There’s a lot of passion in the race for Broward County Commission District 8.
That’s the nice way of putting it. The two candidates can’t even stand to be in the same room together.
Broward Mayor Barbara Sharief and Miramar City Commissioner Alexandra Davis have crossed swords in campaign forums and on the pages of negative campaign mailers.
The race is the nastiest of the four County Commission contests this year, as the two head into Tuesday’s Democratic primary. The duel is so tense, even law enforcement has been involved.
“You can’t believe anything that comes out of her mouth,” says Davis. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I haven’t had any conversations that were civil with Alexandra Davis,” says Sharief. “I try to avoid her because I know she’s very nasty.”
The two accuse each other of misdeeds and poor performance in office. And, in just the last few weeks, a flurry of official complaints and negative advertisements have flown:
*Sharief is accused of illegally claiming a state representative endorsed her. The state representative filed a complaint with the state.
*The state rep’s brother-in-law is accused of pulling a gun on Sharief and her husband, threatening to shoot him in the head. The scene unfolded late at night outside a Caribbean radio station in Davie. Sharief reported it directly to political ally Sheriff Scott Israel, and a formal investigation is underway, sheriff’s officials confirmed.
*Sharief is accused of failing to file a financial disclosure form four years ago, and of displaying political ads that don’t carry the required disclaimer. Both allegations are the subject of official complaints filed by Broward residents with the state.
*In one negative mailer, Davis displayed a photo of Sharief with Republican Gov. Rick Scott, calling them “two peas in a pod” and wrongly labeling Sharief a Republican. Sharief is a former Republican who switched to the Democratic Party. And the photograph was taken at an event Davis attended, where Davis was also photographed with Scott.
Sharief said she’s focused on Election Day and will “respond to that crap” afterward.
“They can keep filing whatever they want to file,” Sharief said. “That’s not going to affect the outcome.”
Davis said she, too, has her eye on Tuesday.
“What I do, I come with solutions to issues,” Davis said. “I don’t dwell on problems.”
The winner of the primary is all but assured a win. A write-in candidate will be represented on the November ballot in this race as a blank space; no write-in candidate has ever won a general election in Florida.
While the other county election matchups have been relatively civil, Sharief and Davis went at each other at the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. Each spoke over the other, throwing barbs and accusations.
“You have no basis for your campaign,” Sharief said.
“I have every basis for my campaign!” retorted Davis.
Sharief blamed the acrimony on County Commissioner Dale Holness, whom she said doesn’t like her and has been “disrespecting” her since she voted against an agenda item he sponsored.
Holness and Davis hail from the Caribbean, and Sharief said they’re dividing voters along racial lines, suggesting another islander would be better than Sharief, an African-American.
“All these people trying to file complaints, they’re Caribbean. They’re Dale’s friends,” Sharief said.
Those filing the complaints said that was not true, and Holness dismissed the notion that he’s the root of the trouble.
“All nonsense,” he said in a text message, declining to be interviewed about it. “None of it is true.”
The most serious of the election-related incidents involved a gun — or the allegation of one.
Sharief said several weeks ago she was with her husband, Maxwell Chambers, at the 1170 WAVS Caribbean radio station in Davie. It was past 11 p.m.
State Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, was there with her husband and brother-in-law.
Campbell and Sharief had been warring. Campbell, who supports Davis, had filed a complaint with state elections officials alleging Sharief wrongly claimed her endorsement. Campbell, who is Haitian, said Sharief disrespected Haitians by traveling to the Dominican Republic, and she would never endorse her.
Sharief says Campbell did endorse her, but withdrew her support when Sharief couldn’t attend one of her fundraising events.
At the radio station, Sharief said, Campbell was “in my face yelling” and followed her out the door. In the parking lot, the arguing intensified.
Campbell says her husband and Sharief’s husband, both Jamaicans, were cursing each other with “Jamaican bad words.”
Sharief says she told Campbell that “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
That’s when she says Campbell’s husband “charged at me,” and his brother “ran into the radio station and came out with a gun in his right hand. He said he was going to shoot my husband in the head.”
Campbell and other witnesses said there was no gun.
Rather than call Davie police, Sharief said she and her husband went to their next event, a party, and in the morning, she rang up Sheriff Israel.
He had a deputy call her.
BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said the case is “active” and no records are available on the incident. She said it will be forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office when the criminal investigation concludes.
Campbell said Sharief lied about the presence of a gun and should be prosecuted for it. She said the matter is giving her “a headache.”
“She’s a liar. She needs to be out of office,” said Campbell. “I hope you guys put the title of the thing: ‘Barbara Sharief misuses power, misuses taxpayer money and tries to send black Jamaican to jail by making false report.’ “
Broward Democratic Chairman Mitch Ceasar said he’s not surprised the two are duking it out ahead of Tuesday’s primary. He said ever since the 2000 election, politics “became more intense.”
“Florida politics,” he said, “is a contact sport.”
bwallman@tribune.com or 954-356-4541
