GOP candidate’s ad raises questions

It’s tough to get elected in Broward County if you’re a Republican.

But Republican candidate Chuck Lanza mailed voters a campaign ad that implies he has the stamp of approval from arguably the best-known Democrat in Broward, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the congresswoman and former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. He doesn’t. The ad has a photograph of Wasserman Schultz, and remarks the congresswoman made on the House floor in 2014 when Lanza resigned from his position as emergency management director for Broward County.

Wasserman Schultz called Lanza a “fearless leader,” and “exemplary professional,” and a person who helped “protect and save the lives of countless Floridians.”

That was then and this is now.

Now, Lanza, a candidate with conservative views who is a climate change skeptic and a Donald Trump supporter, is running for County Commission against former state Sen. Steve Geller, a Democrat.

Wasserman Schultz is endorsing Geller.

“Let me be crystal clear,” she said in an emailed statement Tuesday, “I support my good friend, Democrat Steve Geller for Broward County Commission. Steve and I worked together for years in the state legislature. He has a long and stellar record of working hard for families and children and will make an exceptional County Commissioner.”

One of the mailboxes where this campaign piece arrived was Wasserman Schultz’s own. She lives in District 5, where Lanza and Geller are running to replace term-limited Lois Wexler.

Lanza’s ad doesn’t use the word “endorses” or “supports,” but you can view the ad yourself and be the judge of its intended message.

He rejected the idea that his ad implies an endorsement, saying that’s “totally untrue and not something I would want or need.”

He went on, in an emailed statement: “In this era of extreme partisanship I have demonstrated over a successful 36 year public safety career, I can and do work well with everyone. If anything, this demonstrates I can work well on what we need in politics; better and more cooperation. My opponent, Senator Geller and I are running our campaigns focusing only the issues; my mailer demonstrates a significant issue, breaking through the noise and rancor in politics. I am proud of what Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said about me on the floor of the United States House of Representatives and appreciate the recognition.”

The district leans Democratic, as all nine County Commission districts do. According to Oct. 1 figures from the supervisor of elections office, 42 percent of the active voters there are Democrats, 29 percent are Republicans, and the remainder are independent or in a minor party.

Lanza