Michael Steinberg
Rocky
Born (1959-02-06) February 6, 1959
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Florida
Political partyDemocratic (before 2016)
American Delta (2016)
Reform (2016–present)
SpouseMiriam Steinberg
Children3

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 a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election. He was also the Reform Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election.

Steinberg has been practicing law for over 30 years, and his firm, Michael Steinberg & Associates, provides legal services to clients in social security, veteran's compensation, long-term disability insurance, and state disability matters.[1] The Tampa Bay Times cited him saying that the aging population of Tampa Bay and the area's declining economy were the cause of an increase in local legal claims. Between 2008 and 2009, the 21 percent increase in social security disability legal claims in Tampa Bay broke the nationwide record.[2]

In 2014, his wife Miriam ran for a Florida state legislature seat in District 64, where he had run unsuccessfully in 2002.[3]

Background

Steinberg married his wife Miriam in 1984. Miriam is originally from Israel. The two have three adult daughters. He is a member of a Conservative synagogue in Tampa, Florida.[4]

Steinberg received his bachelor's degree in economics and a J.D. 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.[5]

Political involvement

2002 Florida state legislature election

In 2002, Steinberg ran for election for the Florida state legislature in District 64; his candidacy was endorsed by the St. Petersburg Times.[6] Two months after losing the election, Steinberg filed a lawsuit against the state Republican party for push polling against him in the election. The Florida Republican Party hired Tarrance Group, a Virginia-based polling company, to survey voters across the state. Towson Fraser, spokesman for the Republican Party of Florida at the time, denied that his party used push polls.[7]

Steinberg ran again for this seat in 2010 and lost.

2006 congressional election

In 2006, Steinberg received 1,334 votes (3.4% of the popular vote) in the Democratic primary race for Florida's 11th congressional district.[8]

2014 wife's candidacy

When his wife, Miriam Steinberg, was running for office 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, J. W. Grant, who was out of office for a period, was automatically the winner of the election despite having reached his term limit.[9] Miriam lost the election to Grant by a 59:40 margin.[10]

It was later ruled that write-in candidate should not have been disqualified, and subsequently, the election was ruled unconstitutional and the Florida legislature voted not to accept the result.[11] 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.[12] This resulted in Grant's only opponent being a write-in candidate. No write-in candidate has ever won an election in Florida.[13][14]

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.[13][15][16]

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.[17][18]

2016 vice-presidential candidacy

After failing to gain traction for his presidential bid, he was then nominated by the American Delta Party, and by the Reform Party of the United States as the vice-presidential running mate of 2016 presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente.[19][20]

Personal life

Steinberg and his wife Miriam live in Florida. The couple has three children.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Michael Steinberg And Associates - Disability Lawyers". Michael Steinberg and Associates. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  2. ↑ Kameel Stanley (September 17, 2010). "Social Security disability claims on the rise in Tampa Bay". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Lawsuit seeks to remove Jamie Grant from 2018 ballot". floridapolitics.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  4. ↑ Jacobs, Michael (29 February 2016). "Democratic Primary: From Michael Steinberg". Atlanta Jewish Times. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  5. 1 2 Zimmer, Josh (October 31, 2002). "STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 47 Series: Know Your Candidates: November 5th General Election; Election 2002". St. Petersburg Times.
  6. ↑ "For a better state House Series: TIMES RECOMMENDS". St. Petersburg Times. August 23, 2002. p. 16A.
  7. ↑ Zimmer, Josh (2003). "Push polling unfair, says candidate". St. Petersburg Times. p. 6.
  8. ↑ "ELECTION RESULTS: [STATE / SUNCOAST Edition]". St. Petersburg Times. September 7, 2006. p. 3B.
  9. ↑ Rosica, James L. (July 17, 2014). "Candidate's proof of residency: Sign on his bedroom door". Tampa Tribune. Scripps Capital Bureau.
  10. ↑ Mitchell, Tia (October 16, 2014). "Court ruling leaves Tampa Bay area state House election up in the air". Tampa Bay Times.
  11. ↑ McCrory, Kathleen (November 18, 2014). "Florida House rejects Tampa's District 64 election results; special vote to come". Tampa Bay Times.
  12. ↑ "lawsuit" (PDF). FECWebFi ?.
  13. 1 2 "1 name on ballot for District 64 special election".
  14. ↑ "Nancy Watkins will not run for the Tampa HD 60 seat". SaintPetersBlog. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  15. ↑ Tampa Bay Times addresses Michael
  16. ↑ "State House, District 64 | Tampa Bay Times". Tampabay.com. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  17. ↑ "FEC filing: Michael Steinberg for President committee" (PDF). FEC.gov.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ "Florida 2016 General Election". www.thegreenpapers.com.
  20. ↑ Winger, Richard (August 9, 2016) "Reform Party Nominates Rocky De La Fuente for President", Ballot Access News. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
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