1639-35 Politics WED NOV 20 1991 ED: FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 28.32" LONG
ILLUST: photo: Susan GOTTLIEB, David PEARLSON, Judy Gelber
congratulates father Seymour GELBER
SOURCE: BONNIE WESTON Herald Staff Writer
DATELINE:
MEMO: see end of text for RESULTS
GELBER NEW
BEACH MAYOR
BY LANDSLIDE
Seymour Gelber was elected mayor of Miami Beach in a landslide Tuesday,
placing the retired judge at the head of a City Commission dominated by
reform-minded newcomers .
After a bruising, mudslinging campaign, the costliest in Miami Beach
history, voters scorned the big-money appeal of former state legislator Barry
Kutun. He spent more than twice as much as Gelber, but Gelber, won nearly two-
thirds of the vote.
Conceding defeat, Kutun acknowledged the campaign grew vicious.
"People absolutely got mad at us, " Kutun, 50 , said. "The people in this
city didn' t trust Barry Kutun. You 've got to have that trust to get elected. "
Gelber, 72 , who campaigned on the slogan "Take Back City Hall, " called
the results gratifying. "There is a mandate for change, " he said. f
Candidates Susan Gottlieb and David Pearlson were also big winners in
Tuesday' s runoff, securing four-year seats on the City Commission by wide
margins. Five of seven commissioners will be newcomers.
Thirty-nine percent of voters went to the polls in Tuesday' s runoff. The
election capped a 1991 political season that featured a record 27 candidates,
nearly all of them courting ascendant voting blocs of gay people and
Hispanics.
Many candidates began their campaigns calling for a new era of well-
mannered, issue-oriented politics on the Beach.
The candidates denounced years of skulduggery that culminated in a
federal criminal indictment last month of Mayor Alex Daoud, accused of selling
votes and swapping official favors for cash.
Despite the promises of a clean campaign, acrimony tainted every race in
the end.
Most striking was Kutun ' s part in an early morning scuffle between rival
campaign workers outside the city' s main library. Kutun, who once gave up a
seat in the Florida House to run for governor, barged into a dispute between
his sister and a Gelber supporter. He had a .22-caliber pistol tucked into
his waistband.
Police officers persuaded Kutun to turn over the gun, but only after he
shoved and threatened the Gelber supporter.
That wasn' t the only election-day stunt to grab voters ' attention. Many
people complained of receiving computer wake-up calls between 3 and 4 a.m. ,
reminding them to vote for Gelber.
Gelber, who got one call himself, said it was obvious the calls were
meant to annoy voters, and swore he didn' t order them. He said he suspected
the Kutun camp of a dirty trick. Kutun strategist Bob Goodman said his
candidate had no part, either.
Since the Nov. 5 primary, Beach residents have been hit with a barrage
of fliers, mailers and ads, some sanctioned by the candidates, others free-
lanced by eager supporters.
In the mayoral race, Kutun was by far the most aggressive candidate,
spending tens of thousands over the last two weeks in an effort to overcome
Gelber' s Nov. 5 lead. Kutun tarred the judge as weak on crime, and accused him
of cheating taxpayers by collecting a pension for his 15 years of service as a
juvenile court judge.
By Monday night, Kutun' s own strategist offered Gelber a public apology
at a campaign forum.
"I haven' t ever seen a campaign so mean-spirited. There ' s been enough
acrimony and bitterness on both sides to go around, " Goodman said later. "I
hope people can sit down, shake hands, and do what ' s good for the community. "
The election was a milestone in several ways:
* Four Hispanics ran for office, a city record. And while none came
close to winning, Hispanic residents and their concerns -- especially their
absence on the commission, in high- level city jobs and on important city
boards -- became a campaign issue, with virtually all candidates promising
action.
For the first time in Miami Beach, the concerns of gay residents drew
serious political attention. After a few candidates balked at filling out a
questionnaire on gay issues, a gay political group raised hefty donations,
issued endorsements and won commitments of support from many candidates.
* Gottlieb' s election put a woman on the commission for the third time
in the city' s 76-year history. She is the first woman commissioner in Miami
Beach in a decade.
Gottlieb, active in volunteer causes in the city, defeated lawyer David
Dermer. Hotelier Pearlson beat retired manufacturer Jack Hartley.
When the new commission is sworn in this afternoon, there will be only
two old-timers: Abe Resnick, starting his fourth commission term, and Martin
Shapiro, starting his second.
Daoud and Commissioners Stanley Arkin and William Shockett opted to
retire. Bruce Singer lost to Sy Eisenberg on Nov. 5 .
After today' s swearing-in, Gelber said he will be ready to make peace:
"I expect to call on Barry in a few days, sit down with him and talk
about the future of the city. "
Pearlson Gottlieb
* : WINNER
MAYOR
36 OF 36 PRECINCTS : 100%
Gelber 8, 180 63%
Kutun 4 , 883 37%
COMMISSIONER GROUP 4
36 OF 36 PRECINCTS : 100%
Hartley 5, 279 44%
* Pearlson 6, 658 56%
COMMISSIONER GROUP 5
36 OF 36 PRECINCTS : 100%
Dermer 5,229 42%
* Gottlieb 7 , 344 58%
ADDED TERMS: mb election result mayor commission
END OF DOCUMENT.