THREE CANDIDATES VIE FOR BOCA MAYOR
Longtime Haynie foe among trio in Aug. 28 election.
BOCA RATON — Three candidates are vying to replace beleaguered Mayor Susan Haynie, suspended from office and facing criminal charges, in a special August municipal election.
Three people filed the appropriate paperwork by the time qualifying period ended Wednesday evening:
■ Bernard Korn, a political novice who filed an early bid for mayor before Haynie’s public corruption scandal;
■Interim Mayor Scott Singer, formerly deputy mayor but who took on Boca Raton’s top spot after Haynie’s ouster;
■ And Al Zucaro, a former West Palm Beach city commissioner who ran for mayor in 2017 and lost to Haynie.
Two others had filed initial paperwork to run for mayor, but didn’t submit all the required documents to the city clerk by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Both Singer and Korn had declared an interest in the mayor’s seat long before Haynie was charged with four felonies and three misdemeanors stemming from corruption allegations.
Haynie was campaigning for Palm Beach County Com- mission, and would have had to vacate her seat as mayor to run in November ahead of her 2020 term limit. But she dropped her bid for the county board after she was criminally charged.
Days later, Gov. Rick Scott suspended Hay nie from office.
The abrupt suspension pushed up Boca Raton’s special election timeline. The city will elect a new mayor during the Aug. 28 primary election, at the tail end of a long ballot.
Zucaro, a Haynie foe who contributed to her ouster, announced his run for mayor a week ago.
In March 2017, Zucaro lost to Haynie by about 1,000 votes, or 10 percent of the turnout.
Zu car o is the founder of gadfly blog BocaWatch, which is often critical of Boca Raton’s leaders and decisions.
While Zucaro’s blog criticized Hayni eon countless occasions, it occasionally lauded Singer, who has fallen on both sides of divisive development and growth issues during his tenure on the City Council.
Boca Wa tc huns ur pr isingly endorsed Zucaro in the March 2017 election, but declined to endorse Singer or his opponent, Patti Dervis hi, a vocal supporter of BocaWatch and its lowgrowth stance.
The blog instead wrote “Let the voters decide” for the Singer-Dervishi endorsement decision.
Shortly before thee le cti on,Zu car o published a story about Haynie’s ties to developer James Batmasian, at the core of her public corruption scandal.
Singer, a Harvard-educated attorney, was first elected to the council in 2014, then re-elected in 2017.
He is credited with finding the unused, city-owned land that the council donated to the Palm Beach County School District to build a new elementary school in response to crowding concerns.
He also coordinated with a local nonprofit to offer free mental health counseling at Boca Raton high schools.
While Korn, a real estate agent, makes his play for Boca Raton City Council, he’s also knee-deep in another campaign.
For president. Of the United States.
Korn hasn’t officially filed his paperwork for a presidential bid with the state.
But his campaign material and business cards sport a “Bernard Korn for President 2020” tagline.
Because Singer is vacating his council seat to run for mayor, a second council seat will be on the August ballot.
The qualifying period for Seat A ends June 12.