Off into the sunset

Irv Slosberg says he is retired from politics and won't run again. Yesterday the state house representative was having lunch with some constituents in nearby Boca Raton.

"I'm so sorry," Ruth B. Gross, 86, told him when she stopped by his table at the restaurant west of Boca Raton. Gross was one of many elderly diners who figured the politician needed a hug after his primary election thrashing days earlier. "I was floored when I heard the results. The truth is that everybody was for you, Irv, but they didn't come out because of the weather," she said.

Slosberg, dressed in jeans and a faded blue T-shirt, sighed. "It is what it is," said the three-term Democrat, thwarted in his bid to move from House District 90 to the state Senate.

"Run as an independent," another constituent, Diane Lustig, 77, suggested.

"No," said Slosberg, 59. "It's over."

Indeed, gloom and rain were factors on Election Day, helping to hold voter turnout below 20 percent, according to election officials. And that may have contributed to political novice Ted Deutch's victory in the District 30 primary.

The turnout was light and maybe this didn't help Slosberg. I don't see it as the primary reasons however. Slosberg's gross overspending on this race, controversial grandstanding nature, plus his constant attack advertisements were I think the primary causes of Slosberg losing. He underestimated the intelligence of voters in the district.

But Slosberg, one of the area's most colorful and controversial political characters, did not blame the rain for his loss and what he declares as his retirement from public life. He blames U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, and other prominent Democrats who backed Deutch.

While saying that Slosberg "self-destructed," Wexler agreed that he did have a major role in his loss. "People believed Irv was invincible because of all his self-promotion," said Wexler. "But when I stood up to him, and openly said to the community, `Something is wrong with Irv; his voting record is not what you think it is,' that gave people the opportunity to question his credibility."

Slosberg faults voters for failing to recognize his accomplishments.

Linking his sponsorship of a mandatory seat belt ordinance and a drop in traffic fatalities, Slosberg said, "I saved 240 lives just with that seat belt bill."

Irv still can't see reality. Congressman Wexler is little better than Slosberg and most voters take endorsements with a grain of salt. Looking at them as political backslapping or backstabbing depending on who the politicans are.

Slosberg is still full of himself too. Seatbelts saved people;s lives, not him. This is just one more example of overinflated image Slosberg has of himself. Defeat at the polls didn't humble Irv. Apparently nothing can do that. Goodbye Irving Slosberg, don't let the door hit you on your out.

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