Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler faces heat from LGBTQ community about prayer breakfast speaker

@amysherman1

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler’s battle with the LGBTQ community over the upcoming Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast where a leading national opponent of same-sex marriage will speak could affect Seiler’s statewide political ambitions.

Seiler will speak Friday at the 55th annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by National Christian Foundation of South Florida at the Broward County Convention Center. One of the speakers is Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, a national group that has opposed gay rights, including adoption by same-sex couples. Seiler said he had nothing to do with inviting Daly.

Seiler’s relationship with the gay community could nag him on the 2018 campaign trail if the Democrat decides to run for Florida attorney general. Seiler, a lawyer who is term-limited as mayor, has sounded increasingly interested in recent months about running and told the Miami Herald in March that he will make up his mind this summer. Republican AG Pam Bondi, who engaged in a costly battle against same-sex marriage, is term limited. (See previous stories by the New Times and Sun Sentinel.)

Although the event isn’t organized by the city, it has been known for years as the “Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.” About 1,200 are expected to attend the event, where Seiler will give a brief introduction.

Seiler told the Herald that he has never met Daly.

“I do not agree with that speaker's views as some have been explained to me,” he said. “Since I never met or communicated with the gentleman, I was not aware of his views on all these subjects, and I am sure that we don't see eye to eye on most of these subjects.”

Seiler said he has attended the breakfast for the past decade and at times in the 1980s. He has told opponents:

“As Mayor, I am an honorary host and speaker (invited by the committee and confirmed almost a year ago), and I have prayed with and spoke to this group, along with many others (including LGBT groups), for the past 8 years.  My message is, has been, and will be one of kindness, compassion, inclusion, tolerance and respect.  In the past, that message has been very well received at this Prayer Breakfast.  In fact, over the years, this Prayer Breakfast has brought our community together, united individuals of different backgrounds, unified houses of worship of different faiths, and had an incredibly positive impact on our City.  Every year, it seems that a very diverse group leaves the Prayer Breakfast motivated, excited, and energized to assist others and build community.

(Here is Seiler’s full statement.)

Daly last spoke at the event many years ago when the city was led by Mayor Jim Naugle, who drew wrath from the gay community over his comments about gay sex in park bathrooms.

Stephan Tchividjian, president of the National Christian Foundation of South Florida and grandson of Billy Graham, said he found Daly “too divisive” in the past. But his group sought Daly as a speaker after meeting him.

“He had changed some of the rhetoric and language and really made some significant overtures to say ‘let’s have some dialogue,’” he said.

Daly remains opposed to same-sex marriage, but he has called for more civil dialogue between the Christian community and the LGBT community and is expected to talk Friday about working together.

“We are very quick to judge those outside the church,” Daly told the Herald. “I get that criticism. For me it's not changing the principles. It is how do we apply a more gracious standard toward the world and more rigid standard for ourselves.”

But gay-rights activists continue to see the positions Daly avows as offensive.

“I haven’t seen anything that is actually evolution beyond softer rhetoric supporting the same bad policies,” said Nadine Smith, director of Equality Florida.

Broward has one of the more visible politically active gay communities in Florida, and local activists say they want to hear more than toned-down rhetoric from Daly.

“If he is prepared to repudiate or reverse his positions, this would be the time to do it,” said Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Dean Trantalis, the city’s first openly gay commissioner. “He is coming to our city. This is our home. We don’t need to have messages of hate brought here.”

Focus on the Family’s website offers tips on “leaving homosexuality,” including the “right to counseling for unwanted same-sex attractions” and how parents can respond to “gender-confusing messages in schools.”

The Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, calls the organization “one of the most well funded anti-LGBTQ organizations in America” and says it has funded several candidates who have opposed gay rights.

