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All eight candidates vying for the two open seats on the Lauderhill City Commission agree that taxes are too high, home ownership is too low and crime is too pervasive for the city to thrive. The question is: which two candidates can best help the city solve its considerable problems
District 2: Richard Campbell
In this race, all four candidates seem qualified and sincere, but Richard Campbell has the energy and determination to make a difference. We recommend district voters select him on Nov. 6.
Campbell, 62, is a physical therapist who’s taught Spanish and physical education in Jamaica. He’s also been a social worker in New York and Florida, and worked in Florida’s juvenile justice system.
Since settling in Lauderhill in 1994, he has served as a board member and president of his condo association. He’s also the president of the Caribbean Americas Soccer Association, an organizational feat in itself.
He’s also served on the city’s
Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and ran unsuccessfully for the City Commission in 2016. He has a reputation as an earnest and hard-working man.
Campbell is running against three candidates with strong civic records, too.
Probably his most serious rival is John Beckford, 56, who for more than six years served as chief of staff for Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, himself a former Lauderhill city commissioner. Beckford also worked briefly for Commissioner Chip LaMarca.
Previously, Beckford served as president of the Lauderhill Regional Chamber of Commerce. And he’s been a board member of the city’s Code Enforcement Board and Master Plan Task Force.
During our endorsement interview, Beckford stressed that his experience in county government would help the city. He is a strong candidate, to be sure.
Also vying for the seat are Mae Smith and Sarah McIntosh, who also have much to offer.
Smith, 52, runs a computer repair business with her husband and has a solid record of community service. She’s served as president of the St. George Civic Association, president of the St. George Birthday Group (a social group of older residents) and as a member of the city’s Charter Review Board.
She has unsuccessfully run for the commission three times, but she is optimistic because her percentage of the vote has gotten higher each time. She said she frequently attends commission meetings. “I challenge the city when things need to be done.”
McIntosh, 59, had a long career in education and has a master’s degree in public administration. She believes her extensive travels give her a perspective that her opponents don’t possess.
The campaign has been contentious, particularly between Campbell and Beckford.
During a joint interview, Campbell asked Beckford why he resigned from his position with Holness. Beckford said he resigned to run for the Lauderhill post, though it’s legal for him to work for the county while seeking office in the city.
Campbell suggested Beckford had been fired. Why else would he give up a good-paying job? Beckford, in turn, questioned how Campbell was getting “human resources information” about him from the county.
“There’s been a breach of confidentiality about my personnel files,” Beckford said. “It’s unprofessional and disappointing.”
Beckford attributed the questioning to the fact that Holness has endorsed Campbell. They “have been friends for years,” he said. Holness “has a deeper sense of loyalty to Campbell.”
“I was told that if I wanted to run against Richard, I could not work for Holness,” Beckford said.
Despite the acrimony, the candidates all agreed that the city needs to make Lauderhill look more appealing to business people. There are too many ramshackle buildings in commercial areas. And the flight of businesses from the city is putting stress on the city’s budget.
Everyone also agreed that too many residents are renters and therefore transient, with little stake in the city’s future.
They also agreed the city struggles to keep its police and fire employees, who are taking jobs in neighboring cities. Beckford said he was told that cops and firemen are leaving because working in a city with so much crime is too hectic.
District 4: Ray Martin
The commission needs a no-nonsense member who will ask unpleasant questions and challenge the status quo. That person is retired U.S. Army Major Ray Martin.
Martin, 43, left Lauderhill at age 17 to join the Army. During his 22-year stint in the military, he was deployed to Bosnia and Iraq and earned The Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star.
He chose to return to Lauderhill after the service, but was disappointed at what he found. The city had a crime problem and his brother had a drug problem. The married father of three children, Martin wanted to help improve the city.
The race features three other candidates: school teacher Glen Hinkson, 44; retired businessman Robert Lynch, 65; and Denise Grant, a 40-year-old single mother with lots of impressive endorsements.
The director of operations at a small law firm, Grant ran for the commission in 2014 against incumbent Commissioner Hayward Benson. She lost, but got 34 percent of the vote in a four-way race, she said during a telephone interview.
Benson can’t run this year because he’s reached the 12-year Lauderhill term limit.
Born in Jamaica, Grant first settled in New Jersey. She moved to Lauderhill in 2007. Since she arrived, she’s worked with different organizations in the city, particularly the Kiwanis Club of Lauderhill and the Lauderhill Chamber of Commerce.
She also is a member of the city’s Recreational Advisory Board and is eager to maintain quality sport venues in the city “because my son plays for the soccer team.”
“Lauderhill is a beautiful city, but we have a crime issue,” she said. Grant said the city has to do a better job of recruiting police officers who want to make a career in Lauderhill.
Lynch is the former owner of two trucking companies, according to his campaign website. He ran for the Florida House District 95 seat in 2016 and lost. He’s run for the City Commission several times and come up short. He’s a member of the Lauderhill Code Enforcement Board.
Hinkson has a bachelor’s degree from Bethune Cookman University and a master’s degree in educational management from Nova Southeastern University. His campaign slogan is “Vote for Glen, He’s Your Friend.”
But Lauderhill government doesn’t need friends. It needs smart, hard-nosed leaders like Martin who can attack its chronic problems.
Lauderhill had 19 murders in 2017 and has had 20 already this year, Martin said. “No one is saying or doing anything about it. I can’t fathom that the folks inside the city are not taking this seriously.”
Martin said he got his first sobering lesson in Lauderhill governance when he was appointed to the city’s housing authority. “The more questions I asked, the more I got resistance,” he said during the endorsement interview.
The city needs more residents who own their homes, Martin said. More than half the residents are renters. “This creates a transient community, contributing to children performing low in school, reduced pride in the community and increased opportunity for crime.”
Martin has the endorsement of departing Commissioner Benson.
Grant said that’s understandable because she ran against Benson in 2014 and “he wasn’t happy about that.” Grant has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings and County Commissioner Dale Holness.
Martin gets our endorsement because of his doggedness in challenging problems at the housing authority and his commitment to serve his city, when he had other options. He’s the best choice to help set things right in Lauderhill.