Florida Senate’s new standard for removing an elected official? ‘Whatever it wants’

The drama that played out in the Florida Senate this week ended as predicted in January when Gov. Ron DeSantis, just three days in office, fulfilled a campaign promise to suspend Broward Sheriff Scott Israel for his agency’s performance during the mass shootings at the Fort Lauderdale airport and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The Republicans who control the Senate stayed on script, agreeing to support their popular first-year governor and permanently remove the sheriff from office. They did so despite the fact that Special Master Dudley Goodlette, a respected former Republican lawmaker hired to review the facts and render a fair judgment, said the governor had failed to prove that Israel was incompetent or derelict in his duty.

Mistakes were made by individuals, particularly in Parkland, Goodlette said. But his report was unequivocal. Goodlette said the sheriff had established appropriate policies, procedures and training; that he should not be held responsible for deputies who failed to perform their duties; and that Israel should be reinstated.

But as with the Mueller Report, it is one thing to read the report and another thing to watch the author on stage. Under the lights, Goodlette gave senators the cover they needed. “It was a very, very close call for me,” he said. His report had said nothing of the kind.

So the question became: what’s the proper role of the Senate? Does it re-hear the case? Does it act as a court of appeals? Or does the Republican majority parse the report and stand by their man?

After the vote, Senate President Bill Galvano said he found the answer between the lines.

The special master had agreed that the governor made a prima facie case against Israel, Galvano told reporters, and the report contained “messages that a lot of members picked up on.” Specifically, Galvano said, the special master reiterated that the report was advisory only. “But he took the additional step of paraphrasing it further and saying the Senate could do whatever it wants. And those type of things pop out at me.”

What a stretch.

Sure, Goodlette’s report said that on first blush, the governor appeared to have a case. But after weighing the evidence and testimony from a two-day hearing, he said the governor had failed to prove any of the 10 charges by a “preponderance of evidence” — the standard required to overturn the election of a constitutional officer.

But there was George Levesque, the governor’s attorney, also suggesting that the Senate could do whatever it wants.

“At the end of the day, it is a political decision,” Levesque said Monday. For that reason, the governor’s representatives met with senators they thought were “gettable,” he added. “We focused on the folks that we thought we could score some points with.”

Score points with? Who wants to be judged like that?

It is grossly unfair that a governor can suspend an elected official without sustaining a single allegation by a preponderance of evidence. Then, when that person appeals, the Senate can do “whatever it wants.”

Nikolas Cruz, the shooter, will get more due process in his case than Sheriff Israel did in his.

The Senate’s process stunk. It was designed for maximum political maneuverability, not for public trust in the outcome. What pops out at us is how easily Tallahassee can overturn the results of a local election.

Israel is hardly a sympathetic figure, we get that. His failure to take responsibility for his agency’s performance, his troubling testimony before the state commission investigating the Parkland shooting, and his boastfulness about providing “amazing leadership” are largely why we initially supported his suspension.

But as we said before, we expected the governor to make a solid legal case, not horse-trade over someone’s livelihood.

We understand why the Parkland families lobbied so hard for Israel’s removal. Their hearts will never mend. And they want someone finally held accountable for the many government failures that ended with a shooter killing 17 and wounding 17. As others have rightly said, “It took a village to raise a school shooter.”

But we also believe in the rule of law, even for an unpopular figure. And armtwisting shouldn’t overturn the will of voters.

If one lesson comes from the disturbing theatrics we saw this week, it is that the Senate’s rules need to be tightened. Republicans who have controlled Tallahassee for two decades should consider that one day, they may well face a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled Senate that might well want to boot someone from their tribe. The process needs fixing.

Something also should be done about the precedent this case creates for sheriffs. As things now stand, a sheriff can be removed from office for the actions or inactions of a single deputy in a single incident. Already we’re hearing that sheriffs plan to clamp down on deputies’ discretion.

Gov. DeSantis clearly owes a debt to Galvano and his leadership team for corralling the process and galvanizing the support of their members, with one principled exception: Sen. Tom Lee of Thonotosassa, a former Senate president with the institutional knowledge and backbone to stand up for what’s right.

“I don’t feel very good about what we did up here,” Lee told us Thursday. “Essentially, partisanship and populism have won out over justice and fairness.

“It’s a really tough position to argue because I know the optics of the situation transcend the facts. We were told to vote our conscience. I decided early on that my conscience would be informed by the facts, not the politics of the matter.

“These are tough votes, they just are. But you’ve got to put all of that out of your mind and focus on what’s at stake — the credibility of the institution and the thoroughness that should be afforded every citizen in the United States.”

The backdrop for this week’s drama was the Senate’s circular chamber, which is adorned with the portraits of past Senate presidents, including Verle Pope of St. Augustine, a fiery orator known as the lion of St. Johns; and Dempsey Barron of Panama City, who once told Gov. Reubin Askew to “stay the hell out” of the Senate’s business.

Senate presidents of yore fiercely guarded their chamber’s role as a check on executive branch excesses. But term limits have changed the character of the Florida Legislature, weakening both chambers. Years ago, when lawmakers might serve 20 years or more, senators had more power relative to a two-term governor. Today, lawmakers are relentlessly on the hunt for an exit strategy, and the wheels are better greased if they’re a team player.

Israel’s team has hinted that it might pursue a due-process case in federal court. Regardless, he’s running for re-election in 2020 and seems confident he’ll win. If he does, DeSantis says he won’t suspend him again.

It’s hard to know what to make of DeSantis’ pledge, given his concern for public safety if Scott Israel is sheriff of Broward County.

We take it to mean that next time, the governor will respect the will of Broward voters — and let them decide, as they should.