Decades ago, Seiler, a Catholic and married father of four, was seen by the gay community as ahead of the curve. He supported domestic-partner benefits for city employees while he was an elected official in Wilton Manors, one of the earliest cities to do so in Florida. But as public opinion shifted in favor of same-sex marriage, the Fort Lauderdale mayor tried to stay on the sidelines telling the Herald in 2013 that he had no position on the issue but supported civil unions and domestic partner benefits for city employees. In 2014, he voted against a city resolution in support of same-sex marriage, but when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld marriage in 2015, Seiler signed a city proclamation celebrating the decision.

Same-sex marriage has been the most prominent topic in which Seiler has struggled to find his voice in explaining his positions, and at times has expressed irritation when asked about it.  

But if Seiler decides to run, he may have the Democratic field all to himself: as of Thursday, the state Division of Elections website did not list any attorney general candidates from any party.

If Seiler runs and faces no strong Democrats, his statements on same-sex marriage and participation in the breakfast likely won’t matter. But a competitive Democrat could hammer Seiler on the topic and appeal to LGBTQ residents, a reliable Democratic voting bloc.

Seiler has said in the past year that this would be the time for him to run statewide, since all four of his children are grown. However, some Democrats privately wonder if he has the fire in the belly for a statewide partisan race -- and whether he can appeal broadly to Democrats when he hasn’t been particularly active in party politics.

The theme of Friday’s breakfast: “together.”

 

Dolly T Rump dumps the Broward GOP

@amysherman1

Dolly T Rump, perhaps Broward's most famous Donald Trump fan, has dumped the Broward GOP.

Rump resigned from the Broward Republican Executive Committee board Friday night after she was elected in December as secretary. She says that the infighting among the board has nothing to do with Trump or any politician, candidate or ideology and is simply, well, infighting among board factions. (Here are previous reports from the Sun Sentinel and browardbeat.com.)

Rump told Naked Politics she will remain active in Republican politics but not with BREC, the county's official GOP group. BREC, which only has about 250 members, is far less influential than it was many years ago. 

Broward has about 257,000 registered Republicans so their vote can matter in statewide elections, but the group has suffered from spats that spill into headlines and frequent board turnover.  

The biggest headlines occurred in April 2016 when BREC chair Bob Sutton  told a reporter “I think when Donald Trump debates Hillary Clinton she’s going to go down like Monica Lewinsky.” He later apologized.

Sutton couldn't be reached Monday but told the Sentinel: 

 

Here is Rump's email she sent to BREC members Friday:

To my friends and colleagues in the Broward Republican Executive Committee,

Despite my best efforts to move BREC forward and to make good on the platform I was elected on, I have found it impossible to make progress in the current leadership environment. We do not operate as a cohesive board; there is major dysfunction, division, and disorder between officers.  In addition, our chairman has cancelled Board meetings, silencing the opinions of other elected board members. 

I have not been able to adequately address structural problems and issues in an effective way due to roadblocks from our own leadership. I, along with other board members, have made sincere attempts to address major issues, namely with the botched membership list and the website confusion. Any and all attempts I have made to better BREC are met with hostility or go completely ignored.

And as most of you know, my specialty and expertise is in event coordinating. However, to date, I have not been consulted on any Lincoln Day activities whatsoever. 

The BREC Treasury is at an all-time low, and instead of focusing on important things like raising money and Lincoln Day, time is spent on filing false police reports and making false and disgusting accusations against myself, my family and fellow BREC Board members. I will not continue to subject myself and my family to these continued vile attacks and slanderous accusations.

I have a deep unbending loyalty to Conservative and Republican Causes; however, it has become completely clear to me that I am surrounded by people who do not share my same goals and values.  

Since I am unable to be effective on this board, I have decided to work elsewhere on the causes that I hold dear. I am going to move to other venues where I can be appreciated and respected for what I can bring to the table.

To those of you who voted for me as BREC Secretary, I will always be grateful.  However, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of my resignation as BREC Secretary effective immediately.

All the best and I remain as always, your friend.

