1639-36 Politics WED NOV 20 1991 ED: FINAL
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: lA LENGTH: 28 . 70" LONG
ILLUST: photo: Jesus PORVEN, Barry KUTUN
SOURCE: BONNIE WESTON Herald Staff Writer
DATELINE:
MEMO:
CANDIDATE PACKS GUN IN POLL SPAT
Miami Beach' s mayoral race reached a Wild West climax on Election Day
Tuesday when pistol-packing candidate Barry Kutun barged past police to shove
and threaten a rival campaign worker.
Kutun -- a self-styled law-and-order candidate with billboards that read
"Feel Safe Again: Elect Kutun for Mayor" -- had his gun confiscated by police.
Kutun, once a high-ranking state legislator and candidate for Florida
governor, heard that his little sister had been roughed up by the rival
worker. He pulled up in his car, stuffed a .22-caliber Beretta into his
waistband and accosted the worker.
It started just before 8 a.m. , as residents filed in to vote at the
city' s main library on Collins Avenue.
Kutun wasn' t around. Lois Kutun, the sister, noticed that supporters of
Kutun rival Seymour Gelber were passing out fliers near the polling booth. The
fliers, in Spanish, called her brother a liar.
According to police and witnesses, Lois Kutun offered a Gelber supporter
$20 for his stack of fliers, presumably to keep them out of voters ' hands.
" ' Hello, sweetheart, " ' Jesus Porven recalls the woman saying as she
held out a bill . Porven said no.
Witnesses said Lois Kutun tried to grab the fliers. Porven grabbed back.
About a half-dozen campaign workers from both mayoral camps joined in.
Porven ended up with his hands scratched and dripping blood. Lois Kutun
got punched in the mouth. Barry Kutun said Porven and a woman slugged his
sister. Porven denies it.
Lois Kutun won the tug-of-war, and ran off to stash the fliers in her
car. Then she called her brother.
"She was crying and said she just got beat up by two Gelber workers, "
Kutun said as he campaigned Tuesday afternoon outside a church. "I 'm not going
to let anybody beat my sister in the face. I jumped in my car. I do carry a
gun in the glove compartment. I put it in a holster in my belt.
"When I went over, I didn' t know what I was going to find. "
By the time Kutun arrived, police were there, too. The brawl was over,
although poll workers were still shouting at each other.
Kutun conferred with his sister, then charged over to Porven, who was
waving his bloodied hand at people driving by, telling them Kutun' s workers
had beat him up.
Kutun threatened Porven, although the police report doesn' t specify what
he said. That ' s when the cops spotted the small, semiautomatic pistol tucked
in the candidate ' s waistband. Kutun has a state license to carry a weapon.
They asked him to leave the older man alone. Kutun first backed off,
but the police report says he then shoved past the officers, renewing his
threats and pushing Porven in the chest.
The officers persuaded Kutun to walk back to his car. They asked for the
Beretta. He refused to hand it over and locked it inside his car, demanding to
know what law gave them the right to take it.
Kutun got on his portable phone. According to the police report, the
candidate ' s half of the conversation went like this : "The f police are
siding with my opponent again. Yeah, they beat up my sister and now they want
to arrest me. I had my gun on the outside. The goddamn police just want to
make it hard on me. "
Kutun, who later declined to identify the party on the other end of the
line, handed over the gun, ammunition and holster to police. They said he can
have it all back today.
No charges were filed. Police spokesman Tom Hoolahan said police have
authority to confiscate weapons in any situation where they fear violence.
Word of the fracas quickly spread all over the Beach, leaving voters
bemused. "It ' s kind of wild, " said Marvin Green, voting at Bayshore Golf
Course. "What was he thinking?"
Herald Staff Writer Aaron S. Rubin contributed to this report.
ADDED TERMS: mb electon result kutun weapo
END OF DOCUMENT.