Broward clerk of courts lashes out

40-minute recording posted on Facebook

Brenda Forman, Broward County’s clerk of courts, posted a 40-minute video on Facebook late Wednesday criticizing her election opponents and others by name, and accusing some of crimes, racism and mental breakdowns.

In the video, Forman, 62, says God gave her a list of people to “expose,” and she goes on to repeatedly express that she has been treated unfairly as “the most hated woman of color in Broward County.”

“There’s things that are going to be said that are going to be uncomfortable to other people,” Forman says at the start of the recording.

Forman has not responded to requests for comment about her Facebook video.

In the video, Forman says she received inspiration for the speech while she was sick in the hospital from COVID-19-induced pneumonia. She says she was hospitalized in late June, after suffering respiratory symptoms from the virus for over a week. At one point, she says, her blood oxygen concentration dropped below 75%, which is dangerously low.

“I was in bad shape, people,” she says. But on July 1, Forman says, she had vision. “God took me back to my bed,” she says, her voice cracking with emo

tion as she narrates, said ‘breathe.‘”

She also says God her a list of names about.

Among the people she speaks of in the video and criticizes are two of her political opponents for Broward County Clerk of Courts: Paul Backman and Mark Speiser.

Also on the list of targets of criticism was Adriana Alcalde, an attorney. “It’s one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen,” Alcalde responded.

Forman also named attorney and blogger Bill Gelin, South Florida Sun

“and

gave talk

Sentinel reporter Olmeda and others.

Asked if he had seen the video, Backman, who is running against Forman, said, “Yes, I’ve seen the video, and my only hope is Ms. Forman recovers from her COVID-19 and pneumonia, and I wish her nothing but the best.”

Speiser, who is also running against Forman, said he had not seen the video.

When asked if he wanted to see the video, he said: “I don’t know what she’s said. I’m sure it wasn’t nice, but I’ve been professional with her. What’s the phrase? ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.‘”

Gelin, who was involved in litigation against Forman,

Rafael said, “It’s not unexpected behavior coming from her and should be deeply concerning to the community because of her awesome responsibilities.”

Alcalde, who is representing Gelin as counsel in a complaint made before the Florida Bar Association against Gelin by Forman, said: “First of all, there’s zero truth to anything she said about me. I’ve never posted anything about her.

“She said God told her my name. I just wish he would have told her how to pronounce it correctly.”

Forman also criticized Olmeda, accusing him of not phoning sources for response to criticism. She did not identify a specific story, but Sun Sentinel reporters routinely call sources for response. She also criticized a recent story written by Olmeda about her bout with the coronavirus. “He put out a story about me on my health with COVID-19 that was not factual,” she said. “I was never in ICU, I was never in a breathing machine. Yes, my COVID was real. I was never in my office during this time.”

The article does not say that Forman was in the ICU or on a breathing machine. Nor does it say that Forman visited her office while infected. At the end of the video, Forman says she has been “listening to the Lord” since July 1 and asks voters to choose her once again because she “has more work to do in the Clerk’s Office.”