Meet Your Boca Raton Mayoral Candidates: Bernard Korn

By: Michael Demyan

Photo courtesy The Palm Beach Post

Bernard Korn will be running against Scott Singer and Al Zucaro for the role of Boca Raton’s mayor in the upcoming election on Aug. 28. Singer has served as the city’s mayor since Susan Haynie was suspended by Gov. Rick Scott, following her arrest in April.

Korn graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and finance at Brooklyn College in New York and served as a law enforcement officer for two years in the 1980s. He later worked in adult education at a Brooklyn high school and is currently a licensed real estate broker and instructor.

Korn, who is planning to run for president in 2020, has never voted or run for political office before, but he said he is determined to win the seat to rid Boca Raton of corruption.

“[The city council is] all corrupt,” he said. “Susan Haynie was not working alone. Believe me. I know the players and I’m cooperating with law enforcement now as we speak.”

He considered running for a city council seat during the last election, but he said that he instead chose to mentor Kim Do, who narrowly lost to current city council member Jeremy Rodgers.

“Later on she got a campaign manager, she did things that I did not approve of,” he said. “So towards the end of the election, I said, ‘That’s not the way we do things.’ I’m a school. I’m your mentor. She was my apprentice. We don’t do things like this. She started taking money and spending money. So I basically abandoned her. And if she would’ve stayed the course, she would’ve beat him.”

He is running for mayor without any outside financial contributions and only has the help of a press secretary and a few advisers, electing to not deal with volunteers.

“The contributions equal bribes,” he said. “They’re bribes. The endorsements equal favors. I have no volunteers. The first thing volunteers say is ‘What’s in it for me?’”

One of the issues he wants to focus on is overdevelopment, which he said is causing overcrowding in local schools. Education is very important to Korn, who said that he wants to introduce a flex schedule, which would allow students to start and end their days at different times.

“I did this back at South Shore High School [in New York],” he said. “We had the same problem. Too many students.”

He also suggested starting night schools or having classes on weekends, along with an option for elementary students to come into school when the day usually ends, rather than starting in the morning.

If elected, Korn said he wants to open up city hall 24/7 until he resolves the city’s issues. He would also be reassigning or terminating numerous city employees, as well as reassigning the city manager and city attorney to smaller roles.

“I would be making decisions, not [the city manager],” he said. “I would be the CEO.”

Korn said that he wants to restore faith and trust in Boca Raton’s government through new leadership, which he feels is something the city desperately needs.

“I am going to inspire a new generation of politicians,” he said. “Not only here in Boca, but throughout the United States.”