Israel says process that led to his removal was a “sham.”
“I want to let the people of Broward County know I came here to fight, make good on my promises to finish the job that was entrusted to me.”
Scott Israel
Scott Israel said Wednesday evening the process that led to his ouster as Broward sheriff and the outcome were unfair.
“This process was a sham. It was a farce, and we’re going to get back in,” Israel said in a telephone interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel after the Florida Senate voted to remove him.
The Senate voted 25-15 on Wednesday to uphold Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision earlier this year to suspend Israel, citing incompetence and neglect of duty.
“If I could give a message to the voters and the citizens and my friends in Broward County, politics won this day. Politics has won today,” Israel said.
“I want to let the people of Broward County know I came here to fight, make good on my promises to finish the job that was entrusted to me,” Israel said. “I am running for election in 2020, and the voters in Broward County, they understand the injustice.
“I have had hundreds of phone calls and texts of support and prayer. And this great community of Broward County is supportive, and they have not left me,” Israel said.
Israel has been in Tallahassee all week. He attended a 10-hour Senate Rules Committee meeting about his case on Monday but stayed away from the Senate chamber on Wednesday. Benedict Kuehne, Israel’s attorney, said he recommended his client stay away to avoid becoming a distraction.
Israel said it was a political move by the governor, who made the decision from Tallahassee, 450 miles away from Broward, without regard to the facts. DeSantis’ main assertions dealt with what he said were problems with the way Israel handled the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, but he also cited the 2017 Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shooting.
Asked for his reaction to the decision, Israel said he first wanted to comment about the Parkland families. Family members of the 17 people who were killed at Stoneman Douglas advocated for his removal. Many were in Tallahassee and some stayed through Wednesday and watched the Senate vote.
“Any time we talk about this tragedy, I have to start off with my thoughts are always with the families and friends who lost loved ones on that horrific, horrific day,” he said. “I was at the Senate on Monday and I heard these folks, the hurt in their voices. You can’t imagine what these people are going through.”
Israel said he wishes he hadn’t used some of the language he used shortly after the shooting, something which gave people the impression he thought he was an ideal leader who hasn’t made mistakes. His comments were brought and criticized by senators during their debate Wednesday.
“I wish I didn’t use some of the words I used in the days following. It was inartful and I apologize if I caused any pain to anyone,” Israel said.
He also said he was grateful to the 15 senators who voted against the removal. (Another 25 voted in favor of removal.)
“I want to thank every senator who listened to the evidence, not just opinion and false narrative,” he said. “As the governor’s attorney said, it was completely political and the governor’s allies chose to ignore their own special master.”
DeSantis attorney George Levesque described the process by which a governor suspends an official and the Senate reviews the suspension as “political.” The special master was former Republican state Rep. Dudley Goodlette, hired by Senate President Bill Galvano, a Republican, to consider the Israel case.
Goodlette recommended reinstating Israel.
Israel said DeSantis “installed a Republican as sheriff of Broward County. He reduced the value of my friends and my community and the residents’ votes to pure politics.” Gregory Tony, named sheriff when Israel suspended DeSantis, is a former Republican but is now a registered Democrat.
“The politicians in Tallahassee ignored, dismissed the advice of the previous governor, the commission that was charged with investigating the Parkland murders,” Israel said. “The facts were not even spoken about.”
Rick Scott, who was governor at the time of the massacre and now a U.S. senator, did not remove Israel. DeSantis acted three days after he was inaugurated.