FORT LAUDERDALE — The primary election for the mayor of Fort Lauderdale will take place next Tuesday, February 10, 2015, and the incumbent mayor, Jack Seiler, is facing a serious challenge for the first time since he was elected into office in 2009. Ironically, Seiler’s problem doesn’t come from his challengers, but from his own performance of late.
You may recall that Seiler’s first blunder was his ‘no” vote on a resolution sponsored by commissioner Dean Trantalis last year encouraging the state legislature and Governor Rick Scott to allow same-sex marriage in Florida. It was a purely ceremonial resolution, with no real bite to its bark. Yet, as Trantalis suggested at the time, the city of Fort Lauderdale, the country’s Gay Mecca, needed to send a message to Tallahassee signaling its support of those in the LGBT community who have supported Fort Lauderdale for all these years.
Seiler voted against the resolution, pointing to his creation of a domestic partnership registry and support of civil unions in the state as proof of his alliance with the LGBT community. What Seiler didn’t get then, and doesn’t still realize, is that neither a domestic partnership nor a civil union is the same as being legally married. Only legal marriage brings with it all the Federal health and tax benefits already available to heterosexual married couples.
To some that may seem nothing more than ancient history now that same-sex marriage has become legal in Florida as of last month. But remember, on January 6, while Orlando’s mayor Buddy Dyer hosted a mass marriage on the steps of Orlando’s City Hall, with a reading by District 4 City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, a blessing delivered by Reverend Kathy Schmitz from The First Unitarian Church of Orlando and performances by the Orlando Gay Chorus, Seiler did nothing. As a devote Roman Catholic, the concept of gay marriage goes against his religious beliefs.
Same-sex marriages in Fort Lauderdale were instead launched that date by Broward Clerk of the Court Howard C. Forman in the downtown courthouse at 3 a.m. when the air-conditioning was on auto-pilot and unable to keep up with the 100 or so couples who showed up to get married on the first day possible in the state.
Outside the boiling LGBT marriage debate, Seiler stumbled again in his handling of an ordinance against feeding the homeless in a public venue. The new law was passed at 3 a.m. in the morning at the end of a marathon commissioners’ meeting, with only Dean Trantalis voting against the measure.
The measure made international headlines when the city ticketed 90-year-old World War II veteran Arnold Abbott for illegally feeding the homeless. His Love Thy Neighbor non-profit has been feeding thousands of homeless since he began the program in 2003.
Seiler told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper that “the media’s ignoring the fact that there are daily feedings taking place in the city of Fort Lauderdale in full compliance with the law.”
The city’s tourism board was not impressed. “It is reading badly,” according to Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It is not pleasant getting emails from people saying we’re not coming to your city because you have no heart.”
And then there is the continuing controversy over Seiler’s plans to replace the Beach Aquatic Center, removing its Swimming Hall of Fame component and building a four-story garage in its place. Seiler awarded the contract for the renovation with only a single bid for the tax-payer funded $33.7-million project.
The primary election next Tuesday February 10 gives voters a choice between Seiler, and a long-time political competitor Earl Rynerson. Rynerson is gay, was recently married to his lifelong partner, and has lost to Seiler in the last two elections. They both are campaigning against Chris Brennan, a environmental advocate.
Make a wise choice, and please, please, get out and vote next Tuesday. The shaping of Fort Lauderdale depends on it.
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