Dem candidate Graber: I’m a Palm Beach County guy now!
by George Bennett | January 28th, 2010
Graber (left) in his Broward days
Ben Graber was a state House member from Broward County from 1988 to 1994 and a Broward County commissioner from 2000 to 2006. But he’s lived in unincorporated Delray Beach since 2007. And with about 70 percent of congressional District 19 Democratic primary voters living in Palm Beach County, Graber today sent out a “Dear Neighbor” blast e-mail decrying the “false rumor” that he’s a Browardian.
Graber faces state Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, in Tuesday’s special primary. The general election to replace Robert Wexler is April 13.
Read Graber’s e-mail after the jump….
Dear Neighbor,
I have received calls about a false rumor to the community . It says that I reside in Broward County and my victory will send this congressional seat to Broward. Not true. Although I lived in Broward many years and served Broward as an elected official for 14 years ,since 2007 I have lived in Delray Beach, at Addison Reserve. I have voted three times in this district and this is my homesteaded property. . If elected , my main office will be in West Delray. False statements are hurtful and meant to deceive. Unfortunately in politics this behavior is all too common.
I am the populist candidate , my opponent the establishment candidate. I promise to expand the health care system towards a single payer program, place a 5% floor on social security cost of living increases and work to end the war in Afghanistan. I believe Israel should not be forced to make treaties with unreliable partners and we should rebuild our manufacturiong base to create new jobs now. I will always fight for a woman’s right to choose and will always support equal and human rights for all. Please vote for me on Tuesday FEb. 2 . I promise you won’t be disappointed. Best regards.
Your neighbor,
Dr. Ben Graber
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January 28th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
The problem isnt that he is from Broward - it is that he IS NOT A DEMOCRAT! He left the Party in 2007 (the same time he evidently moved to PB County). He also endorsed Republican Clay Shaw against Democrat Ron Klein, openly discussed running as a Republican against Wexler and Klein and finally ran against Wexler - trashing Wexler, the Democratic Party, and President Obama.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
More of a reason to vote for him.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I like this guy. He is really good. Deutch is nice and I liked him before he decided to run. Now he is like a puppet for Wexler. I really think Graber is much better than Deutch.
It is good that you have Democrat that can fight off the Republicans and stand up for what we believe in as Democrats.
Wexler and Obama have not. I read that article too that Deutch has missed Tallahassee dates a bunch of times. What are we paying him for?
January 28th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
absolutely….he is totally a democrat….he’s more liberal than Deutch! he left the party for a whopping 6 months so that he could run against Wexler as a non party democrat–that hardly makes him not a democrat! look at his website http://www.bgraberforcongress.com. he’s been serving us for 20 years!
Go Graber!
January 28th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Why is the Post running all these articles about Graber and no positive ones about Senator Deutch?
Graber is not a Democrat even though he is running as one - he endorsed a Republican in the last election!
More liberal then Ted Deutch? You have got to be kidding!
If you want someone who will work only for the people and not the special interests Ted is your man!
January 28th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
He promises single payer? How is he going to accomplish that? Don’t you love politicians who promise what they have no ability to deliver?!
He promises 5% floor on SS increases - again, as a Congressman you have ONE vote - you can NOT promise ANYTHING!
Senator Deutch tells you what he stands for - and that is you, the people, who he will work for every day - work for - not give false promises!
January 28th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Woody Allen once said that SHOWING UP is 90% of success. Deutch never shows up. He’s representative by proxy. He’s always absent and then has a bunch of lame excuses, mostly false.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Ted Deutch is a rising star in the Democratic Party and I support him!
January 28th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Ted is the special interests! He’s owned by them. Where do you think that million dollars came from? Grandma and Grandpa next door? I don’t think so…. The Post is running articles about Graber, because they know a great man when they see it, besides, what are you going to say about Ted? He has to show up somewhere to have anything to say about him…
January 29th, 2010 at 12:28 am
Deutch is a puppet. Open your eyes people. Why do you see his commercials more than anyone else? Special interest money, party money etc. They know he can be bought and they have already done so. He comes out and says he will support Obama’s agenda BEFORE even knowing if it is good for our district? If you vote for Deutch you’re a patsy, simple as that.
