1639-27 Politics SAT JUN 22 1985 ED: WEEKENDER
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 12A LENGTH: 18 . 93" MEDIUM
ILLUST:
SOURCE: HOWARD KLEINBERG Editor
DATELINE:
MEMO:
BEACH POLITICS A GAME OF GETTING EVEN
Gerald Schwartz, the public relations man who excels at getting people
elected to judgeships and has been given credit -- or blame -- for being a
power broker in Miami Beach politics, is saying Miami Beach Mayor Malcolm
Fromberg will withdraw from his re-election campaign because he knows he
hasn' t a chance.
This, of course, is very self-serving on the part of Schwartz, since he
is running the campaign of one of Fromberg' s opponents, Alex Daoud.
Fromberg, when apprised of Schwartz ' prediction, said he has no plans to
bow out. He said too many good people are depending upon him, including those
now on the Miami Beach City Commission as well as professional staff and Miami
Beach citizens.
"I have worked very hard for two years at being mayor, " said Fromberg,
an attorney. "I 'm not going to walk away from it. He (Schwartz ) just likes to
shoot off his mouth. "
It is becoming obvious that the Miami Beach mayoral campaign is really
between Fromberg and Schwartz . The men clearly do not like each other.
Just last week, Fromberg canned Schwartz as Miami Beach' s hurricane
disaster guru in what could be interpreted as a get- even move for Schwartz
having put Daoud into the mayoral race. Behind that action is a statement made
last fall when Schwartz failed to get Miami Beach' s public relations job; he
got only one vote from the commission, that from Daoud.
Schwartz was particularly disturbed that Fromberg, whose campaign he
handled in 1983, did not vote for him. After the vote, Schwartz walked over to
Daoud, his lone supporter, and said: "Thank you, Mr. Mayor. "
Since then, Schwartz has been maneuvering Daoud toward the Miami Beach
mayor' s chair.
He said he ' s doing quite well at it, claimed that in all the polls he
takes in Miami Beach condominiums Daoud is the leader, Mel Mendelsohn second
and Fromberg third. That ' s why he thinks the mayor will take a walk.
Fromberg said he has taken no polls yet, but also knows this will be a
tough race. Let ' s face it, this isn' t the best of times for Miami Beach and
someone will be blamed.
Fromberg complained that Daoud goes around campaigning when he should be
in the commission chambers. Last week, said Fromberg, Daoud missed a key Miami
Beach commission meeting with an excuse that his mother was sick. Fromberg
claimed Daoud still managed, however, to get over to the county courthouse to
give the keys to the city to the Hurricane baseball team.
The mayor still smarts from the publicity he received when he
unwittingly gave the keys to the city to a former Nazi, if there can be a
former Nazi. He said Schwartz knew about the man' s background, advised Daoud
to stay away and let Fromberg walk right into it.
Meanwhile, Daoud has worked hard at winning support in Miami Beach' s
Jewish community. Although not Jewish, Daoud is a member of the American
Zionist Federation, of which Schwartz is national vice president. Daoud --
claimed Fromberg -- has shown up at Miami Beach Jewish interest events
"wearing a yarmulke more than an orthodox rabbi would wear one. "
Fromberg is a former international vice president of B' nai B'rith, a
Jewish service organization. He would have been president this year but felt
the role of mayor of Miami Beach was too demanding for him to hold both titles
and resigned his B' nai B' rith position.
Although he contended he did it from the heart, Fromberg got into Jewish
vote-seeking on June 7 when he sent a letter -- as mayor and on city of Miami
Beach stationery -- to the president of Brazil, asking that Brazil defer to
Israeli scientists in the Josef Mengele identification case.
I told Fromberg that I thought he had made a mistake, that the job of
mayor of Miami Beach had to do with municipal -- not foreign -- affairs, and
that I was consistent in my position since I also have scolded Miami city
commissioners for conducting their offices as though they were a special unit
of the State Department.
Fromberg said he sees my point but doesn' t necessarily agree with me.
My main concern is that the Miami Beach mayoral race will disintegrate
into a who-wears-the-yarmulke-more-often grudge match.
Miami Beach needs better than that.
ADDED TERMS: mb election commission mayor analysis government