Happy Jack!

     Politicians running for Elected Office usually have some good weeks, some not so good. For State Representative and Fort Lauderdale Mayoral Candidate Jack Seiler, last week was a dandy!
                    
                         
                                          Happy Jack!

     Mostly, Seiler’s good fortune came at the expense of his chief rival in the Mayor’s race, City Commissioner Cindy Hutchinson.  Hutchinson took a political bruising last week when fellow Commissioner Christine Teel announced at a Commission meeting that she had proof that one of her colleagues was guilty of breaking their new Ethics Law, and that colleague turned out to be Hutchinson.        

     The resulting flap, played out in the blogs (see previous posts here), and then the local newspapers, set Hutchinson’s campaign back to a still undetermined spot.     

     Enter Seiler. While the Hutchinson scandal was roiling, Seiler was in Tallahassee doing the people’s business, far away from the local trenches. Seiler entered the Mayoral race last month, but announced that he will not begin his campaign until the current session of the Legislature is finished.
     
     Seiler has been gaining local notoriety by being recognized as the only member of the House of Representatives to vote against moving up the ill-fated Florida Presidential  Primary. It was House Bill 537, cast last year, and the result was 115-1, with Seiler being the lone no vote. At the time, Seiler was quoted as saying  “Florida doesn’t need [the] Presidential Primary to be moved up to be relevant, we’re already the four largest State”. Since then, Florida has been penalized for the move, with no clear way forward. This surely will play out as being one of the best moves of Seiler’s State Political career.

     The Mayoral race in Fort Lauderdale will take place early in 2009. There are currently three contestants; Seiler, Hutchinson, and local lawyer Steve Rossi, who is relatively unknown except for the hundred or so bus bench ads that beam his image. Local businessman Earl Rynerson has opened an exploratory committee, and former City Commissioner John Aurelius is said to be also eyeing a run. Many pundits expect the race to get even more crowded.

     Seiler should relish last weeks’ good news. It most probably put him in the  “front runner position”. And it’s well known that political front runners have some good weeks, some not so good!