The Mayoral contest in Fort Lauderdale is going rough and tumble!
While the focus for most of us has been the Presidential race just weeks away, the City elections that take place in February and March look to be cruising toward a boil.
The biggest reason for that boil is Mayoral candidate Earl Rynerson.
Rynerson with Victoria Park Resident
Rynerson is a businessman and Gulf War Veteran that is described in the Sun-Sentinel Political Blog as a “tile store owner”. That description even brings Rynerson to a simmer. He worries that title belittles his stature in some voters’ minds compared to the descriptions given his opponents; lawyer, lawyer, and lawyer.
One thing is for sure, Rynerson is hell bent on being relative in this year’s race.
Rynerson faces an uphill battle because he’s mixed up in a race that has well known and respected local pols, the likes of State Representative Jack Seiler, and former Commissioner and well known gay activist Dean Trantalis.
Rynerson’s latest attempt to get notice involves money – and lots of it. The latest campaign contribution reports show Rynerson with more money in his campaign war chest than the other candidates. His totals were at about $90,000, Seiler’s about $75,000, Trantalis’s at $16,000, and Rossi at about $3000. He sent out a Press Release touting that fact yesterday.
But what Rynerson failed to clearly say in his release was that most of that money was his. Rynerson loaned his own campaign $77,000.
Seiler, and other local activists say that Rynerson is being dishonest with the voters in his press release. Seiler says he is not worried about Rynerson’s deep pockets, but is offended that Rynerson is “trying to make it look like he has more real contributions”, than Seiler, and that is clearly not the case.
When asked about what he plans to do with all that scratch, Rynerson says he has a few “out of the box” ideas, that he wasn’t ready to divulge, and that he will be using the money “in a variety of ways”.