Reckless Robert Dempster not a serious mayoral candidate for North Miami Beach

Robert Dempster is getting blasted for Democratic Party mismanagement.

Robert Dempster has an extensive record of driving offenses and financial mismanagement that have posed a serious danger to the community. And he wants to be North Miami Beach’s next mayor.

Dempster has racked up nearly 30 offenses behind the wheel, earning him a at least five driver license suspensions. If his wanton recklessness on South Florida roadways wasn’t enough, he’s exhibited a blasé attitude when it comes to respecting those suspensions, landing him three – count ‘em, three – criminal misdemeanors for cranking up the engine for another bout of joyriding while his license was suspended.

Dempster’s delusions of being a Le Mans driver is one thing. His inability to responsibly manage his personal finances is another, even more troubling character flaw for a candidate seeking to get his hands on North Miami Beach’s purse strings.

His fiduciary foibles make for a thick file of forsaken bills. Among them: Unpaid credit card bills and a lawsuit levied by his alma mater, Stetson University, that ended with a $13,000 judgement – the cause of that case? Unpaid bills from his undergrad days.

While the word “garnish” carries decorative or culinary implications to most, Dempster is intimately familiar with the word’s other meaning – the withholding of pay to settle past debts.

Garnishing is seemingly as synonymous with the would-be mayor as traffic infractions.

In 2007, when the would-be mayor was employed at AT&T (then Bellsouth), a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge ordered the company to withhold part of Dempster’s paycheck to put a dent in nearly $10,000 in unpaid credit card bills plus interest.

It took him five years to clear that debt.

The troubling trends beg the question: If Dempster can’t keep his own books in order, how can North Miami Beach voters expect him to treat the city’s coffers any better?

Furthermore, if he can’t get 500 yards down the road without banging an illegal U-turn or buying car insurance – two more of his numerous automotive proclivities – how can voters expect him to even make it into the office for a term without a manslaughter charge or at least a score of near misses?

Dempster is running against Anthony DeFillipo and Raymond “Ray” Marin in the Nov. 6 mayoral race. Assuming no candidate snags more than 50 percent of the vote, the top-two vote getters in that contest will move on to a runoff election.