Dolly T. Rump

 

Rump's resignation letter mentions that someone from BREC filed a "false police report" involving another member -- a reference to Richard DeNapoli, a former BREC chair. The Broward Sheriff's Office was summoned on March 8 to a GOP meeting at Lauderdale Beach but took no action, DeNapoli said. DeNapoli sent Naked Politics a copy of the BSO information document which showed that it resulted in no “written report” and that DeNapoli and a BREC member “agreed to disagree w out offending each other.”

 

"Cleary, this is a 'witch hunt' orchestrated to intimidate, harass and defame me, and you as BREC members need to be aware of this," DeNapoli wrote in an email to BREC members April 22. 

Debbie Wasserman Schultz could propose gun legislation after airport shooting

@amysherman1

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz held a roundtable Friday to discuss security at the Fort Lauderdale airport where a mass shooting occurred in January.

Wasserman Schultz met with federal, state and local law enforcement and government officials to discuss ways to improve security, mass shooting response and training — the second such roundtable the Weston Democrat has held. Most of the meeting held at Wasserman Schultz’s Sunrise office was in private. The media was allowed to ask questions to some of the participants after it ended.

Wasserman Schultz is considering proposing legislation related to rules about passengers transporting firearms. But any proposals about firearm restrictions could be dead on arrival in a Republican-led Congress.

Keep reading here.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson visits a Broward Habitat for Humanity site

@amysherman1

President Donald Trump’s housing chief, Ben Carson, visited the future site of a Habitat for Humanity site in Broward County on Friday — as the administration is proposing to slashing billions for affordable housing.

Housing experts say the cuts, should they occur, will hurt South Florida, one of the most unaffordable metro areas in the nation.

Speaking at the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Pompano Beach, Carson praised the Habitat development that will include 77 homes.

“This project right here is one of the things that works because of public-private partnerships and how incredible they are at leveraging dollars,” he told the audience of local government officials and housing activists. “That’s how we become a success as a nation. The government can’t do everything, but the government can do things to get things started and then the private sector and faith community comes in and leverages that.”

Carson was confirmed by the Senate earlier this month as the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Carson’s visit comes as Trump has proposed slashing about $6 billion from HUD, a cut of about 13 percent. That includes eliminating funding for programs that help people buy or rent homes. Among them: Community Development Block Grant and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.

Keep reading here about Carson and the "Rick Case Habitat Community" named for the automotive dealership owner who gave $500,000 for the project.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson to visit Broward while housing activists decry slated HUD cuts

@amysherman1

President Donald Trump's housing chief comes to Broward today to promote a future affordable housing development while Trump has proposed slashing $6 billion from housing programs.

Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development, will speak at the Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Pompano Beach. The church is located near a future 77-home Habitat for Humanity development, the largest Habitat project ever in Broward.

Trump's budget proposal calls for getting rid of decades-long housing programs, including Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Program. Those cuts would be "devastating" to low- and moderate-income families in Broward, said the county's housing chief Ralph Stone.

"The Broward metro area is one of the least affordable housing markets in the nation," Stone told the Herald in a statement. "Only one in five moderate and below income families can afford to buy the median priced home. Also Broward is one of the worst markets for affordable and avaiabjr rental units. There is a defiency of over 70,000 low income rental units." 

The national Habitat for Humanity program sent the Miami Herald a statement criticizing the proposed cut:

"Federal housing programs currently reach about 1 in 4 income eligible households. With the proposed budget, many fewer would receive assistance, leading to even more families to choose paying housing costs over purchasing food, health care, and meeting other basic needs. ... Eliminating or reducing funding for these housing programs would exacerbate local housing shortages and increase the burden of housing costs on families in need of housing stability." 

South Florida lags behind other major metro areas in wages, making affordable housing out of reach to many residents.

See Carson's Truth-O-Meter record from PolitiFact.

 

Gov. Rick Scott visits Jewish school in Broward that faced bomb threats

@amysherman1

Gov. Rick Scott visited a Jewish school in Broward County Friday morning that faced bomb threats twice earlier this year.

