said Keechl, who admitted that it was not a good year to be a Democrat. “It didn’t take a genius to see that the Democrats were going to do poorly. It was a terrible year to be a Democrat.” Keechl’s loss comes as a shock in a county where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 549,797 to 247,181, according to the Broward County Supervisors of Elections.
In addition, Keechl had amassed $590,000 in his campaign fund while LaMarca only spent $146,000. With those types of numbers, it’s clear that voter resentment for the Democratic Party played heavily into Keechl’s loss, and it’s a loss that even caught him by surprise.
“I thought I was going to pull it out. But I also know that if you are not willing to lose, then you shouldn’t play the game,” Keechl said.
Keechl has done a lot for the LGBT community. He is credited with adding genderidentity and expression protections to Broward County’s anti-discrimination human rights ordinance, sponsoring a county resolution seeking to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and he made Domestic Partnership Benefits a requirement for any company wanting his vote on competitive procurement contracts.
He credits commissioners who came before him for laying the foundation for LGBT rights in Broward, and says he will continue to work with the current commissioners on future LGBT issues.
He also never voted to raise property taxes and was a strong proponent of eliminating wasteful spending, protecting dwindling open spaces, ensuring adequate funding for beach re-nourishment and promoting sensible development on the coast.
“I am proud of the contribution I made and I know I still have a lot more to contribute,” said Keechl. “I have enjoyed the last four years and would do it all over again.”
And that’s exactly what he plans to do, quite possibly as soon as 2012.
But with the aftermath of the election just a few weeks behind him, Keechl said he will probably return to practicing law while he explores his options. As far as what political office he will seek, Keechl has just begun to weight his options.
“I’ll make that decision as the opportunities present themselves,” he said. “People are already approaching me for various seats in 2012.”
His accomplishments while in office are numerous, but that didn’t stop his opponents from criticizing his campaign.
Voters say he reneged on his 2006 promise of working full time as a County Commissioner and not practicing law. He also came under scrutiny for negative ads he ran against LaMarca as well as for using campaign funds to pay the mortgage on a property he owns. In Keechl’s defense, that property was used as his campaign headquarters.
But none of that deters Keechl. When asked if there is anything he would do differently during the campaign that could have resulted in a victory, he wastes no time in answering.
“I can’t think of anything I would do differently. Sometimes you just come up short,” said Keechl. “Public service is in my blood.”
I fail to understand how anyone can be THE ONLY DEMOCRAT to lose in the Broward County Commissioners race in a county where democrats outnumber republicans 550,000 to 250,000 and still say, “I lost because it was a tough year for democrats”.
Wake up Ken and smell the coffee! All the other democrats for commissioner won in this “tough year for democrats”. Keechl lost not because GOP and independents voted against him. Keechl lost because democrats, including fellow gays like me, were fed up with his deceit and misappropriation of campaign funds.
I’m quite surprised to see this newspaper cover for him by alluding to his misuse as payments for “a property he owns”. The specifics are that this wasn’t mortgage on an office building being used as campaign headquarters. He was using campaign funds to pay the mortgage on his home. His denial of misconduct and his denial of the reason people voted him out of office are simply astounding.
He still says “I can’t think of anything I would do differently”. Exactly the reaso why he is out of office.
Keechl was the architect of the new “Dangerous dog” ordinance which allowed untrained
Animal Control officers to seize any dog “accused” of a bite to another animal or a human and be put to death. An appeal was allowed if the owner had lots of money to pay a $500 fee and an attorney. In the meantime the family pet was kept in a cage at Animal Control for up to 2 years in one case. If they were released on appeal as many were, they came out underweight, some sick, and loaded with ticks.
The problem was that Keechl put the law into effect without making sure that officers making the arrest and the Hearing officer knew the difference between Provoked and Unprovoked – which they admittedly did not. Since this was the heart of the law, it resulted in many false arrests and death of a loved animal.
Circuit Court Judge Gomez on appeal of one case called the ordinance “Unartfully
written causing confusion resulting in a death warrent for a family pet. It is an error so egregious as to result in a miscarriage of justice” [not verbatim]
Keechl ignored the uprising of around 300,000 pet owners in Broward but LaMarca even appeared at some of the demonstrations in support of the owners. Keechl will never be able to atone for the terrible toll he caused.
I don’t even like dogs that much…but this guy went way over the line. Glad for Broward he’s gone. That story hit home even up here in Duval. Hope you guys never put him in office again.