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Florida Mayor's Dad Threatens Her at Gunpoint

She'd endorsed his opponent in another mayoral race

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 8, 2009 12:04 PM CDT

(Newser) – Local politics took a bizarre turn in Florida’s Broward County Tuesday night, when Mayor Stacy Ritter’s father—an 84-year-old World War II veteran—showed up at her home with a gun and threatened her. After a brief struggle, Ritter convinced her dad, Edward Portner, to let her go to the kitchen for a drink of water, using the opportunity to escape out of the garage door, her husband tells the Miami Herald.

Portner admitted to the incident when police arrested him later at his home. “He was quite contrite,” says his attorney, and insists the gun wasn’t loaded. Ritter has vowed to get her father “the help that he needs.” Relations have been strained between Ritter and Portner; he decided to run for mayor of Tamarac after she’d already endorsed his opponent, and she hasn’t switched sides.

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A headshot of Stacy Ritter, taken from the Broward County website.

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It probably makes most voters think we've entered the political Twilight Zone. - Pollster Jim Kane, on this incident, and recent corruption indictments in the county

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Florida Mayor's Dad Threatens Her at Gunpoint