has the goods today on two actions that Democratic attorney general candidate Dave Aronberg has employed recently that is turning a few neutral Florida Democrats off the sidelines and into the arms of Aronberg's opponent, Miami Beach state Senator Dan Gelber.
This site documented two weeks ago the back and forth between the two candidates regarding Gelber's status with his longtime employer, the law firm of Akerman Senterfitt, which complicated matters for the former House Minority Leader when they decided to pick up disgraced British oil giant BP for claims in Florida. He announced he was quitting the firm, though he said it would take him a few weeks to do so to inform his clients.
Though Gelber has (we believe) now officially departed from his $225,000 job and is essentially unemployed as he goes into the last six weeks of the primary, Aronberg has exploited the BP connection, by now mailing out to Democratic voters a flier with a picture of an oily bird to attack Gelber (see above).
Bender also reports that Aronberg has recently began using the name of a defunct statewide Democratic group — the Florida Mainstream Democrats — to help raise money for his campaign.
The group originally was created in 2004 by 18 state lawmakers, including Aronberg, to attract conservative voters to the party and support pro-business, moderate candidates outside the traditionally liberal enclaves in South Florida. The group held annual conferences in Orlando and challenged, unsuccessfully, a loophole in Florida that lets a political party keep its primary closed if there is a write-in candidate in the race.
This article appears in Jul 8-14, 2010.