WEST PALM BEACH — With a month remaining for candidates to declare for the city’s wide-open mayoral race, it’s as much about who’s sitting out and who might consider a last-minute bid as it is who’s running.
Mayor Lois Frankel is term-limited and stepping down. City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, long considered a front-runner should she run, has announced she will remain on the sidelines.
Area names such as former West Palm Mayor Nancy Graham and longtime City and County Commissioner Jeff Koons – before his conviction for extortion – were floated in local polls, but neither wanted to run.
Then there’s former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who has shown interest but has said he probably will wait until the Dec. 27 deadline to decide. He said he’s still unsure whether he wants to give up his private life and face public scrutiny that could pain family and friends.
Foley’s scandalous past – he resigned from Congress in 2006 when it was revealed he sent sexually charged Internet messages to male pages – might not make him a favorite. But he would lend the race national attention and the big name it lacks so far.
“I do have the luxury that I can be the last man to file if I choose to, and still have the name ID,” Foley said last week.
Full story: Big names on sidelines in West Palm Beach mayoral race