Lamar launching her campaign on the deck of a boat she later confirmed was not hers.Photo: Lamar for Harbor
Kiki Lamar, the breakout star of three seasons of "Marina Wives," announced on Thursday that she is running for the open seat on the Palmetto Bay harbor board, promising "fewer rules, more boats, and somebody on that board who's actually been on one."
The board currently has six members, one of whom is a pelican, elected last month in a result the city is still describing as "procedurally valid."
The platform
Lamar's platform, delivered from the deck of a 40-foot cruiser at the East Marina, has three points: "berths for everyone," "a dress code for the board," and "finding out what happened with the yacht, because we all want to know."
Asked about the pelican, Lamar said she had "a lot of respect for the bird" and would "work across the aisle, or the water, whatever."
"I've been thrown off more boats than the rest of that board have been on. That's experience. You can't teach that. You can film it, and we did."
— Kiki Lamar, candidate
The campaign poster. The slogan was workshopped from 'I Have A Boat' after it emerged she does not.
The boat question
Reporters noted during the launch that the cruiser Lamar stood on belonged to her co-star, Dree Castellan, who was not told and arrived mid-speech to ask "why is there a podium on my boat." The exchange that followed will, Lamar's team confirms, be in season four.
Lamar later clarified that she "does not currently own a boat" but "has been on enough of them to count as a sailor, legally." The harbor board's clerk says there is no such law, "but we're checking, because of the pelican."
The field
Castellan, whose boat it was, has not endorsed anyone. Asked by Wazel News whether she would vote for her co-star, she said she would "think about it on the boat, which I still have, which is mine," and then asked whether the podium was going to be removed before the weekend. The campaign says it is "working on it."
Lamar joins two other candidates: a retired harbor pilot and a man who has filed in every election since 2009 under the name "The Tide." Polling by Wazel News, conducted at the marina bar, has Lamar at 38%, The Tide at 20% and "the pelican again, if it can" at 42%.
The election is on November 3. Lamar's campaign is, as of Friday, looking for a boat.