What happens next after Sheriff Israel’s removal?
After he lost a dramatic vote in the Florida Senate this week, Scott Israel is officially the former sheriff of Broward County.
He won’t be back in the executive suite of the Broward Sheriff ’s office headquarters just west of Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale before January 2021 — if ever.
“We move on now,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.
But even though one chapter in the saga is now closed with the Senate vote to uphold DeSantis’ suspension and remove Israel from office, many more chapters remain to be written, with myriad legal and political questions unresolved.
“We’re talking about the very foundation of our republic,” said
state Sen. Gary Farmer, a Broward Democrat. Removing Israel means “we’re drifting towards totalitarianism.”
See you in court?
The Florida Constitution gives the governor the power to suspend an elected official, and the state Senate makes the final decision. The governor said the sheriff demonstrated incompetence and neglect of duty in connection with 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre and the 2017 Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shooting.
But Israel’s supporters consistently have said since DeSantis suspended him on Jan. 11 that the process wasn’t fair.
They stepped up those arguments this week when the Senate convened in special session before voting 25-15 to remove Israel.
The pro-Israel side argued that late evidence was allowed and he wasn’t given an adequate chance to counter that evidence. They also complained that senators engaged in one-on-one conversations in which they were lobbied by DeSantis’ team and parents of people killed in the Stoneman Douglas massacre.
Much of the questioning and debate in the 10-plus hours of the Senate Rules committee and in the almost four hours of the full Senate debate sounded as if it were building the record of a legal case that could be used to advance or knock down federal constitutional questions.
The Senate isn’t a judicial body, and the governor’s team lobbied senators in one-on-one meetings in favor of their side. Israel’s attorney Benedict Kuehne said neither Israel nor anyone on his team had any so-called ex parte communications.
Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, dismissed the complaints, arguing Israel had plenty of opportunities to present his case. “Mr. Israel got his day in court,” he said. “Due process has been served and justice has been served.”
Kuehne, Israel’s attorney — who sat alone in the Senate gallery taking copious notes on a legal pad while the suspension case was under debate — said after the vote he wasn’t yet ready to announce his next steps.
Did Israel win or lose?
In the short term, he was clearly a loser. The man who was elected sheriff in 2012, and re-elected in 2016, is officially out.
But he might be able to turn the proceedings into a political advantage.
The Republican special master hired by the Republican Senate president to examine the suspension by the Republican governor recommended reinstating Israel. All but one Senate Republican voted to remove him (along with three Democrats).
Israel, who repeated his intention to run for sheriff in the 2020 election, is certain to cite those facts when he’s a candidate next year in an attempt to convince voters they’ve been victimized by Republicans. (Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in Broward County.)
How did DeSantis come out?
DeSantis emerged a big winner. If he’d lost, he would have been seen as weak — a popular governor unable to work his will on the senators in the Republican Party that he leads.
Instead, he prevailed, winning the votes of all but one of the 23 Republican senators to uphold the suspension.
DeSantis left nothing to chance, especially once the special master, Republican Dudley Goodlette, recommended Israel’s reinstatement.
DeSantis brought in a new lawyer — a former general counsel to the Florida Senate, who knew the members and their procedures — to press his case. And his team lobbied senators to ensure victory.
His stand has also earned applause from family members of people killed in the Stoneman Douglas massacre. That support has come from Republicans and Democrats.
Was this all political?
Almost all the people involved in the Israel removal issue described their motivations as high-minded and meritorious — and the other side as motivated by politics.
Democratic Israel supporters said the sheriff was trying to unfairly disenfranchise the Democratic voters of Broward County. In an interview after the Senate vote, Israel said the governor replaced him with a Republican as sheriff.
(Gregory Tony, the appointed replacement, used to be a Republican. He’s now a registered Democrat and plans to run next year.)
What about the Broward five?
All five senators who represent parts of Broward — Farmer, Lauren Book, Oscar Braynon II, Kevin Rader and Perry Thurston — voted against removing Israel.
That’s left many of the Parkland parents angry. But it’s unclear if the Democratic senators will be punished politically.
Because of the political leanings of Broward County, the Senate districts are heavily Democratic, and a primary challenge against an incumbent would be difficult. As incumbents they have an edge in raising campaign money, something Book and Farmer have proven adept at in previous elections.
Also, because of the way the district boundaries are drawn, Parkland-area sentiment may not be concentrated enough to pack an election wallop. The most affected communities, Parkland and Coral Springs, are divided between two state Senate districts.
Rader represents the Stoneman Douglas campus, but three-quarters of his district’s registered voters are in Palm Beach County.
Book represents Coral Springs, also profoundly affected by the Stoneman Douglas shooting. But 85% of the voters in her district live elsewhere.
Book and Farmer are up for reelection in 2020. Braynon leaves office next year because of term limits.
Does this set a precedent?
Past governors have typically used their suspension powers on elected officials charged with crimes. Israel supporters said removing him from office would create a dangerous precedent, one which DeSantis or future governors might misuse.
Senators supporting removal and the governor’s attorney said there’s no evidence that DeSantis has gone on a suspension spree, and that the gravity of the case against Israel was so strong it warranted suspension.
State Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, said during the debate he’s spoken to a half-dozen sheriffs concerned about the precedent. He said they haven’t come forward because they don’t want to step into the controversy, which he said would be like getting between “a dog and a fire hydrant.”
Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the Parkland school shooting and was later elected to the Broward School Board, said it would be a good thing if the case sets a precedent. It will show, she said after the vote, that sheriffs are held to high standard of performance. If they don’t meet it, there will be consequences.
Are there other political contortions?
Democrats in Tallahassee argued that removing Israel from office meant the Republican governor and senators were usurping the will of the voters. They said the voters should be the ones to pass judgment on Israel in the 2020 election. If that argument sounds familiar, it’s because it’s essentially what Republicans in Washington say about the potential impeachment of President Donald Trump.
In the case of Trump, it’s congressional Republicans and the president supporters who argue that Democrats are trying to usurp the decision of the voters. Republicans argue that voters should be the ones to decide Trump’s fate in the 2020 election.
DeSantis, a strong supporter of the president, dismissed the notion, telling reporters the two situations were completely different because one involves the possible impeachment of the president and the other the removal of a county official.
“I see no similarities.”