Feb 11, 2009 8:09 pm US/Eastern
Voters Pick Seiler As Ft. Lauderdale's New Mayor
Jim Naugle Has Served As Ft. Lauderdale Mayor For 18 Years
Other Cities Such As Wilton Manors & Dania Beach Also Held Elections
Click Here To Check Out Results
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Ft. Lauderdale voters have elected John P. 'Jack' Seiler to become the city's next mayor.
Tuesday night, with 100% of precincts reporting from the Broward County Department of elections Seiler got 8,679 votes, (57.42%).
Here is the vote count for the other mayoral candidates:
Steve Rossi 706 votes (4.67%)
Earl Rynerson 2,261 votes (14.96%)
Dean Trantalis 3,470 votes (22.96%)
Seiler will replace outgoing mayor Jim Naugle who has held the position for 18 years. Naugle was no longer eligible for the position because of term limits.
During his campaign, Seiler promised voters that cutting the crime rate and boosting the local economy were his top priorities.
"We've got to do what we can locally to promote tourism, make sure we promote marina industry and make sure we revitalize this real estate market," said Seiler.
For too long he says the city has focused on bringing high end trade, and relying on taxpayers to carry the load. He also says cutting back the city's budget to a sustainable level will be a big challenge. Improving tourism is on his mind, and he wants to work on making areas such as Riverwalk truly pedestrian friendly.
"I think we need to focus on bringing back the lower class, the middle class; they're the ones that keep coming back," said Seiler.
Naugle, who has been credited with revitalizing the Las Olas and Riverwalk areas, has come under fire in recent years by the gay community for his stance on homosexuality. Naugle outraged the gay community with a series of insensitive remarks accusing them of having widespread sex in public bathrooms and contributing to the AIDS problem. He also said at one point that "being gay was a sin."
But Sieler is not looking back on political grudges of the past. He says he is focusing on building the future together.
"I think when people are looking at me, they're gonna realize that I'm a guy that builds consensus," said Seiler. "I'm not gonna come in and say 'this is what we're doing, and you need to get on board or get out of the way.'"
In addition to the mayor's seat, every city commissioner's seat was also up for grabs. Vice Mayor Charlotte Rodstrom won a second term, but the commission seats are still up for grabs.
Commissioner Christine Teel will face former police chief Bruce Roberts in a runoff election for the District I seat, Bobby DuBose will face off against Pamela Adams for the District III seat and Romney Rogers will go up against Coleman Prewitt for District IV.
In Dania Beach, six candidates for a vacant commission seat will battle it out in a run off election and in Wilton Manors Scott Newton won a seat on the commission.
The runoff elections will be held March 10th.
Click Here more on Tuesday's elections from the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office.
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