Upstart takes on condo commandos

A 40-year-old lawyer aims to seize control of Broward's Democratic ground troops from aging condo dwellers.

By ALICIA CALDWELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

Broward County's condo commandos are a legendary force in Florida politics: They're courted and counted upon to deliver a big Democratic vote on Election Day.

But some discord has erupted between the old guard -- many of them 60 plus -- and a challenger who is young enough to be their son.

The squabble centers on who will lead the Council of Presidents, the umbrella group for the county's 44 Democratic clubs.

The upstart, 40-year-old president of the Broward Young Democrats club is challenging the traditional path to power, alienating the older activists. His opponent is 80 years old.

"He's running wild," said Bea Schwartz, the 75-year-old current president of the group, likening the antics of Randy Fleischer to those of an unruly child. "I'd like to take him across my knee and spank him."

Fleischer, an anti-discrimination lawyer, talks about the new wave in Democratic politics and how important it is to evolve with the changing demographics of the county.

"It's the world that's here," Fleischer said. "If they don't deal with the new wave, they're going to be buried by the new wave."

At issue is the stability of the organization and its ability to do what it always has done so well: bring out voters in reliable droves on Election Day.

Those at ground zero are unconcerned.

"By Labor Day, I am confident that everybody will be focused on the election, and the malaise that may exist will disappear," said Mitch Ceasar, Broward's Democratic leader.

That would be a good thing for Democrats.

In the 1996 presidential election, Broward delivered 321,000 votes for the Bill Clinton/Al Gore ticket -- the largest chunk of votes of any county in Florida.

Fleischer says the importance of Broward and Florida in the upcoming presidential election is the very reason he has taken on the old guard for control.

The group, he said, needs to do more to reach out to younger Democrats who live in single-family homes, as opposed to counting upon the reliable votes of retired condo dwellers, whose numbers are diminishing.

He also would like to see better organization. In one episode especially irritating to the current leadership, he waved a copy of a book of parliamentary rules at a meeting, telling the current club presidents they didn't know how to run things.

Schwartz and others were offended, to say the least.

"I don't really know where this kid is coming from," Schwartz said. "He's young, he's good, but he is foaming at the mouth."

Outside the tight circle of Broward's Democratic ground troops, the skirmish is seen as predictable, local fussing.

"He's trying to create an issue," said U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, a Democrat whose district includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

However, Schwartz and the old guard may get the last laugh.

She set the election for the chair of the Council of Presidents for July 15 -- a day that Fleischer is scheduled to be out of town conducting a Democratic leadership seminar.

Mae Schreiber, the 80-year-old heir apparent to the chair, said it was too bad that Fleischer had a conflict.

"Meetings cannot be arbitrarily postponed if one person cannot make a meeting," she said. "That's my humble opinion."

The timing, Fleischer said, was interesting.

"I'll tell you that I'm not happy about that news," he said, adding he would figure out some way to get around Schwartz's apparent roadblock to his presidency. "I'm not some young whippersnapper she's going to take over her knee."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.