Scott toured the David Posnack school and neighboring Jewish Community Center in Davie.

"We gave him a tour of the campus and we were talking about the most recent bomb threats around the country at all of the different sites in the state of Florida and how we can deal with it," JCC director Scott Ehrlich said.

The governor didn't offer any new assistance in response to the bomb threats but Ehrlich said he expressed that Florida won't tolerate discrimination against any group including Jews.

Scott requested to visit the campus -- the event was organized by the Jewish Federation of Broward County, Ehrlich said.

Scott had previously visited the center in 2016 for a ceremonial bill signing related to a memorial in Tallahassee for Holocaust survivors. For that visit, Scott was accompanied by Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera shortly after he had a quickie Bar Mitzvah in Israel.

The Posnack school faced bomb threats Feb. 27 and March 7 and is one of the several Jewish institutions in South Florida that have faced bomb threats this year. So far in 2017, there have been 165 bomb threats to Jewish institutions in 38 states and three Canadian provinces, according to data compiled by the Anti-Defamation League through March 15.

Scott's press office did not respond to an email seeking comment. Scott's daily schedule did not reflect any additional events in Broward County.

Broward Commission delays action on resolution related to Trump sanctuary order

@amysherman1

Fearing that President Donald Trump will cut off funding to Broward, the county commission considered a resolution Tuesday arguing that it is in compliance with federal law and isn't a so-called sanctuary county for undocumented immigrants.

The commission tabled the vote after immigrant and Democratic activists called for its defeat and commissioners couldn't agree on the wording or whether such a resolution is necessary.

The resolution proposed by Mayor Barbara Sharief, a Democrat, stated that the county has never labeled itself a "sanctuary." The resolution called for the county attorney to take legal action if the county is denied federal funds based on immigration policies. Some commissioners argued that the resolution is unnecessary since the county attorney already has the power to defend the county if necessary. The commission didn't set a future date to revisit the resolution.

Trump issued an executive order in January directing the Attorney General's office and the Department of Homeland Security to cut off grant funding from local jurisdictions that shield undocumented immigrants from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. Broward expects to get funds this year through the U.S. Department of Justice funneled through the state. The grant criteria states that the county must prove it complies with Section 1373 of federal law which essentially bans governments from restricting federal access to information about a person's immigration status. Broward officials argue that the county already complies with the law.

There is no definition in federal law of sanctuary cities or counties which has left some communities scrambling to avert any such label. The Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors restricting immigration laws, named six counties in Florida including Broward that have policies “limiting cooperation with ICE specifically by placing conditions on honoring immigration detainers.” (Miami-Dade County was previously on that list until the county changed its policy in response to Trump.)

Broward County never declared itself a sanctuary county but landed on that list because the Broward Sheriff's Office issued a policy in 2014 stating that personnel would only honor ICE detainers when they are accompanied by a warrant. That policy was issued following federal court rulings.

Broward officials are lobbying against a Florida house bill which passed a committee March 13 seeks to crack down on jurisdictions that pass such sanctuary policies. 

“Broward County has never adopted any law, any regulation, any practice, any custom — at all — limiting our cooperation with ICE officials, the federal government or anything having to do with enforcing federal policy,” said Edward Labrador, the county's intergovernmental affairs director, in Tallahassee Monday. 

In February, the Broward County Commission passed a resolution honoring diversity without mentioning sanctuary cities or counties. Some local governments in South Florida have passed or proposed resolutions declaring their facilities "safe zones" for undocumented immigrants.

 

Miramar mayor proposes 'safe zone' policy in response to Trump immigration enforcement

@amysherman1

Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam has proposed that the city create a "safe zone" for undocumented immigrants in response to President Donald Trump's immigration ban.

Messam brought up his proposal during a March 8 commission meeting to require federal immigration agents to have a warrant to enter city-owned facilities and voluntary pre-kindergarten schools for immigration enforcement purposes.

