By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
As most believe, local politics are pivotable and November 2022 election campaigning is heating up and one of the most interesting is for City of Fort Lauderdale, District 3 Commission Seat.
This seat was held by Robert “Bob” McKinzie since 2014 when he was sworn in to serve out the remainder of the term for Bobby “Bob” Dubose when he left for a State Seat. McKinzie was elected and re-elected to the Seat 3 City Commission in 2015 and 2018, respectively.
Once the two Bobs, Dubose and McKinzie, announced they were both seeking the Seat 9 County Commission spot, a once amicable relationship became contentious with Dubose publicly stating he regretted ever endorsing McKinzie to replace him back in 2013 as a Fort Lauderdale commissioner. Dubose accused McKinzie of unethical behavior by misusing his office during the race at city events. When all votes were tallied, McKinzie emerged as the winner and chalked all the accusations up to Dubose being a sore loser.
But, if there is any retribution, Yvette Dubose, the wife of Bobby Dubose, may be trying to settle the score. Mrs. Dubose has filed to make sure the Dubose name returns to Seat 3 for the city of Fort Lauderdale. The opposite is happening. Where McKinzie replaced Bobby Dubose in 2014, Yvette Dubose is not running to replace McKinzie.
Mrs. Dubose is on the campaign trail doing interviews and sending out mailers has a picture of Yvette Dubose and her two children, but did not include her husband, Bobby Dubose. What’s up with that? Is Yvette Dubose making a strategic, political decision to separate herself from her husband who recently had two embarrassing election defeats? Bobby Dubose vacated his State Representative 94 Seat to join a crowded race of seven who believed they deserved to replace Congressman Alcee Hastings as a United States Representative. Bobby Dubose, Dale Holness, Barbara Sharief, Perry Thurston, and Omar Hardy all lost to Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. Cherfilus-McCormick was relentless in her pursuit of this seat as evidenced by her running against Hastings twice and losing. Once Hastings transitioned, Cherfilus-McCormick was able to lay all the challengers to rest and win the seat not once but twice.
There seems to be an unforgiving cloud lingering over the heads of those who left their constituents without a leader sitting in their seats. Thurston and Hardy have not run for anything since the defeat by Cherfilus-McCormick, but B. Dubose, Holness and Sharief have thrown their hats into the race for another opportunity and suffered agonizing defeat.
It would not be surprising if the budding Mrs. Dubose is trying to separate home from work and while the Dubose name is unique and will naturally connect her to her husband, it may not be a bad idea for Mrs. Dubose to put some distance between her and the Mister politically.
It will not be a cakewalk for Mrs. Dubose ; there are three others who have qualified for the seat in a Special Election race. Dr. Pam Beasley Pittman is a longtime resident in the heart of Fort Lauderdale’s Sistrunk Corridor. Dr. Beasley-Pittman works for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, is a youth minister with Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and is an active and vocal member of the Homeowner’s Association.
Donna Guthrie is throwing her hat into the race for a second time. She was defeated back in 2018 by McKinzie. Guthrie was the President of the Melrose Homeowner’s Association for more than a decade. She worked to ensure that the city’s code enforcement is out in the community on Saturdays and ensured the city has a provision in the City Code for selecting local small businesses for contract opportunities.
Like Guthrie, Dr. Nadine Hankerson is also running for Seat 3 for the second time. Dr. Hankerson ran against Bobby Dubose back in 2009 and lost. She has sat on the City of Ft. Lauderdale Budget and Finance as well as the Fireman’s Board. She has been a member of Mount Olive Baptist church since childhood. Hankerson, with a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution, believes that will be a huge asset once she wins the seat.
Yvette Dubose has her work cut out for her. Maybe Hubby Dubose will provide some much-needed support behind the scenes because it’s not likely he will make a debut on the campaign literature.
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