It’s about time Broward colleagues publicly rip Holness
These are tense days in Broward County government — also known as the One-Man Committee to Elect Dale Holness to Congress.
Commissioner Holness’ shameless use of public resources to promote a personal political agenda sank to a new low. He was dealt back-to-back political defeats by his exasperated colleagues who decided, belatedly, that it was time to teach him a lesson or two.
Dale’s Fail was due to a simple fact: He can’t count votes. (It’s true, commissioners are bound by the Sunshine Law and can’t discuss public business in private. But over many marathon sessions, alliances do form, and any astute politician who’s paying attention can read others’ intentions. Most of them know just how far they can push each other.)
Holness is one of 11 Democrats seeking the party nomination to succeed the late Alcee Hastings in an upcoming special election. The decisive primary is Nov. 2 and this field is so crowded, with eight credible candidates, including Commissioner Barbara Sharief, that victory might not require more than about 20% of the vote. Any advantage or gaffe, no matter how small, is magnified.
The commissioner’s tactics demand scrutiny because they tell us what kind of a congressman he would be. He claims to be the voice of the voiceless, those without money, power or connections, along the central Broward corridor that forms the backbone of the 20th congressional district.
Holness may have built a grass-roots political machine in Broward, but he can’t build consensus with his fellow commissioners on minor issues, even though all of them are fellow Democrats with similar views. If he can’t forge alliances at the Governmental Center, how will he ever get anything done on Capitol Hill?
Three issues on Tuesday, each one championed by Holness, vividly illustrate the problem. He failed miserably on two and the third almost slipped away because he overplayed his hand, as usual.
The county made a one-time grant of $100,000 to Legal Aid Service of Broward County to create a new community ID for people without one, such as undocumented immigrants and the homeless, so they can access needed services that require a form of identification.
Every commissioner liked the idea and several voiced respect for Legal Aid as a trusted agency. But at the last minute, Holness tried to increase the grant to $162,000, a major breach of bureaucratic protocol.
Questioned about that, County Attorney Andrew Meyers reminded commissioners that agenda material is generally required to be provided five days before a meeting.
Holness abused the process, support began to crumble, and the Legal Aid program passed on the slimmest of margins, a 5-4 vote.
Next, Holness pushed for $50,000 for the United Negro College Fund, another program with overwhelming support. But colleagues criticized him for an end run around an established system for giving tax money to nonprofits, and the proposal died on a 7-2 vote.
“It’s not right,” Commissioner Lamar Fisher said. This wasn’t about UNCF, and it wasn’t about the money, either (in a government of Broward’s size, $50,000 is a rounding error).
It was all about Holness, and the majority was right. Getting county money should be based on merit, competition and equal treatment, not on a whim of who can grab a single commissioner’s attention on a given Tuesday. Mayor Steve Geller said he didn’t want the county to become “a political arm” of a campaign.
Finally, Holness sponsored a motion to ask President Biden to exonerate Marcus Garvey, the former Black nationalist leader from Jamaica who died in 1940.
Aside from the fact that this has little to do with Broward, Garvey was a divisive figure. Supporters see him as a hero who was persecuted for his beliefs, but commissioners said he was a segregationist who hobnobbed with Ku Klux Klan members and an anti-Semite who blamed Jewish judges for his legal problems. (Former President Barack Obama refused to pardon him.)
Several commissioners sounded appalled that Holness would ask them to take such a vote.
“I don’t like this board being utilized as a platform to move political objectives,” Commissioner Tim Ryan said.
Holness said Ryan’s “innuendoes” were off base and replied: “I don’t need to bring this item to get votes.”
The District 9 commissioner is widely seen as a formidable candidate for Congress. But if Holness can’t count votes any better than he did last Tuesday, the only way he’ll get to Washington will be as a tourist.