The Political Whore

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

This is the story of a little-known South Florida mayor, a progressive anti-automatic weapons kinda politician with little name recognition and labeled with the tag “the gay candidate” in his quest to be the next U.S. senator from Florida. His name is Kevin Burns. More about him after we set the rest of the field.

Charlie Christ’s decision to wait until the end of the legislative session before declaring his political future has frozen most Republicans with fanciful ambitions of higher office through the first part of 2009.

But with three weeks to go before the popular chief executive announces whether he’ll run for re-election or opt to set his sights on Mel Martinez’s seat in Washington, some members of the GOP last week realized they can’t wait any longer.

Agriculture Secretary Charles Bronson, who by name recognition from his movie star namesake alone should do well with the law-and-order crowd, acknowledged the unusual election cycle in 2010 last week and said he could run for governor. If Crist does run for the Senate, it could mean every statewide constitution could be open.

Also, former New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith, now a Sarasota resident, says he is seriously considering a return to the nation’s capital.

But for other Republicans, it’s wait-and-see time.

Ditto for the Dems. Speculation is rampant that CFO Alex Sink will make a run for the governor’s office IF Crist decides not to run for re-election. The dominoes could continue to fall if her seat then becomes available (Tampa Bay mayors Pam Iorio and Rick Baker come to mind).

What is interesting is that before it became a possibility that Charlie Crist might not want to run for re-election, nary a whisper was heard about ANY Democrat taking him on.

Conventional wisdom is that if Christ wins the GOP Nomination for Senate next year, he’ll be a strong favorite to win the seat.

But at least the Democrats are fielding candidates in that race.

Kendrick Meek has been the star in the early going, both with his key union endorsements, and impressive fundraising totals.

Miami Beach State Sen. Dan Gelber has been in session for the past 6 weeks, but has still reportedly raised more than $400,000 in the race.

The third declared Democratic candidate is North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns.

Kevin who?

It’s OK if you haven’t heard about him yet. But he hopes to change that in the next year and a half. Among some political analysts, he’s known simply as “the gay candidate.” But as he is quick to respond to those who label him as such, asking a reporter, “Do you call Kendrick Meek the African-American candidate, or Dan Gelber the Jewish candidate?”

But if that sounds as if he responds defensively to the question, that’s surely not the case.

And for being the mayor of a not-so-big city (population: 65,000), Burns has shown ambition in his two terms in office (he’s term-limited this year). He’s been active with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is on the Executive Committee Steering Committee with Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Task Force, and is also with the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Speaking to me on a recent Saturday morning, less than 24 hours before 8-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton would tragically be shot three times in the back and die in a fusillade of bullets in St. Petersburg, Burns said he wanted the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban reinstated.

“I’ve been called too many times at 1, 2 a.m. from my police chief, calling me about another drive by shooting. I’ve gone hunting, and it’s a great sport. But I’ve never seen any hunters use AK-47 or an automatic assault weapon to shoot a deer. It’s not necessary.”

The issue may not be at the top of topics in this time of economic unrest, but Burns says it should be. He says that as a Mayor, he gets the issue of gun violence in a way that those governing from Tallahassee or Washington can’t.

”We’re the closest representatives to the people”, he says. “If you see a problem in your city, you call and complain to the Mayor or your City Council member.”

When asked where he gets the cojones to think that he can be a serious contender in a mammoth state like Florida, Burns says the election of Barack Obama shows that anything is possible now. And that answers goes double for his sexual orientation.

“I think people are over the labeling. I think the last election proved that with the almost election of a woman (Hillary Clinton) and the actual election of an African-American,,,,I think people are looking for problem solvers.”

Burns said he and his partner participated in a civil union in Vermont, and they have a 7 year old daughter, named Autumn. ( If you’re asking: Is he circumventing Florida’s ban on gay adoption? he’s not. At the time of his civil ceremony, the couple had dual residency in Vermont and Florida, which is where they adopted her).

When asked about how strong can a gay candidate run in a state that strongly supported Amendment 2 last fall (the measure that bans same sex marriage in the Sunshine State), Burns is sanguine, saying that he’s been out and honest about his relationship seemingly “forever,” and that his being gay had no impact on North Miami citizens voting for him twice as mayor “It never was an issue in my elections”, he insists.

(And he references Kevin Beckner’s success in Hillsborough County last year as further evidence of the growing acceptance of competence over cultural issues).

On gay marriage, which seemingly looked down for the count nationally after the measure went down to defeat overwhelmingly in Florida last November as well as California, but has now been revived with recent actions in Iowa and Vermont, Burns sounds just like Obama, Clinton and other mainstream Democrats, who always appear to be sympathetic to the notion but are reluctant to support it outright.

He says he sees marriage as a religious institution, and believes religious organizations shouldn’t be forced by the government to do something against their religious beliefs.

But he is passionate about being discriminated against.

“I believe that if I’m in the hospital, my partner should be able to come and visit me and make medical decisions for me… I believe our banking , real estate shouldn’t have a special contract… We should be entitled to some of the 1500 federal laws that straight people are allowed to.”

Burns’ campaign consultant, Broward County strategist Stephen Gaskill, acknowledges that his man is a dark horse but believes Burns story will play well in the anti-Washington ethos felt by Floridians in the post-bailout era.

“Connecting with the people is what matters,” Gaskill wrote to me in an e-mail. “Yes, it will be an expensive campaign, and Kevin will be competitive.”

That remains to be seen. But the debate could be all the richer in the next year and a half as state Democrats try to find the candidate who might do the seemingly impossible in Florida politics: defeat Charlie Crist.

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