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Progress Report #24: From West Palm Beach to Key Largo: 157 miles

Lawton Chiles Walks—and Talks—Through Florida

1,000 down, 000000 to go- we're there!

We got to the outskirts of Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon and after a short walk Monday morning, and we were met by John Moyle and some supporters at Publix just on the edge of Palm Beach. The long trek from Ft. Myers to the sea is now ended, and I realize that I will be knee-deep in people down the east coast walking through Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties.

We twice visited the RCA plant where they have approximately 2,000 employees on one shift. Most of them were doing bench work — skilled labor working on computer components. There are great employee-employer relations here, and we were allowed to go down the lines and talk to the people. They were working hard, but stopped to talk to us when we came up to them. Many of the employees were women. They make good money and have excellent working conditions.

I spoke to the Palm Beach Kiwanis Club one day. The next day I went to the West Palm Beach Kiwanis Club where they had another speaker; however, they have a provision which allows ten minutes for any political candidates that come to the meeting. Since I was the only one there that day, I got the full ten minutes. I think that's an excellent provision. Candidates will be coming through town; if they can't make an actual speaking date with a club, the members still have an opportunity to hear them.

Bill Walton, an ATO fraternity brother, put together a great barbecue in West Palm Beach. There were over 100 people there, and I really enjoyed being with them and speaking to them.

In Boca Raton I visited Florida Atlantic University. It was registration time so I got a chance to visit with a number of the students there. I met many of the faculty members at a reception later that day.

Boca Raton is really growing. There are a tremendous number of condominiums, apartments and housing developments being built in the area.

We went all the way from Boca Raton to Pompano Beach and spent a busy half day visiting with the people at the Pompano mall. This is a tremendous new shopping center and mall and has all of the major stores- Sears, Penneys, Riches, Burdines together with about 106 little stores. Lots of people to see.

I was met at the Broward County line by A.J. Ryan, a former fellow legislator, Emmet McTigue, who I knew at the University of Florida, and a group of supporters. They walked with me into Pompano Beach.

The people in Broward County are more frustrated and hostile than about any place I've been. I can remember about ten years ago when people were saying "why would anyone live in Dade County when they could just move across the line and live in Broward". Well, it looks like too many did move. The county has had a tremendous impact of people, and they are still coming; however the facilities in the area are not adequate. Subdividers came into Broward County and incorporated many little towns, thereby setting up their own zoning requirements and building codes. When the developer left, the people had to take over the city government and cope with the problems of inadequate sewage, schools and other problems.

I talked to one man who told me he spends an hour and a half a day on the road trying to get home. When he gets there and takes out his boat to relax, he can't even fish where he used to fish. He says he can buy less with his paycheck, and he's paying more taxes. "I don't know who the hell is supposed to be representing me in government, but whoever it is has sure not done anything for me." This seems to be the complaint of many other people in this area, too.

Going from Pompano Beach to Ft. Lauderdale, I became very much aware of the serious traffic conditions on U.S. 1. Cars were bumper to bumper. It rained some that day, and due to the added hazards of wet, slick pavement I saw six traffic accidents along that stretch of road. I think part of the problem is the missing link in I-95. All the traffic in this area is detoured over to U.S. 1. I wonder if this missing link is due to an agreement that was made when the turnpike was refinanced. Part of the refinancing deal, as I understood it, was that the road department would not 4-lane a parallel road or it might be in competition with the turnpike, thus interfering with the turnpike bonds. This would directly affect I-95 as well as 27, both parallel routes.

Going into Lake Worth, we were met by a group of ladies from the Zonta Club. This is a women's civic organization that sponsors a walk every year to provide money for the junior college there. We exchanged walking tips and they invited me to join them during the latter part of September. They walked with me a while, and we were joined along the way by the Lake Worth Chamber president, Wally Ferguson, who runs a laundry and dry cleaning establishment in town.

We spent a busy day Monday in Ft. Lauderdale. In the morning we visited Florida Power and Light and a number of industrial plants in the area. That afternoon we walked toward Dania.

Tuesday we arrived in Hollywood. That afternoon I broke from the walk and went ahead for the first time into Miami where we appeared with other candidates in a program at the Tiger Bay Club. This is a very active organization in Miami. They had an interesting panel, and I thought everyone did well, but in the brief time, it was hard to feel that you were really able to show your stuff. I did note that Farris Bryant spent more time talking about his past and very little telling about what he expected to do in the Senate in the future.

We went from there to a taping at Channel 7 for an hour television program. We had a little more time for questions, and a better opportunity to express ourselves. I wish we had more shows of this type, where the voters have an opportunity to compare the differences in the candidates.

Early the next morning we went back to Broward County and walked into Dade County where we were met by a number of our Dade County supporters and members of the press. Sylvan Meyer, editor of the Miami News, came out and walked with me some five miles into North Miami Beach. Four of the papers, the Miami News, the West Palm Beach Post, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Cowles papers have agreed to pool their reporters to cover the Senate and Governor races. They are doing in-depth profiles of the candidates, and Sylvan Meyer is doing his profile on me, so he has spent considerable time with me finding out what makes me tick.

