Michael Steinberg (lawyer)

Michael Steinberg
Rocky
Born (1959-02-06) February 6, 1959
Nationality United States
Citizenship American
Alma mater University of Florida
Political party Democratic (before 2016)
Reform (2016–present)
Spouse(s) Miriam Steinberg
Children 3
Website www.2016primary.com

Michael Alan Steinberg (born February 6, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician. He has been an unsuccessful candidate in several Florida state legislature elections, and for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election. He was the Reform Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election.

In 2010 he had been working in the Social Security disability claims area for nearly 30 years, and was cited by the Tampa Bay Times as an expert: "You have a double whammy," he said about population aging and the economy doing poorly, as causes for local increase in claims, and for the record nationwide 21 percent increase in claims from 2008 to 2009. At that time he was running for the Florida state House in District 47.[1]

In 2014, his wife Miriam ran for Florida state legislature seat in District 64, where he had run unsuccessfully in 2002.

Background

Steinberg received his bachelor's degree in economics and law degree from the University of Florida. In addition to his career as an attorney practicing Social Security law, he has served on the Florida Bar Association's military law subcommittee.[2]

2002 Florida Florida state legislature election

In 2002 Steinberg ran for election in district 47. He candidacy was endorsed by the St. Petersburg Times[3] Two months after losing the election Steinberg filed lawsuit against the state Republican party for push polling against him in the election. "Tarrance Group, a Virginia-based polling company the Florida Republican Party hired to survey voters across the state." "But he says there is a principle involved. He says – and Common Cause Florida concurs – that the Democrats and Republicans both are guilty of employing these polls." "Towson Fraser, spokesman for the Republican Party of Florida, denied that his party uses push polls." [4]

2006 Florida state legislature election

in 2006 Steinberg received 1,334 votes, 3.4 percent. in race for U.S. House of Representatives 9th district.[5]

2014 election drama

Steinberg played a significant role in an unusual incident in Florida elections. When his wife Miriam Steinberg was running for office (Florida district 64) in 2014, he filed a lawsuit to disqualify a competing write-in candidate. Although the lawsuit was successful, the election was ruled invalid, and the seat was vacant until a special election could be held. As a result, the election winner J. W. Grant was out of office for a period, and his term limit clock was effectively reset.[6] It was later ruled the write-in candidate should not have been disqualified.

Miriam lost the election to Grant by about 59:40 margin.[7]

Subsequently, the election was ruled unconstitutional and the Florida legislature voted not to accept the result.[8]

Miriam then failed to file new fees to run again against Grant in a special election (although Michael filed a claim against the Florida Election Commission disputing the fee requirement).[9]

This resulted in Grant's only opponent being a write-in candidate. No write-in candidate has ever won an election in Florida, and the special election was going to be run costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.[10][11]

Grant was about to be running up against a Florida term limit law, but because the regular election was ruled invalid the seat was vacant for most of 2015 legislative session.[10][12][13]

2016 presidential election campaign

Steinberg filed papers with the U.S. Federal Election Commission in November 2013 to run for President in the 2016 election as a Democrat.[14][15]

2016 vice-presidential candidacy

After failing to gain traction in his presidential bid, he was then nominated by the Reform Party of the United States as the vice-presidential running mate of 2016 Reform presidential nominee Rocky De La Fuente.[16][17]

Personal

Steinberg and his wife Miriam live in Florida. The couple have three children.[2]

References

  1. Kameel Stanley (September 17, 2010). "Social Security disability claims on the rise in Tampa Bay". Tampa Bay Times.
  2. 1 2 Zimmer, Josh (October 31, 2002). "STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 47 Series: Know Your Candidates: November 5th General Election; Election 2002:". St. Petersburg Times. p. 9.
  3. "For a better state House Series: TIMES RECOMMENDS". St. Petersburg Times. August 23, 2002. p. 16A.
  4. Zimmer, Josh (2003). "Push polling unfair, says candidate". St. Petersburg Times. p. 6.
  5. "ELECTION RESULTS: [STATE / SUNCOAST Edition]". St. Petersburg Times. September 7, 2006. p. 3B.
  6. Rosica, James L. (July 17, 2014). "Candidate's proof of residency: Sign on his bedroom door". Tampa Tribune. Scripps Capital Bureau.
  7. Mitchell, Tia (October 16, 2014). "Court ruling leaves Tampa Bay area state House election up in the air". Tampa Bay Times.
  8. McCrory, Kathleen (November 18, 2014). "Florida House rejects Tampa's District 64 election results; special vote to come". Tampa Bay Times.
  9. "lawsuit" (PDF). FECWebFi ?.
  10. 1 2 Baynews9
  11. "Nancy Watkins will not run for the Tampa HD 60 seat". SaintPetersBlog. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  12. Tampa Bay Times addresses Michael
  13. Join the discussion: Click to view comments, add yours. "State House, District 64 | Tampa Bay Times". Tampabay.com. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  14. "FEC filing: Michael Steinberg for President committee" (PDF). FEC.gov.
  15. Fuller, Jaime (December 16, 2014). "Here is a primer on people other than Jeb Bush who are running for president in 2016". The Washington Post.
  16. "The Green Papers: Florida 2016 General Election"
  17. Winger, Richard (August 9, 2016) "Reform Party Nominates Rocky De La Fuente for President", Ballot Access News. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.