Weston's vote ignored ethnic lines
www.sun-sentinel.com By Joe Kollin Staff Writer Posted March 16 2003
WESTON · With no controversies to debate, the most divisive issue in Tuesday's city election was the ethnic background of the candidates.
But those candidates appealing to Weston's large Hispanic population failed to win office.
"The campaigns trying to divide the city didn't work," Mayor Eric Hersh said. "Quite frankly, all that voters were looking at was the people who had the most to offer and they didn't vote along ethnic lines, and never have."
Daniel J. Stermer, who won 60 percent of the vote in his three-man race for the City Commission's Seat 3 -- which represents the north-central area of Weston -- agreed.
"My view is that the residents of our city consider not where you're from, but who you are," he said.
But Murray Chermak, who won Seat 4, which serves the Bonaventure area, said the candidates seeking the Hispanic vote influenced the outcome because "from whatever quarter, they pulled votes."
Two candidates, Don Gonzalez running for Seat 3, and Nino DiLoreto, who sought Seat 4, emphasized their Hispanic roots during the campaign. Gonzalez came in third in his three-man race, while DiLoreto came in third in his four-man race.
"I guess the Hispanic vote didn't materialize," said DiLoreto, whose business interests, including a cable television program he produces, target Hispanic audiences.
DiLoreto, who was born in Italy and raised in Venezuela, said he will turn his energies toward showing immigrants the importance of voting.
"They need to participate fully in the American system, which includes voting, which is the essence of the American system," he said. "I'll meet with Hispanics and educate them."
No breakdown of voting by ethnic group is available. Current figures show only that most voters stayed away from the polls, with 4,168 of the city's 29,685 registered voters, or 14 percent, bothering to vote.
The 2000 federal census showed Weston with a higher proportion of Hispanic residents than any other city in Broward County -- 30.2 percent, a proportion thought to be even higher today.
One resident of Hispanic descent, New Jersey-born Barbara Herrera-Hill, serves on the five-member commission. She was not up for re-election.
The winners in each of the two races also raised the most money.
In the Seat 3 contest, Stermer's $55,614 was no match for Gonzalez's $14,525 or James D. "Jim" Norton's $8,002.
"Quite obviously his money and the amount of personal support he had was tremendous and was more than I could overcome," said Norton, who also lost to Stermer in September when the two fought to fill the term of Alexander "Sandy" Halperin, who resigned from office.
In the race for the Bonaventure seat, Chermak's $37,909 overwhelmed incumbent Edwin Jacobson's $29,148; DiLoreto's $1,350; and Joseph Preite's $7,165.
Jacobson, who was elected in 1997 to the first City Commission after Weston was incorporated in 1996 and was re-elected in 1999, said his defeat doesn't mean he will quit working to serve the city.
"We wish Mr. Chermak good luck and we'll be around," he said.
Chermak was Jacobson's campaign manager in his first two elections, but the two drifted apart.
Hersh and City Manager John Flint say the election wouldn't have gone smoothly had the city not helped Broward County Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant. The city provided and trained 23 people to serve as voting technicians in the city's 19 precincts and had more City Hall workers manning a phone bank to make sure voting went smoothly. Hersh and Flint said the city crews performed "flawlessly."
The only problem was the brief loss of electricity in Bonaventure, but the voting machines have battery backup and voting went on, the officials said.
"The city did a lot more work than it should have done for an election and, in some instances, taxpayers are actually paying twice for having Weston step in to ensure we had a fair and accurate election," Flint said.
The extra cost to taxpayers won't be known for a while but is expected to be minimal. Two private companies that have contracts to provide services to the city, Calvin Giordano & Associates and Severn Trent Environmental Services, provided the personnel, the officials said.
"We'll work out the cost later, that's the type of relationship we have with our providers," Flint said.
How much the city pays the supervisor's office isn't known, either. Hersh said the city had always paid the supervisor's office $250 per precinct, but Oliphant recently said she wants $500.
"We haven't been given any idea what she will bill us for," Hersh said.
Joe Kollin can be reached at jkollin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7913.