Tony accuses Israel’s campaign of racism
Then, sheriff drops slur in live TV interview
Television viewers got a dose of just how heated the race is for Broward County sheriff, with Gregory Tony dropping the Nword during an interview and accusing his opponent Scott Israel of running a racist campaign.
On the same show, Israel brought his own attacks, accusing Tony of “murdering a teenager and lying about it,” referring to a decades-old slaying. Tony was found not guilty in the killing that happened when he was 14, and he says it was self-defense.
The candidates presented their closing arguments on Sunday to voters during “This Week in South Florida” on WPLG Local 10 ahead of the Aug. 18 primary election.
Near the end of the interview, Tony blasted “egregious allegations” leveled against him by Israel throughout the heated campaign.
“To accuse me, a decorated officer, of murder when he understands the law, for his campaign to reference me as a n——-, these things are driven by politics, and that’s disgusting,” said Tony, who is Broward County’s first Black sheriff. “I don’t think this county appreciates any of those type of commentary.”
Tony was referencing an incident involving Terry Scott, a former paid campaign consultant and activist who had worked on Israel’s campaign.
Scott, who is Black, called Tony a “house n——-” in a video he posted on Facebook. Amy Rose, a spokeswoman for the Israel campaign, said Israel denounced the consultant’s comments and dismissed him from the campaign immediately. Scott was not speaking on behalf of the campaign, Rose said
“Greg Tony is obviously a desperate candidate who is willing to say anything in the final days of an election,” Rose said.
Campaign finance records show Scott was paid more than $20,000 by a political committee supporting Israel, including a final payment of $2,500 that was recorded on the date Scott posted the video.
Scott hasn’t apologized for the remarks and said he’ll continue advocating for Israel despite losing his paid role on the campaign.
Tony issued a statement Monday explaining his use of the Nword on television.
“The term I used during my interview yesterday may have been uncomfortable for some, but as the first African American sheriff in BSO history, I have a responsibility to hold Scott Israel’s campaign accountable for using such racist and derogatory terms against me,” he said. “Language like Scott Israel’s campaign used denigrates every Black man in our community.”
Tony has faced scrutiny for not divulging on a 2005 application with the Coral Springs Police Department that he shot and killed an 18-year-old man in 1993 when he was a teenager living in a tough neighborhood in Philadelphia. The application asked detailed questions about Tony’s interactions with law enforcement in the past, including whether he had ever been detained by an officer for “investigative purposes.” Tony also withheld that he had tried the hallucinogenic drug LSD as a teenager. In the statement, Tony objected to being characterized as a murderer.
“Scott Israel’s deliberate and intentional characterization of me as a murderer is indicative of the institutional and systemic racism that plagues our criminal justice system,” Tony said. “According to Scott even when Black people are innocent of no crime they should be labeled as criminals.”
Rose said Tony’s decision to withhold information about his past speaks to his credibility, even though he wasn’t found guilty of committing a crime.
“None of us would know about it if it was up to him,” she said. “We wouldn’t be talking about it because we wouldn’t know about it.”
Several other candidates are in the Democratic race, including Al Pollock, a retired sheriff’s colonel; Andrew Smalling, a former BSO district chief and former chief of the Lauderhill Police Department; and former BSO sergeants Willie Jones and Santiago Vazquez.