Another Commission – District 4 Candidate !

      His name is Romney Rogers, age 55.

     And he filed papers today to run for the open Commission seat in District IV, being vacated by the term-limited Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson, who is running for Mayor. Rogers had originally toyed with the idea of jumping in the Mayoral race also, but settled on the District IV Commission seat instead. District IV is the area of the City that covers most of the Downtown, the southern most portion of the beach, the 17th Street corridor and other areas south. 

     Rogers is new to Politics, but his family is not. Romney’s grandfather came to the area in 1925, and was one of the first Congressional Representatives for the Fort Lauderdale area. His uncle Paul also served in Congress. Rogers is a local lawyer who lives in Rio Vista, just down the street from the current Mayor Jim Naugle.

     The District IV race has been expected to be crowded, as open seat races generally are, but so far the only other candidate in the race is another local lawyer, Coleman Prewitt ( see a previous post on him).    

     Rogers says he is getting in the race because “he loves Fort Lauderdale”, and figures it’s his time to give back. He said he feels some “overwhelming excitement” today, but knows he will have “alot on his plate” in the coming months. He says he is prepared for a vigorous campaign, where he expects to have to raise gads of money and meet thousands.
 
     Rogers has a solid background in the City, having been the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, member of the Historic Preservation Board, member of the Police Pension Board, and a past President of Stranahan House Inc.. When asked if he thought the decade long fight by Stranahan House to stop the Icon Condominium from being built next to the Stranahan House was over, he replied “I hope not”.  

     On other issues, he says the City Commission should be “sensitive to market conditions” when considering how to end the Police Contract stalemate. One of the main barriers to a contract is that Fort Lauderdale Police are amongst the lowest paid Cops in the County, and many are leaving our force for other Police jurisdictions. He says he “likes the City Manager personally” and thinks he is “trying hard”.          

     Asked about his long time friendship with Mayor Naugle, and whether he holds the same views that have made the Mayor nationally infamous, Rogers said “Jim is his own person, but the bottom line is a Commissioner is there to serve all the people, and respect all the people”, and Rogers even quoted the Bible, saying ” respect everyone, love the brotherhood….. but fear God”.