Ousting sheriff a bad precedent
Maxwell: DeSantis wants Israel gone, but that’s up to voters.
I can’t vouch for Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
I don’t think I want him in office.
But here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter what I think.
I didn’t elect him.
One specific group of people did — the voters of Broward County.
That’s why it’s so troubling to see politicians attempt to override a valid vote to oust a duly elected official who hasn’t even been charged with a crime, much less convicted of one.
It’s a wicked precedent — something you might expect in a third-world country where rulers pick and choose which elections to uphold. Yet it’s playing out in Florida right now.
Gov. Ron DeSantis first removed Sheriff Scott Israel from office in January to fulfill a campaign pledge. Now state senators must decide whether DeSantis acted properly — even though the Senate’s own hired expert ruled he did not.
Yes, Republican legislators actually brought in an expert — one of their own; a former GOP legislator and attorney — to study all the facts.
Special Master Dudley Goodlette did so and concluded that, while front-line deputies should have more quickly entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to confront the shooter in Parkland last year, their inaction was not grounds to invalidate an election.
“I have no trouble concluding these deputies neglected their duty during the Stoneman Douglas shooting and bear varying degrees of culpability,” Goodlette wrote in his report. “However, I cannot adopt the governor’s position that their personal failures, in and of themselves, create grounds to remove Sheriff Israel.”
Goodlette also stressed DeSantis didn’t offer evidence that mass-shooting training (or the lack thereof ) at Israel’s office varied much from other Florida departments.
Yet Republican senators voted along party lines Monday to oust this Democratic sheriff.
They hired an expert at $225 an hour — a man who Senate President Bill Galvano described as “a person of tremendous integrity” with an “independent and objective point of view” — and then ignored his advice.
The first vote was just a committee recommendation. The full Senate is expected to vote later this week.
Admittedly, senators are in a gut-wrenching spot. We all empathize with parents who want Israel gone. Their pain is tragically unimaginable.
But there are good reasons this country doesn’t ask crime victims to dole out punishment.
One parent argued: “As Broward Sheriff, Scott Israel was the No. 1 threat to public safety.”
The No. 1 culprit was the shooter.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for inaction — including the FBI, school board and school resource officer who didn’t rush to the students’ aid. But we all know the depraved shooter was most responsible.
And even if we also blame the sheriff, removing him from an elected office violates a core principle of democracy.
Think about it. We all know other elected officials we consider unfit for office.
Just recently, the Sentinel interviewed a state senator who admitted she didn’t understand one of her own bills — or possess any expertise in the committee that she led.
In a story about $500 million in corporate tax breaks the Legislature approved, state Sen. Kelli Stargel admitted she didn’t know the bill — that she sponsored — awarded refunds and then offered as her excuse: “I’m not a tax expert.”
She chaired the Senate Finance & Tax Committee.
Based on her own words, Stargel seems unqualified for the position she holds.
But I never screamed that she should be forcibly removed from office.
Why? Because that’s not how democracy works. Voters in Polk and Lake counties get to decide who represents them. Not me. Not DeSantis. Not anyone else.
Take it from former Senate President Tom Lee — the lone Republican on the committee who objected to Israel’s ousting, saying that allowing public pressure to trump valid elections “would set a historic precedent.”
Even Lee, though, succumbed the very public pressure he decried, opting not to cast a vote on the matter.
Other politicians have been blatantly political. In arguing to keep Israel out of office, state Rep. James Grant cited a “no confidence” vote union deputies took against Israel.
Since when do Republican legislators care what union members think about who gets to keep their job? Will Grant also ask the teachers union whether Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran gets to stay?
We’re witnessing politicians with flexible principles.
And that’s the thing about principles — you only truly have them if you hold them during trying times.
Believe me, if I were interested in pandering, I would join the chorus of people who want Israel gone. I know many readers want it, too.
It’s understandable. And easy. We have a grieving state and a bombastic sheriff who went on CNN two weeks after 17 people were slaughtered to boast about his “amazing leadership.”
That’s beyond tone deaf. It’s gross.
But the Senate’s own hired expert (who didn’t really seem to like Israel either, by the way) said it wasn’t grounds for removal from office.
And anyone who supports overturning a local election today better be ready to have their own local elections overturned tomorrow.