It is vital that LBTS voters re- elect Randy Strauss for a second term!….. His opponent has shown from the start that he has no reason to be our commissioner and no knowledge of our town to be our commissioner…

Brian Kuszmar introduced himself to this writer in Jarvis Hall at the January 25, 2022 commission meeting two weeks after the January 10th filing date closed for candidates for the March 8 th municipal election….. I asked him why he was opposing Commissioner Strauss and he replied he was not opposing him… I stated “ He is your opponent , so you are opposing him.”… He stated he had no issues with Randy ….Brian stated before and throughout these last weeks as he is running for this commission seat because he does not think a candidate should be unopposed!…No candidate can possibly know when he files to run for office if he will or will not be unopposed!….,When I asked about issues he was unable to bring forth any for our “city”.… Uh Oh!… Anybody who lives here and really understands the old – south end of LBTS knows never… ever…. do we called it a city!….. We are the Town of Lauderdale- by- the – Sea!!! …..

Upon leaving Brian told me he needed to contact the town manager to get a copy of the budget.. I told him all the budgets are online … he asked where online?…. I immediately answered on the town website!….Really!!…

In the weeks after that encounter…..Brian Kuszmar did not respond to the Sun- Sentinel Editorial Board’s questionnaire and did not respond to two emails for an interview for their endorsement as contained in the Sentinel’s Feb. 14,2022 endorsement of Commissioner Randy Strauss….  Two days after the Sentinel endorsement Kuszman sent the Editorial Board an email complaining their emails went to his spam and declaring it was unfair….

If this candidate was aware of previous commission campaigns he would have known full well that the Sentinel endorsement is an expected large component in the election process for candidates…. His email full of excuses says a lot!….

Similarly of note Brian Kuszman on the night we spoke and on his Youtube video speaks of the time between filing and election being too short …. I responded that evening that the timeframe has always been the same and that candidates are prepared with their campaigns long before they file to run…as his campaign manager nodded in agreement!…

Brian’s Youtube videos are compiled of the same election information the town has on its website which he shows in the Youtube  …. This information is streaming on our two government cable tv channels throughout the election….. He has no real substantive insight or issues to share in his videos…,

This leads up to the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum last night (2/16) in Jarvis Hall …. It was an even more glaring view that Candidate Brian Kuszmar is not running to serve the people of LBTS but is running to serve his “ 15 minutes!”…. In this writer’s opinion…..

This candidate was not at all prepared for this event …. He spoke off- the- cuff which was painful to watch….

He repeatedly showed in his statements that he is unaware of our town’s many extensive outreach methods such as Notify Me and CodeRED regularly utilized for each and every meeting for the commission, boards, special meetings and special events as well any issues or impacting events …. If he had looked at the town website he would see on the cover page to sign up as countless residents have done!…..

He went on and on about the lack of citizen participation in town…. This was truly rich due to his own lack of past participation which he had to own up to in responding to the moderator asking him!…. As a longtime active  participant in our town I can attest to never seeing or hearing comments from Brian Kuszmar at any town meetings or planning meetings in all my 16 years!….

In 2002 Mr Kuszmar ran for office against Connie Mack as a Libertarian but despite that he rambled on and on that our town should take over and even buy the pier which is privately owned by Ed Sorenson one of our oldest town residents and is leased by Spiro Marchelos….Commissioner Strauss made that known to Kuszmar but it fell on deaf ears…

If Kuszmar had taken the time he would have easily found in the archived meeting on the town website that the town has used all of the legally allowed avenues they have to address, deal with and assist with the pier repairs over many, many years!…..To watch this misinformed  candidate expound to the lengths Brian did about the pier over many of the questions he was to discuss should be concerning to those he says he wants to represent…

More egregious than the previous tone- deaf remarks and opining was his stance on maintaining our low-rise height limits in the future!….. He spoke of changes that would forever change our coveted ,unique seaside town to become indistinguishable from the neighboring towns to our north and to our south!….. We have long fought off developers and urban planners who entertain a future with removal of our height limits so to have a sitting commissioner receptive to the possibility is frightening!..…..

The Town website https://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov offers a Youtube link – ‘February 16th Candidate Forum-District 2’ and it will be replayed daily on the Town”s government cable channels…

In recent elections we’ve seen candidates like Brian Kuszmar and thankfully thus far our knowledgeable, informed voters have sent them packing!…. LBTS voters need to do so with this candidate!….

If Brian Kuszmar is really interested in our town he needs to join his fellow citizens from the floor of Jarvis Hall and participate in workshops , boards and charettes as well as in town surveys and leave the dais to his opponent Commissioner Randy Strauss !….

Commissioner Strauss was dealt a bad hand last night at the LOWVoters Candidates Forum due to his opponent …. It severely reduced his ability to allow voters the opportunity to hear more from him about his four years of experience in his first term as commissioner and the issues and projects he and his fellow commissioners tackled as well as what he and his fellow commissioners can and will do in the next four years with a second term secured…

To continue to have a cohesive, proactive, protective commission that values its citizens, businesses and its values voters must re- elect Randy Strauss!…..