Start Your Engines (and Open Your Wallets)
Group 2 Candidates Gear up for Miami Beach Commission Race

By Lee Molloy

On Nov. 3, Miami Beach residents will go to the polls to elect their Mayor and three City Commissioners.

Mayor Matti Bower is running for reelection. Although a potential challenger has until Sept. 8 to officially announce their candidacy, at press time Bower remains unopposed.

Bower told The Lead that the budget will be the most complex issue facing the new commission, and whoever does assume the three seats that are up for grabs in November is going to have their work cut out for them, she says.

“Most of the commission will be either brand new, or relatively new,” Bower said. “So there’s a learning curve as they educate themselves about how the city works, especially with a smaller budget.”

In Group 1, the incumbent Commissioner Jerry Libbin is up against political newcomer and local businessman Oduardo “Oddy” Segui.

With Commissioner Saul Gross termed out, and appointed Commissioner Victor Diaz  vowing not to run, the battles over the Group 2 and 3 seats will have no incumbent in the race. (Diaz was selected to complete the term of Richard Steinberg, who was elected to the Florida House of Representatives.)

With a former music producer, millionaire developer, current city board member and a longtime activist battling it out for the Group 2 seat, the race is already one to watch.

Roger Abramson

Abramson brings a wealth of experience to his campaign. He was involved in both the Anti-Vietnam War movement and the Civil Rights movement, and served as a campaign manager and part of executive committees for U.S. Senator William F. Bowen and Ohio Governor Jack Gilligan. Abramson also worked on special events for Bobby Kennedy in Ohio.

Currently residing in North Beach with his wife Diane, Abramson has five children and nine grandchildren. Actively involved in the Miami Beach community for more than two decades, he was a member of the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, chairman of culture and events for the first Mayor’s Task Force on Tourism, and Chairman of Special Events for the first Art Basel weekend.

Perhaps Abramson’s best known contributions to Miami Beach, however, are the Hanukkah Menorah that he made out of thousands of sea shells, which he personally collected, and the equally shell-encrusted “World’s Largest Spinning Dreidel,” both of which are displayed on the Lincoln Road mall during the holiday season.

As a music producer and promoter, Abramson has worked with some of the most famous rock acts in the world, including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan, and his work has been featured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Although he previously ran for a commission seat in 2006, Abramson has yet to find much traction in the world of campaign finances - he currently has $20 in his coffers.

“The present Mayor and city commission have reflected programs, laws and a way of thinking that are not supportive of the business community,” Abramson told The Lead.

“Our economy is based on tourism and the city commission should provide greater support,” Abramson said. “A new effective city commission will view the present economy as an opportunity to provide greater support to bring more upscale tourists to Miami Beach.”

Jorge Exposito

Arriving in the United States from Cuba in 1962, Exposito says he was taught the value of hard work by his family. He graduated from the University of Miami with a B.A. in 1977, and soon afterwards married his wife, Alina.

The pair became residents of Miami Beach in 1978 and raised their two boys, Paul and Marc, who attended public school. With his sons grown Exposito became involved in community affairs and ran for the Miami Beach Commission for the first time in 1992. Exposito lost despite receiving the endorsement of The Miami Herald, although he did catch the eye of former Mayor Seymour Gelber. In 1993 Gelber appointed him to the Hispanic Affairs Committee, where he was eventually elected Chairman.

Exposito is a founding member and former president of the Bayshore Homeowners Association. He is also on the board of directors of Citizens for Green Space, an organization that managed to successfully sue the City of Miami Beach in 1995 to maintain the Par 3 golf course as open green space for the public.

Filing to run for commission less than a month ago on July 17, Exposito has yet to report the financial state of his campaign to the City Treasurer.

He says he sees the city’s financial crisis as his main concern.

“The biggest priority,” Exposito told The Lead, “will be to ensure that the city continues to provide the same level of service that it has done in the past while dealing with a diminishing tax base.” He added that “to accomplish this challenge, the Commission must set aside petty politics to ensure we are all working towards a common goal,” he said.

Fred Karlton

A Miami Beach native, Karlton attended Miami Beach Senior High and then went on to the University of Florida, where he graduated with a degree in political science.

Karlton worked as a real estate sales associate before becoming vice president of the family business: J.S. Karlton Investment Company. He eventually founded his own investment company, Karlton Investment Group, in 1989.

The father of two sons, Aaron, 14, and Ryan, 22, Karlton currently acts as president of his own development company, running the successful business himself and personally managing his 15 employees.

He has been an active member of the community: a former board member of The Miami Symphony, a former Coach of the Year as a volunteer for the Suniland and Norlise youth football leagues, and having served as a counselor for the Children’s Cancer Caring Center.

Karlton served on the Miami Beach Capital Improvement Projects Oversight Committee and he was an influential, and controversial figure in the 2007 election — he was a major contributor to the campaign of now-Commissioner Ed Tobin. Karlton also personally financed a PAC with several thousand dollars to attack Tobin’s opponent, then-Commissioner Michael Gongora.

Even when not taking into account the more than $50,000 he has loaned himself during this campaign, Karlton has raised more money than any other Group 2 candidate. His campaign war chest at the end of the second quarter contained roughly $119,000.

Karlton hopes to bring his financial expertise to the city commission.

“Our great city faces the most severe budget challenges in my lifetime,” Karlton said. “and we can no longer afford business as usual at City Hall.”

Sherry Roberts

Although this is her first time running for office, as a previous chair of the Miami Beach Preservation Committee and a current member of the Board of Adjustment, Roberts has been involved in Miami Beach politics for several years.

A successful businesswoman, Roberts had already founded and was managing her own staffing and recruiting firm by the age of 30. With her partner Alice, in 1993 Roberts started an organization that provided mental health services to seniors residing in long-term care, and is currently a shareholder in a successful Miami Beach real estate firm. 

She has been the elected president of her condominium association for the past six years, taking charge of some major restoration to the historic building. Within the community Roberts is active with several business and environmental associations, and in March was the primary sponsor of the first Miami Beach Women’s Conference.

On a more personal note, Roberts has raised three sons, Matthew, David and Lance; she also has three grandchildren.

So far Roberts has raised more than $87,000 for her campaign, of which $60,000 was in loans to herself.

Roberts identified several priorities that should face the new commission, in addition to the city’s financial woes.
“Some problems in Miami Beach, such as drainage, parking and traffic are easy to see,” Roberts told The Lead, “but the City faces less obvious fiscal challenges too and the Commission can’t afford to get distracted by politics and infighting. Solutions will require serious people who can bring the Commission together and deliver fresh ideas, teamwork and compromise.”

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