The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 14

A4A THE PALM BEACH POST WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1992 Shaw heads to 7th term in House By BRIAN E. CROWLEY Palm Beach Post Political Editor U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, won a seventh term Tuesday, defeating state Senate President Gwen Margolis, D-Miami Beach, and three independent candidates in one of Florida's meanest and costliest congressional campaigns.

In District 22, Shaw led Margolis with 61 percent to 29 percent. Three independent candidates, Bernard Anscher, Michael Petrie, and Richard Stephens, also sought the seat. "It was a tough race," said Shaw, 53. "We went after her on the issues and I feel we were very factual and ran a good race." A bitter Margolis said after conceding to Shaw that he is "not the kind of person who deserves to be in Congress. We'll be watching you." Both candidates agreed that Palm Beach County's 83,000 registered voters, about a quarter of the three-county total, were vital to success.

The candidates spent nearly $2 million in their effort to win the 91-mile-long District 22, which hugs the coast from Miami Beach to Juno Beach. Most of the campaign was fought on the lis swiftly changed her focus but continued to remind voters that as a woman she better understood the economic and other needs -d women. Her television commercials always ended with the line that Shaw was "not the man for the job." Shaw took advantage of Margolis' questionable performance as Senate president this yeai. She had been sharply criticized by fellow Democrats, including Gov. Lawton Chiles, who saii she had failed to take charge of the chamber ani allowed Republicans to take control.

rMj She alienated Democratic members of the Florida Congressional delegation with her insistence on having a district drawn that would give her a better chance of winning a congressional seat. Influential U.S. Rep. Bill Lehman, D-Miami, sent Shaw a $500 campaign contribution and his son Tom, a Miami attorney, became Shaw's Dade County campaign manager. Shaw was facing his first serious congressional opponent in a decade.

A former mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Shaw is a native of Miami Before redistricting, he represented a largely Democratic district that included all of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County north to the Palm Beach County line. House District 22 airwaves. Shaw was the first on the air with a series of positive ads aimed at boosting his name recognition, especially in Palm Beach County which had not been part of Shaw's district before this year's reapportionment. It didn't take long for the commercial war to turn nasty. In one ad, Margolis said Shaw favored legalizing drugs.

That was not true. Neither was Shaw's attempt to link Margolis to Charles Keating and the savings-and-loan scandal. Both candidates relied on distorted, sometimes cartoonlike images, in ads that often appeared cruder than the work behind them warranted. Both campaigns did extensive polling. Margolis was convinced that the opportunity to send a woman to Congress would put her over the top.

Early in the campaign she focused on abortion. She is pro-choice, Shaw is not. But that issue never drew the kind of attention that many thought it would. Instead, voters focused on the economy, health care and other pocketbook issues. Margo GREG LOVETTStaff Photographer Clay Shaw celebrates with his wife, Emily, at the Broward for the Performing Arts Tuesday night.

astings wins U.S. House seat in District 23 By BRIAN E. CROWLEY ,73 Palm Beach Post Political Editor Democrat Alcee Hastings will make a triumphant return to the chamber that voted to impeach him after the former federal judge defeated two little-known opponents Tuesday in the District 23 Congressional race. With 80 percent of the precincts reporting, Hastings had 66 percent of the vote compared with 34 percent for Republican Ed Fielding of Stuart. Indepen INDIAN RIVER 1 1 dent Al Woods of Miami Beach came in third.

"We are ready for the hard work that faces us, our new president and this nation," said Hastings, 56, who lives in Miramar and practices law in Dade County. After a tough, noisy and at times ugly primary race, the general election was a peaceful VPKEECHOBEEl 1 I GLADES HENDRY palm 1 BEACH I BROWARD COLLIER DADE vPS ft A'- i A. KENNEDY IllStaff Photographer Hastings (right), winner of the District 23 U.S. House race, hugs Peter Deutsch, winner of the District 20 race, Tuesday night in Davie. i i Johnston breezes by political newcomer event with Has- i tings keeping a low profile and working quietly to build coalitions among Democratic Party leaders.

The alliances are important to holding together this sprawling seven-county district that includes! parts of Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee Hendry, Broward and Dade counties. The district wasj created by a panel of federal judges to give blacks at better chance of winning. Hastings will be joined in Washington by two other, Florida blacks, U.S. Carrie Meek, D-j Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville.

They are the first black members of Congress from Florida! since Reconstruction. Many of those who shunned Hastings during thej primary quickly came to his side following his Septem-1 ber runoff victory over former state Rep. Lois! Frankel of West Palm Beach. The Congressional Black Caucus was among the; first to endorse his candidacy. That was followed byj Hispanic political groups, Jewish organizations andi Democratic members of the South Florida congres-! sional delegation.

One endorsement he did not get wasj Frankel's. Their race had been one of the fiercest in the state.i Frankel attempted to make an issue of Hastings'! honesty. She repeatedly tried to hammer him about hisj 1989 removal from the federal bench on charges-of1 conspiring to take a bribe. Hastings always insisted he was innocent and! pointed to his acquittal by a civil court on similar; charges. When a federal judge in September declared? that Hastings' impeachment was Frankel lost any chance of using the issue against him.

Fielding tried to counter the flamboyant Hastings) with a calm, reasonable style intended to make voters feel comfortable with him. He preached togetherness i and clearly hoped that voters would see him as welcome respite from the stormy Democratic prima-' ry. With less than $15,000 to spend and no professional! District 19 U.S. House, County By County BRIAN E. CROWLEY Palm Beach Post Political Editor WEST PALM BEACH Easily defeating a political newcomer, U.S Rep.

Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, won a third term Tuesday in the 19th congressional district face. With 92 percent of the precincts reporting, Johnston led with 63 percent of the vote compared to 37 percent for Republican Larry Metz. He campaigned against Congress and me in particular, but the anti-incumbency he hoped for just did not click," Johnston said. "Apparently my constituents believe I'm doing a good job." For Metz, 37, the challenge of defeating a popular incumbent was a daunting one. The little known Coral Springs attorney is an earnest, hard-working conservative who campaigned tirelessly throughout the district.

District 19 includes parts of central and south Palm Beach County and parts of north and central Broward County. Johnston, 60, frequently said during the campaign that his worst fear was the anti-incumbent mood of the voters. Metz did his best to encourage discontented voters to abandon Johnston. But he could not overcome the fact that Johnston, with just four years in office, had not been in Congress long enough to be considered one of the problem incumbents. Precincts: Total Reporting DISTRICT 16 Comerford(D) Lewis (R) Glades 12 12 1,291 1,990 Hendry 19 19 1,721 4,269 Highlands 18 18 10,063 14,201 Martin 31 31 14,716 31,614 Okeechobee 11 10 1,256 2,700 Palm Beach 149 108 33,537 43,469 St.

Lucie 50 50 24,056 34,103 TOTALS 290 248 86,640 132,346 DISTRICT 19 Johnston (D) Metz (R) Broward 120 119 82,368 46,575 Palm Beach 152 152 94,699 56,954 TOTALS 272 271 177,067 103,529 DISTRICT 22 Margolis (D) Shaw (R) Broward 142 141 35,746 67,925 Dade 64 54 30,844 16,486 Palm Beach 106 106 19,158 39,872 TOTALS 312 301 85,748 124,283 DISTRICT 23 Fielding (R) Hastings (D) Broward 130 130 20,189 46,919 Dade 6 6 874 3,037 Hendry 3 3 7E 640 Martin 1 1 657 392 Okeechobee 7 5 563 693 Palm Beach 136 120 16,557 22,915 St. Lucie 16 16 1,729 4,843 TOTALS 299 281 40,644 79,439 'He campaigned against Congress but the anti-incumbency he hoped for just did not HARRY JOHNSTON Underestimating Johnston's formidable political base, Metz was simply outmatched on every front money, manpower, polling, advertising and campaign experience. One of the most notable things about the campaign was the politeness of it. Frequently describing themselves as the "Harry and Larry" show, the candidates would gently trade barbs at political forums. At times they seemed like a father and son team.

A popular moderate, Johnston had a lock on Palm Beach County, where he began his political career with a successful run for the state Senate in 1974. A stint as Senate president and an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1986 gave campaign help, Fielding ran a mom-and-pop Making his effort even more difficult was the fact that fewer than 30 percent of the voters in the district are registered Republicans. Woods, 46, an unemployed Miami Beach hotel worker, was never a serious threat to Hastings despite his elfort to promote himself as the angry outsider. With little money and zero name recognition, Woods was unable to get his campaign moving. For Hastings, his victory ends a long string pf election defeats in races ranging from city council to1 U.S.

Senate and in 1990, secretary of state. A fiery civil rights lawyer during the 1960s and '70s, Hastings was) appointed to the federal bench in 1979 by Presidehtj Jimmy Carter. i in jonnston strong name recognition Broward County. i Lewis fends off Comer ford to retain District 16 U.S. House seat District 16 Attacking the incumbent's character, Comerford said Lewis took $23,000 in honoraria from 1986 to 1990 from sugar companies and defense industry contractor's while supporting sugar subsidies By STEPHEN POUNDS Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH GARDENS -Republican U.S.

Rep. Tom Lewis turned back a challenge from investment banker John Comerford, deflecting the Palm Beach Democrat's attempts to portray him as an entrenched incumbent who had eight overdrafts on the House bank. With 86 percent of the precincts reporting, Lewis had 60 percent of the District 16 vote to Comerford's 40 percent. "I think the people recognize what I have done," said Lewis of North Palm Beach. "What I have been campaigning on is what I have administration on congressional legislation.

Lewis said he voted with the president about 65 percent of the time. "I vote to support the people of my district," he said. Lewis said the main issues in the campaign were health-care costs and the federal deficit. He said Congress needed to reduce both. "When people start getting confidence that Congress is working to get the deficit down, you're going to start seeing some venture capital and investment out there," Lewis said.

Comerford, 44, challenged the 10-year congressman in the district, which covers parts of Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Hendry, Glades and Highlands counties, by questioning Lewis' acceptance of honoraria. In the campaign's final four days, Comerford aired two television advertisements, criticizing Lewis' overdrafts in 1988 and 1989 and questioning his votes to cut Medicare by $138 million over five years. "I don't know if that hurt me, or if Reagan Democrats returned to the party nationally, but not on the local level," Comerford said. Comerford had to fight Lewis' widespread name recognition and larger campaign contributions.

Lewis received $84,200 in contributions to Comerford's $19,300, records show. Lewis said the negative advertising may have worked against his opponent. "I don't know if it hurt him. But I felt that I was going to take the high road and I did. I don't think people want those who represent them using negative advertising," Lewis said.

Comerford attempted to tie Lewis to President Bush, criticizing him for voting with the Bush and Pentagon projects. But Lewis produced a cani-paign letter signed with Comerford's name and on his letterhead, soliciting money from the sugar industry. dnmprfnrrf sav thf lpttpr uiae been continuing to do up there." Lewis, 67, cited legislation to study updating the hurricane tracking system as an example of his work for the district. Lewis helped to bring a new Veteran's Hospital and nursing home to Riviera Beach and pushed for reconstruction of U.S. 27, two important federal projects.

The congressman also pointed to financing for research on a management model for Lake Okeechobee and for land acquisition in the Big Cypress Preserve. sent out by a campaign fund-rais-lt ing firm to a list of political action proved. His name was signed by someone else, he said..