If you like how things have gone in Washington this passed year the by all means vote for this guy because that is EXACTLY what you will get. Stop sending the same type of politicians to Washington. Open your eyes!
January 29th, 2010 at 6:45 am
Deutch is an honest, sin cere Democrat. He showed, in the Senate, that he does not blindly follow the party line and was willing to stand up for what the people want.
His money comes from fundraisers where real people attend and sow their support Man of his contributions are small amounts by people who want honest representation of their interests.
His absences were excused. The special session was a one day special session. He is still representing us, as can be seen by the constituents who have been, and continue to be, represented by him.
He is young, honest and eager to represent us.
He is not a single issue candidate.
January 29th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Dr. Graber is an idiot. He lost all credibility when he got destroyed by the lowly Jeremy Ring in 2006. His political career since then has been absolutely pathetic. I don’t understand why he keeps embarrassing himself by running in races where he is guaranteed to get destroyed. All politicians have huge egos, but this is just ridiculous. It’s like he’s delusional. He lost 4 years ago to a no name, first time candidate, by 15 points. After that terrible loss he decided to run against a very popular Robert Wexler in 2008 only to lose by more then he did in 2006. Now he’s running against Ted, who will beat hi once again by more then 20%. I don’t know if he’s trying to make some kind of statement, but if he is no one knows what it is. Save whatever dignity you ave left Dr. Ben, and just go back to practicing medicine.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Clearly both men are undesireable candidates. Ted Deutch is clearly a special interest candidate, thats how he got the millions in campaign contributions from big tobacco, insurance, energy, among others (see for yourself: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/campaign-finance/contrib.asp). Also, his rather incompetent vote in favor of wasting taxpayer money on corporate welfare, aka “SunRail”, demonstrates a lack of credibility. I have no doubt that Graber would collect the same contributions and behave in a similar manner were he “anointed” with incumbency status by the King of Gerrymandered District 19, His Highness Robert Wexler. Which begs the question, why is taxpayer money being wasted on this closed primary? The whole point of closed primaries was to put the candidate selection process in the hands of the voters, but clearly this anointing undermines it. Furthermore, voters who are not registered Democrats or Republicans CANNOT vote in these primaries but their tax dollars are used to operate them. And they call this “democracy”. Debating the differences between these establishment candidates is useless because they are products of the stagnant system which they inhabit. We need to engage in electoral reforms if we want real reformers in office.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
John–
you’re an idiot.
Ben Graber is a great man who has a lot to offer. This world will never change if we keep letting all these weasels do whatever they want and control things. The people need to show you and the others like you that we’re not going to put up with this anymore.
I’m voting for Ben Graber and I hope he kicks Ted’s Butt!!! That would be a big coupe for the people, get out the people and don’t let the government control you ..you control the government!
Vote for Ben Graber, the guy who REALLY cares about you!
January 29th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Vote Independent people. Only when we get a lot of Independents in Congress will things truly start to change. Any party politician will get crushed by the party machine, no matter how well intentioned he may be. You’ve already seen the payoffs in Washington. It happened under Bush, it is happening under Obama… two sides of the same coin. I’ve had enough of it. I hope some of you will open your eyes.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Time to vote for someone other than a career politician. These guys that continue to look for another job in politics should frighten everybody. Are they really interested in serving the people or their own self interests?
January 30th, 2010 at 8:54 am
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January 30th, 2010 at 10:23 am
John,
Shallow minds reach shallow conclusions.
January 30th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Tuesday you have the opportunity to exercise your authority of the status quo by voting for the populist candidate Ben Graber.The establishment has spoken they want someone who will continue their present policies, they want Deutch. Ben offers you a chance to vote for the people. Dare to dream!