My Miami visit was really organized, and I was busy walking in all the different sections of the city. We visited in the North Dade and North Miami Beach areas, meeting people in the city halls and along the streets. That afternoon, I went to the Systems Club for a fund raising event, and that evening I was on the Larry King Show, an hour long talk show hosted by a very sharp guy, Larry King.

The following morning, we visited with aircraft employees during a shift change at the airport, then went to Hialeah, Miami Springs and Palm Springs Mile Shopping Center. We then jumped over to Miami Beach, where I made an appearance at the Vocational Teacher convention which was being held at the Fontainbleu Hotel, then back to the airport for a shift change at Pan American.

Senator Lee Weissenborn had set up a meeting with the board of directors of the association representing the condominium owners. The condominium owners made it clear that they may be retired, but they are not old. They're very active and interested, protecting their rights. After my discussion with them, they voted to endorse my candidacy. The board represents some 80 different condominiums that have at least 250 units, and this could be a tremendous help to us in Dade County.

We spent three hours that night on the Allen Courtney Show. The first hour was spent in an interview, and the last two hours were a telephone marathon. I enjoyed this show, and both the Allen Courtney and the Larry King shows have tremendous listening audiences. People mentioned my appearances on both during the rest of my visit in Dade County.

We've had excellent television coverage on all Dade County channels. They've come out and covered parts of the walk.

Friday morning we met some more airline personnel during shift changes, and went through the Justice Building where there are a couple thousand employees. That afternoon we went to Miami Beach and visited the Lincoln Mall, then went to the Miami Beach Daily Sun. An interesting fellow was waiting for me there. His name was Harry Reichenthal. He had cut out letters and prepared a sign which he had hung around his neck. It said, "Welcome to Miami Beach, Lawton Chiles, the walking senator, the man that will represent the people and is campaigning without spending money." He had a wonderful accent which Myron Cohen would have admired, and he preceded me from the Sun office down Lincoln mall saying "He's coming, he's coming! The walking senator is coming! Come out and see the walking senator." He said that if he wasn't out campaigning for me, he would have nothing important to do at all. We need something meaningful for these retired people to do. They have much to contribute and they want to play a valuable part in society, so we must help them find a way to put their experience to work.

I walked in Liberty City on Saturday. There had been several severe riots there and a store had been burned. There was open hostility here. This is a black neighborhood, and it was obvious that the same zoning codes and road repairs were not used here that were applied to other portions of the city. I talked to one young man, 24 years old, who had two years of college working on a sociology degree. He has now dropped out of school and is doing nothing. He had been drinking beer all morning, and he poured out his frustrations to me. He wondered why we can't have human rights where people want to help each other rather than just civil rights, where someone was made to do something by the law. He said many politicians came there promising many things, but nothing was ever improved. When I left, the people seemed a little more friendly toward me, and thanked me for bothering to visit their neighborhood and listen to them.

That afternoon I walked in Little Cuba and the contrast was apparent. The Cubans have taken over an area and fixed it up. They have little coffee shops about every three or four stores, and they sit and discuss politics. They want to know definitely what our position is regarding Cuba and Castro's government. They realize now that we are not going to give them arms aid, but they want to know if we are going to recognize Castro and trade with his country. They are frustrated by not knowing, and I feel that they are entitled to answers to their questions. I have the strongest feeling that the clock is running on us in Latin America, and Latin America is more important than Europe to us. We've got to keep Latin America from becoming Communistic. I hope to become an expert on Latin American affairs for two reasons: 1) because I think Florida is the Gateway to there; and 2) because the United States Senate has no real expert on this vital problem.

Saturday night I went to the Dolphin game where I stood outside the gates and handed out literature. I was amazed at the recognition that I had there. During the half somebody recognized me and started talking about the walk. Before I knew it, I had people three rows up and three rows down talking to me, and took about 15 minutes to get back to my seat.

People in Dade County really like the walk. The media coverage has really brought it to their attention. I think there's a hatful of votes here, all available. I am really going to work hard here and hope to do well.

Well, it's over! There were times when I dreamed I was an old man and I was still walking, like maybe this was going to go on forever. But surprisingly, the several days since Miami went extra fast and when the finish line slipped up on me, I wasn't really ready. I certainly faced the end of the road with mixed emotions.

But it was a fine feeling to have a number of friends and supporters with me for that last mile — newsmen, too (would you believe John McDermott, Miami Herald political writer, walking? It sure looked good on him, too). Key Largo (John Pennekamp State Park) was absolutely beautiful; it was a great place to wind up.

What has the walk accomplished? Unquestionably, it has given media exposure I could never have had otherwise. It helped me prove my concern about overspending in political campaigns. And I have to admit that I may never be as healthy physically again... unless I decide to go another 1,000 miles another day!

I'm delighted I've been able to meet and talk with over 40,000 people all over the state. I have first-hand knowledge of the problems of our state, better than anyone else in the race. Now, I'm looking forward to the rest of the campaign, and I'm counting on all the friends I've made to go to work these last few days before the election September 8th.

Whewwwwww... can it really be over?