"We want to make sure that our parents at least, regardless of their immigration status, that is one less fear that they have -- in regards to the prospect of their child being disrupted due to what we have seen going on across the country," Messam said at the meeting.

The commission didn't vote on his proposal but no one objected to Messam's request for city attorneys to draft the resolution. It wasn't clear when the commission will vote on the resolution but the next meeting is March 29.

The city resolution follows a vote earlier this week by the Broward school board to become a safe zone for immigrant students and their parents and the Miami-Dade school board plans to vote on a similar resolution March 15. Broward County approved a resolution showing support for diversity without mentioning immigration enforcement or creating any sanctuary policy. 

Such safe zone policies being pursued by Broward politicians, many of them Democrats, are in response to immigration enforcement actions and promises by Trump. 

The safe zone policies may not lead to any practical changes for federal officials because many such facilities aren't known for immigration raids -- U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement already has policies that generally protect school sites from enforcement actions. But the policies allow politicians to go on record opposing Trump's immigration plans.

Messam, the son of Jamaican immigrants, was elected in 2015 as mayor in Miramar, a city where about 44 percent of the population is foreign born. A Democrat, Messam was a surrogate to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign in Florida and South Carolina.

Photo by Gregory F. Reed of former President Bill Clinton, center, and Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam, right, attending a September meeting of faith and community leaders at the Miramar Cultural Center and a tour of city hall.

Broward schools won't let ICE agents in without a warrant

 

via @KyraGurney

Broward County schools will become a safe zone of sorts for immigrant students and their families under a resolution passed on Tuesday by the school board.

In what supporters called a first-of-its kind action in Florida, the School Board of Broward County took several steps intended to protect the children of undocumented immigrants who face increasing fears of deportation under more aggressive immigration enforcement policies implemented by the Trump administration.

Immigrant families “wanted to know that we had their backs, and now with this resolution we have their backs,” said Robin Bartleman, the school board member who proposed the measure. “We weren’t afraid to stand up and say we’re going to protect our children.”

The resolution came in response to concerns voiced by residents, who told board members that many immigrants have started taking extra precautions to get children to school. Some now walk children to school, instead of driving, to avoid any infractions that could get them pulled over and deported. Others have begun sending their children to school with copies of immigration paperwork tucked in backpacks.

The resolution states that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents cannot enter schools or the sites of school-related activities like sports games and field trips without a warrant, and that any requests to access a school or get information about a student will be directed to the school district attorney’s office.

More here.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Fernandez, SEIU Florida

Jewish day school in Davie hit by another anonymous phone threat

via @harrisalexc

A Davie Jewish Day School was evacuated for two hours Tuesday after a phone threat against the school, the latest in a nationwide series of anonymous telephoned threats to Jewish schools and community centers this year.

The David Posnack Jewish Day School was also evacuated for a bogus bomb threat on Feb. 27, part of a fifth wave of such threats across the country in two months. The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI announced a civil-rights investigation into the threats, but declined to discuss whether they were coordinated.

Davie police, who characterized it as a bomb threat, gave the all clear around noon.

The JCC Association of North America sent out a written statement confirming multiple community centers were threatened with “either emailed or phoned-in bomb threats overnight and this morning.”

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported community centers were threatened in Milwaukee, Maryland, Oregon, New York, Alabama, Toronto and Ontario. Seven Anti-Defamation Leagues offices also received threats, according to JTA.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio sent a letter to the administration asking for “swift action” to deter the anonymous phone threats. It was co-signed by every senator and sent to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey.

“We are concerned that the number of incidents is accelerating and failure to address and deter these threats will place innocent people at risk and threaten the financial viability of JCCs, many of which are institutions in their communities. Your Departments can provide crucial assistance by helping JCCs, Jewish Day Schools and Synagogues improve their physical security, deterring threats from being made, and investigating and prosecuting those making these threats or who may seek to act on these threats on the future,” the senators wrote.

--ALEX HARRIS

Photo credit: Wilfredo Lee, Associated Press