The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are the two Democratic candidates for State Senate Seat 30, State Rep. Irv Slosberg and Ted Deutsch. They get the award for their combative campaigns which has mostly consisted of their attacking one another. The latest salvos that happened yesterday, were Deutsch's filing a libel suit and Slosberg filing an elections commission complaint.

I'm sick of both these crybabies. Both are filling television time and my mail box with their attacks against one another. Do either of them grasp the issues facing their potential constituents? I can't remember the last time either discussed one. The suit and complaint yesterday are the final straws for this registered democrat.(If one could write in Mickey Mouse, I would next week) These two men need to grow up, preferably somewhere outside of the public limelight and public office.

For taking their State Senate campaigns to all-time lows, Irving Slosberg and Ted Deutsch are today's knuckleheads of the day.

Linked to- Samantha Burns, Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Outside the Beltway, Right Wing Nation, Stuck on Stupid, Basil's Blog,

WEST PALM BEACH — Democratic state Senate candidate Ted Deutch filed a $2 million libel and defamation lawsuit Thursday against state Rep. Irving Slosberg, accusing his rival in Tuesday's primary of using his campaign ads and literature to knowingly and maliciously spread falsehoods about Deutch.

Slosberg called Deutch's lawsuit "a big political ploy" and said he stood by the content of his campaign materials. Late Thursday afternoon, Slosberg filed a Florida Elections Commission complaint against Deutch and the group Florida Residents for Responsible and Responsive Government, accusing both of making false statements about him in their campaign literature.

Slosberg and Deutch are running for the Senate District 30 seat being vacated by term-limited Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. The winner of the Democratic primary faces Libertarian Karl Dickey in November.

Deutch, an attorney from Boca Raton making his first run for office, said Slosberg's attacks, such as a mailing this week calling Deutch a "tax deadbeat," are injurious not only to his candidacy but to his personal and professional reputations.

"The Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Office had to fine Deutch twice for not paying his taxes on time," Slosberg's mailer says.

That's false, Director of Tax Services Pat Poston said. Deutch has always paid his taxes on time, Poston said, and got a discount for paying them early in 2003 and 2005, the years when Slosberg claims Deutch was delinquent.

While his tax payments have been timely, Deutch has twice been late in filing a listing of his business-related "tangible property" with the county property appraiser's office. As a penalty for filing his statement after the April 1 deadline in 2003 and 2005, Deutch's tangible property was assessed 5 percent higher each year.

Last year, with the 5 percent penalty, Deutch's tangible property was valued at $1,596 instead of $1,520. The extra $76 in appraised value is listed as a "penalty" in the tax collector's records. The higher assessment meant Deutch's tax bill was $30.41 instead of $28.96 — a difference of $1.45. But because he paid his taxes early, he got a discount and only had to pay $29.19.

Slosberg said the late penalty from the property appraiser's office justifies his claim. "It's the same thing," Slosberg said. "He got penalized."

Slosberg's Florida Elections Commission complaint says Deutch and the pro-Deutch group "lied" in saying Slosberg voted for a 2002 GOP-drafted redistricting plan and a voucher bill this year.

Slosberg voted for the redistricting plan in the House in 2002, but voted against final passage 16 days later after a House-Senate conference. Slosberg voted for a voucher bill this year, but changed his vote in the House Journal within eight minutes of final passage, saying someone had pushed his electronic voting button by mistake.