Controversy Persists After Fla. Union Election

By Julie Blair

First, the president of the 10,000-member Broward Teachers Union in Florida was sent to federal prison for soliciting a teenage girl on the Internet from union headquarters. Now, allegations have emerged that both a smear campaign and election fraud took place during the race to replace him.

Union members in the 250,000-student Broward County district overwhelmingly choose interim President Patrick A. Santeramo to lead their organization in a contentious, weeklong election that ended at 2 a.m. on March 24.

But one of Mr. Santeramo's opponents, Barry A. Silver, an English teacher at Coral Springs High School near Fort Lauderdale, said he may contest the election. He charges that his opponent's victory came only after Mr. Santeramo tried to destroy the reputations of his competitors' and altered election procedures to his advantage. "This stinks of impropriety," Mr. Silver said last week. "If you want to beat me, put...