Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Gov. DeSantis’ remarks bolster former Sheriff Israel’s defense
When the Florida Senate considers Gov. Ron DeSantis’ case against Scott Israel, the Broward County sheriff whom he suspended, both sides will have a fair opportunity to be heard. That’s as it should be.
What shouldn’t have been was the governor’s attempt to intimidate the Senate on the issue during his State of the State address to the Legislature Tuesday. It was a misuse of that bully pulpit for him to say that a senator who votes to reinstate the sheriff would “thumb his nose” at the families victimized by the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year.
The Senate is supposed to function as judge and jury in deciding whether DeSantis had factual and legal grounds to remove the sheriff for alleged “neglect of duty and incompetence.” The governor cited the January 2017 mass shooting that took six lives at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the February 2018 mass shooting in Parkland that left 17 dead and 17 injured.
Much like jurors in a criminal court, senators are duty-bound to keep their minds open and their mouths shut until they’ve heard all the evidence. As a lawyer familiar with the rules of court, DeSantis would know better than to harangue a jury like that. The Senate deserved the same respect.
These are the questionable remarks, as issued to the media:
“I … suspended Scott Israel as the Sheriff of Broward and replaced him with Gregory Tony. That suspension will come before the Senate soon and the failures of the former sheriff are welldocumented. Why any senator would want to thumb his nose at the Parkland families and to eject Sheriff Tony, who is doing a great job and has made history as the first African-American sheriff in Broward history, is beyond me.
“But I judge not, lest I be judged.”
Trouble is, he did judge. The “thumb his nose” comment was a vulgar insinuation that no senator could honestly find legal or factual reasons to overturn the suspension. It implied a threat of political retaliation against senators who might vote to reinstate Israel. It raised the specter of racial politics if the Senate action should oust the appointed black sheriff sitting in the elected sheriff ’s place. In so doing, DeSantis exploited the grief of the Parkland families.
When Senate President Bill Galvano remarked afterward, in answer to a question, that it was “a bit of an awkward moment for the governor,” he tacitly acknowledged that it was an awkward moment for the Senate also. A Republican majority judging a Democratic sheriff ousted by a Republican governor needs to keep the process above reproach.
“We are going to do it right. We are going to have due process,” Galvano said. “We are not going to be a rubber stamp for the governor. … I have asked our senators to give it the respect it is due and not to prejudge.”
In a memo Wednesday on the status of the suspension — to be heard first by a special master probably during the week of April 8 — Galvano reiterated that senators “are discouraged from commenting publicly on the merits or substance of any suspension while these matters are pending.”
The authority to suspend elected local officials is one of the most potent powers of the governor’s office. It needs to be wielded carefully so as to not support suspicion that it’s more about politics than policy.
That’s precisely what Israel has been saying it is, so the governor’s remarks played right into the sheriff ’s defense.
DeSantis could have expressed concern for the Parkland families more constructively by recommending that the Legislature provide money for them and repeal — or at least modify — the long-outdated sovereign immunity law that limits the liability of the state and its agencies to $200,000 for a single victim and $300,000 for all victims in the same incident.
Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, has introduced legislation (SB 1678, 1680 and 1682) to establish a $160-million Parkland trust fund and entitle the families to compensation without going to court and enduring what she correctly calls “the notoriously lengthy, cumbersome and emotionally painful claims bill process.”
The bills provide separately for the 17 who died and the 17 who survived being shot. They require, however, that all potential claimants in each group agree to accept equal awards; otherwise, none can be paid. That may be problematic, along with the question of whether to hold the sheriff ’s office and the school district financially liable. Book says she’s working on that.
There is no provision for students, teachers or staff suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.) Book says that’s because Florida law doesn’t recognize PTSD claims and she hopes to correct that next year. In the House, Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, has also filed a trust fund bill (HB 123.) The bills have yet to be heard in committee.
The Parkland claims deserve the Legislature’s consideration without regard to Sheriff Israel’s job status. His permanent removal from office wouldn’t pay anyone’s funeral bill or medical expenses. It wouldn’t restore anyone’s lost income. Victim compensation would have been the appropriate topic for DeSantis to have addressed in the State of the State speech.