"Can it be, do you hear?
                                                                                                             A new freedom song is ring-in'
                                                                                                               No more doubt no more fear
                                                                                                           There's a new day that is bringin'
                                                                                                               Something simple is the Key
                                                                                                                  Only Love will set us free
                                                                                                                     It's so far, it's so near
                                                                                                                 Almost close, almost here"
                                                                                                   Songwriters: ALEX NORTH, TERRY CALLIER

The Web site/Resident/Tamarac diary.....not affiliated with the Sun Sentinel (below) ......GOOD JOB, EDITORIAL BOARD!

By Sun Sentinel Editorial Board | Sun SentinelPUBLISHED: October 7, 2026 at 11:20 AM EDT

The weary people of Tamarac can restore sanity to their city in November. All they have to do is vote sensibly in two district commission races.

This west Broward city of 74,000 careens from one fiasco to another with a constant theme: the misuse of public money by politicians who act as if the city treasury is their piggy bank. By now, voters should be fed up and determined to break up a corrupt cabal at City Hall controlled by Marlon Bolton, a politically shrewd commissioner who is not on the ballot.

District 2: Morey Wright Jr.
The bar is set so low in Tamarac that Morey Wright has easily earned a second term by respecting the voters. He refuses to take advantage of taxpayers the way some colleagues do.

Wright, 42, a tech consultant with an MBA from Johns Hopkins University, has a humble, soft-spoken manner and deep Tamarac roots — a rarity. He was still a kid when his father bought a house in the Woodlands section in the 1990s, when the city was still a retirement haven for ex-New Yorkers.

Tamarac’s demographic changes have led to cultural shifts in which some politicians treat tax money too carelessly. The city is a target of two investigations by the county Office of Inspector general. In the latest probe, the OIG demanded thousands of records from a Bolton pet project, the Yard on the Lawn music festival, which cost the city $450,000.

Wright’s opponent is former Commissioner Mike Gelin, who should be rejected by voters. Gelin, who is aligned with Bolton, is seeking to disqualify Wright as a candidate by alleging minor campaign paperwork defects. The case goes to court Friday, Oct. 9.

Gelin ghosted the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and is trying to win back the seat he once held, before he left in 2022 to run for mayor. Wright is the only serious option in this race.

        _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tamarac candidate Carol Mendelson is taking aim at Commissioner Kicia Daniel's questionable spending habits.
Tamarac candidate Carol Mendelson is taking aim at Commissioner Kicia Daniel's questionable spending habits.
District 4: Carol Mendelson
No other Broward race offers a more striking contrast than this one.

Commissioner Kicia Daniel, an ally of Bolton, emulates his free-wheeling spending by using city funds for gas card giveaways, back-to-school haircuts, food distribution and food and music festivals.

Daniel, Bolton and a third commissioner voted to raid $400,000 from a $1 million settlement of a water quality suit to give four commissioners another kitty for promotional gimmicks and vote-buying, with virtually no city oversight.

The money was intended to clean up Tamarac’s water of deadly “forever chemicals.” The diverted money is in addition to each commissioner’s $25,000 annual slush fund. They can also hire three part-time “liaisons” for up to $40,000 a year for promotion purposes — all with public money.

Daniel promoted a gas-card giveaway with official city signs that include “District 4.” They bear an uncanny resemblance to her campaign mailers, making it virtually impossible for voters to tell the difference — precisely the point.

In a rematch of a 2022 race, challenger Carol Mendelson promises to end the misspending if she’s elected (she ran for this seat and lost to Daniel).

Mendelson, 74, is a retired Broward school administrator who has lived in Tamarac for more than 25 years.

“Most of the commissioners, excluding the mayor, all seem to spend the money as if it grows on trees,” Mendelson said in an Editorial Board interview. “I am confident that they (the voters) are unhappy and know what they need in the city.”

Daniel, like Gelin, ignored our requests for a questionnaire and an interview.

If Mendelson defeats Daniel, she will form a new, fiscally prudent majority with Wright and Mayor Michelle Gomez, who was re-elected unopposed, and Bolton’s working majority will disappear.

For Tamarac City Commission, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends Morey Wright Jr. and Carol Mendelson.

Note: Our endorsements reflect the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s values and concerns for our community. The newsroom does not participate in editorial board decisions.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant.