1639-31 Politics FRI NOV 01 1985 ED: FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 24 . 46" MEDIUM
ILLUST: photo: Alex DAOUD, ,Malcolm FROMBERG, Raphael HERMAN,
Mel MENDELSON
SOURCE: CRAIG GILBERT Herald Staff Writer
DATELINE:
MEMO: CAMPAIGN ' 85; MIAMI BEACH MAYOR CANDIDATES
BEACH SEES BITTER BRAWL FOR MAYOR
CAMPAIGN' S BIG ISSUE: IS CITY RECOVERING OR STILL ON DECLINE?
Miami Beach voters, used to a dogfight, have gotten something more this
fall: a once-in-a-decade mayoral brawl between bitter foes and perfect
opposites.
"I think it ' s a choice of substance, in my case, and form in his case, "
said Malcolm Fromberg, the reserved, businesslike mayor who is trying to
convince voters that this long-stagnant island city is on the road to
recovery.
"Mr. Fromberg' s in an ivory tower, " said Commissioner Alex Daoud, the
self-proclaimed populist and consummate hand-shaker who' s telling tales of
decline and vowing to clean house.
Rounding out the 1985 mayoral field are Mel Mendelson, meatpacker and
ex-commissioner, and Raphael Herman, former furrier and Israeli commando. Both
lack the money and organizational support of their better known rivals.
Beach voters pick a mayor and six commissioners Tuesday. The city' s
biennial campaign has come with usual nastiness: short-lived state attorney' s
investigations, a slander suit and the Hitler mustaches that keep popping up
on the mayor ' s campaign posters.
The Daoud-Fromberg showdown has created such feverish expectations that
some people are amazed it hasn' t been dirtier. Commissioner Bruce Singer
thinks both sides are afraid to escalate hostilities.
"Everybody knows what everybody' s got on everybody else. It ' s like
nuclear warfare, " Singer said.
"It hasn't been very dirty. The issues are very clear. You either have
the perception that the city is doing wonderfully, as portrayed by Malcolm, or
has real problems, as portrayed by Alex, " said Gerald Schwartz, Daoud' s public
relations man and Beach political broker.
"At street level it ' s as nasty as ever, " said Scott Ross, who does
Fromberg' s publicity. "The whispering, the smears on the streets, the ripping
out of campaign posters, the fliers that are reproduced with false charges. "
Ross and Schwartz have clashed repeatedly, most recently in a duel of
Claude Pepper ads. The popular congressman won't make a mayoral endorsement,
but Ross ran a Fromberg ad that rather looked like one. It featured an excerpt
from a laudatory letter Pepper wrote to Fromberg.
Schwartz, in a hurry to counter it, ran a similar Daoud ad, only his
Pepper quote wasn't a quote. It was a paraphrase of Pepper . . . written by
Schwartz .
Fromberg ' s people have also complained about the Hitler mustaches that
appear regularly on the mayor ' s bus shelter posters. Even before they could
protest, Schwartz called The Herald to deny he did it.
The nastiness has extended to the commission races, where 15 candidates
are fighting for six two-year seats on the city' s governing board. In one
race, Mildred Falk accused incumbent William Shockett of violating the open
meetings law. When the state attorney' s office cleared Shockett, he sued Falk
for slander.
Two other races have been particularly heated: incumbent Bruce Singer
against Larry Napp and Anselm Vigil, and incumbent Stanley Arkin against
Rochelle Malek and Simon Wikler. Singer, Arkin, and Fromberg have all been
assailed for their upbeat outlook on the city and their support of the city
administration. They have responded by taking bus loads of voters on tours to
show off new projects.
Like past Beach campaigns, this one has been waged through newspaper
ads, through the city' s countless civic groups and senior citizens clubs, and
through a grueling circuit of evening debates.
The debates have everyone grumbling. No matter where they' re held, they
attract the same crowd of partisans and political junkies -- and hardly any
uncommitted voters .
They also get rowdy. At Beach High Wednesday, Herman, an Israeli, kept
pronouncing Daoud' s name "Dah-OOD" instead of "Dowd. " The same thing happened
to Daoud six years ago, when an opponent wanted to remind voters in this
heavily Jewish city that Daoud' s background is part Lebanese.
The crowd started booing.
"You shut up over there! " Herman said. "He' s fooling all of you. He' s
brainwashing your brains! "
It was all broadcast live over WINZ radio.
Things got even testier afterward in the high school parking lot, where
Schwartz and Singer got into a loud argument: Singer called Schwartz a liar,
and the PR man told the commissioner he was "the lowest scum that ever lived
in Miami Beach! "
While Daoud, 42 , is the dean of the commission with six years in office,
he has run an anti-City Hall campaign, vowing to fire City Manager Rob
Parkins. Fromberg, 50, a two-year mayor and a two-year commissioner before
that, is a friend and supporter of Parkins.
Daoud' s campaign, which had raised $94 ,000 by Oct. 18, has featured
heavy union support. Fromberg' s, which had raised $111, 000, has been helped by
developers and real estate investors.
Fromberg is expected to do better in mid-Beach and middle and upper
income neighborhoods, while Daoud' s strength is among the poorer and older
voters of South Beach.
The Beach electorate, which numbers 42 , 809, is 15 percent Hispanic, and
58 percent of them are 65 or older. It is traditionally fickle. It has been 12
years since it gave a mayor two terms in a row.
In the end, say both camps, the election may hinge on the "tale of two
cities" issue: whether the voters believe the Beach is recovering, as Fromberg
says, or still declining, as Daoud says.
For an office that is part ceremonial, and carries but one vote on a
seven-member commission, they both like to think the stakes are high in this
election. How high?
"The economic revitalization of the city, " Fromberg says.
"The future of Miami Beach, " Daoud says.
ADDED TERMS : profile mb campaign mayor candidate
END OF DOCUMENT.