Wikipedia

Susan Guber

Susan Guber (born 1938/1939) is an American politician in the state of Florida. She was a member of the Florida House of Representatives for the 117th district between 1986 and 1992.

Susan Guber
Guber in 1991
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 117th district
In office
1986–1992
Preceded byTom Gallagher
Personal details
Born1938 or 1939 (age 84–85)[1]
Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materUniversity of Chicago

Early life edit

Guber grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, where her father was a trial attorney. As a child, she was family friends with Michael Dukakis and in his 1988 presidential campaign, she was the first state legislator to endorse him, before he had officially announced his candidacy.[2] She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago.[1] She married Michael, a gastroenterologist, and moved to Florida in 1964. The couple have two daughters, one of whom became an entertainment lawyer and the second of whom became a movie producer.[2][1][3]

She worked initially as a teacher and was a member of the Dade County chapter of the Women's Political Caucus and the Citizens Coalition of Dade County Public Schools. Prior to running for office, she worked as a lobbyist for hospitals and a legislative aide to county commissioner Bill Oliver.[1][4]

Political career edit

In the 1986 general election, Guber was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives for the 117th district, replacing Tom Gallagher. She defeated Republican Jim Brodie by 386 votes.[4][5][6] She ran against former legislator Scott McPherson in the 1988 general election, receiving 16,469 votes to his 14,170 votes.[7] She was the chair of the programs subcommittee of the education committee and chair of the vocation and technical education committee.[8][9][10]

In 1989, she opposed a bill sponsored by fellow Democrat Willie Logan Jr. in the small business and economic development committee, which would have required obscene records which were out of reach of children.[11] Guber then moved on to write a bill with the aim of classifying abortion as a protected personal decision under the state constitution in response to proposed anti-abortion legislation in the October 1989 special legislative session.[12] She also sponsored a bill requiring background checks to purchase a gun, which was combined with a bill written by Ron Silver, and a bill to punish the sale of guns to unsupervised minors.[8][13]

In the 1990 general election, she ran against Republican Gary Gerrard. One of his supporters filed suit to request her financial records under chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes but the proceedings were combined with a similar case, Locke v. Hawkes, by the Supreme Court of Florida.[1][14] She was appointed to the state job training council and the HIV services planning council.[15]

 
Guber with fellow legislators in 1990 after protesting cigar exemption

Guber introduced legislation to allow terminally ill patients to refuse sustenance which was approved by the House in May 1990, following amendments by Republican Jim King.[16] The following year, she sponsored an additional bill to expand the provisions.[17][18] Guber spoke out against the 1990 proposed House bill that increased taxes on cigarettes but not cigars – calling it "a male chauvinist exemption".[19][20] She introduced the House Bill 1863 in 1992, which would transfer $5 million from the state coastal water protection fund to a clean-up fund for polluted water, in response to contaminated well water in the neighborhood of Suniland.[21][22]

In 1992, her constituency was redistricted to include fellow legislator Mario Díaz-Balart.[23] As a result, she instead contested district 40 of the Florida State Senate in the 1992 election. However, she lost to Daryl L. Jones in the Democratic primary.[24][25]

Later life edit

After leaving office, Guber became the vice president of governmental affairs at South Miami Hospital and the head of the Adopt-A-School committee.[26]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Klingener, Nancy (October 21, 1990). "District 117 race is down and dirty". Miami Herald. p. 168. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Dudley, Bruce (July 22, 1988). "State lawmaker toasts success of 'paperboy'". The Tampa Tribune. p. 9. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Clifford, Dorothy (February 23, 1992). "Home Away From Home". Tallahassee Democrat. p. 53. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Feldstein Soto, Luis (October 1, 1986). "Cosgrove defeats Hawkins for House bid". Miami Herald. p. 26. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Joffee, Robert (November 6, 1986). "Absentee count changes no wins; Beach recount is set". The Miami News. p. 4. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Takacs, Jeff (2019). The People of Lawmaking in Florida: 1822 - 2019 (PDF). Florida House of Representatives. p. 78.
  7. ^ Dewar, Heather; Miller, Maurice (November 9, 1988). "Dade delegation's battle ends in draw". The Miami News. p. 9. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b "Legislative Scorecard". Miami Herald. June 11, 1989. p. 38. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Faiola, Anthony (December 16, 1990). "Area legislators get key committee roles". Miami Herald. p. 3. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Moore, Arden (July 20, 1992). "Trade Schools Risky Regulators' Roles Raise Questions". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  11. ^ Parker, Betty (April 19, 1990). "Obscenity bill passes committee". The News-Press. p. 29. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Activists preparing for special session". Sun-Sentinel. August 11, 1989. p. 14. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Kallestad, Brent (June 20, 1989). "Florida Senate Passes Bill Making it Illegal to Leave Guns Unattended". AP News. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  14. ^ Tollett, Kara M. (1992). "The Sunshine Amendment of 1992: An Analysis of the Constitutional Guarantee of Access to Public Records". Florida State University Law Review. 20 (2): 525–541.
  15. ^ Brennan, Fran (July 23, 1992). "District 40". Miami Herald. p. 16. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Sutton, Charlotte (May 25, 1990). "House okays right to stop sustenance". Tampa Bay Times. p. 27. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Sutton, Charlotte (April 12, 1991). "House okays bill defining rights of terminally ill". Tampa Bay Times. p. 11. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Panel passes Canadian-style health plan". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  19. ^ Silva, Mark; Nickens, Tim (May 2, 1990). "House votes to make 4 taxes bite harder". Miami Herald. p. 52. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Cotterell, Bill (May 2, 1990). "By the way — why are bras taxed if jocks aren't?". Tallahassee Democrat. p. 7. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Silva, Mark (March 5, 1992). "Clean-up bill still bottled up". Miami Herald. p. 34. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Silva, Mark (March 12, 1992). "Panel in Senate is casting doubt on well cleanup". Miami Herald. p. 406. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Nickens, Tim (April 19, 1992). "Susan Guber: A legislator out of luck?". Miami Herald. p. 265. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Rush is on to file for legislative races". Miami Herald. July 14, 1992. p. 94. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Dade election has some firsts". Tampa Bay Times. September 9, 1992. p. 19. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Lindstrom, Jennifer (March 5, 1995). "South Miami High gets a health clinic". Miami Herald. p. 84. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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