Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
CLASH OF THE CANDIDATES
Tony, Israel spar over policy, personalities as campaign heats up
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony and former Sheriff Scott Israel — fierce competitors in the 2020 election — are clashing over key issues like training, community policing and deputies in minority communities. And that’s not all.
Politically, they’re even arguing about who is a real Democrat.
The substantive and stylistic differences were vividly on display this week when Israel and Tony, along with five long-shot candidates, spent two hours fielding questions at a Coconut Creek forum sponsored by eight Democratic political clubs.
Despite the presence of other candidates, the contest is realistically a choice between Israel and Tony — something that was clear each time one of them got the mic. “The reality is the two big dogs knew who the other dog was,” said Cliff Eserman, of Coral Springs, a Democratic activist who watched from the front row.
Black voters
Both candidates are competing hard for support from African American and Caribbean American voters, a critical constituency in the Democratic primary.
Tony, appointed in January 2019, emphasizes that he’s Broward’s first African American sheriff. His undersheriff is a black woman.
And the new sheriff has been aggressive in disciplining deputies who mistreat citizens, a major issue for black voters, and a central reason why many people in minority communities say they distrust law enforcement.
It is essential, Tony said, to “hold people accountable and be transparent when we as deputies fail to conduct their jobs in a noble and honest fashion.”
When the candidates were asked what they would do to build trust between the Sheriff’s Office and the black community, Israel, who is white, said that isn’t a problem for him.
“The great thing is I don’t have to regain the trust. I already have the trust. When I became sheriff of Broward County, there were so many people — especially African Americans — who I didn’t even know here. And now you’re not people I know; you’re my friends. I’ve been to your house. You’ve been to my house,” he said.
Israel was sheriff from January 2013 until he was removed in January 2019.
As part of his answer to the question about building trust in the black community, Israel added that he’d partnered with groups to have the agency help distribute food when he was sheriff. “That is police work,” he said. “You use your position as sheriff to help people eat,” Israel said.
Community policing
The two also differed on how deputies should interact with the public.
Tony said he found the agency had removed deputies from personal interaction in some areas because “the community was afraid of the officers. That’s a poor approach.” He said he ordered a “park, walk and talk” community policing initiative under which deputies get out of their cars and get to know people in their communities.
Israel said that was a “total mischaracterization” of his community outreach efforts.
“We certainly weren’t afraid to put police officers in communities. But you all know … not every police officer wants to do community policing. We’re not cookie cutters,” he said.
Instead, he had LGBT deputies work with the LGBT community and did the same with the Hispanic and Caribbean American communities. “You want to put round pegs in round holes so that people could connect.”
Tony responded that deputies’ lack of interest in community policing isn’t a good reason not to do it. “It doesn’t matter what they want to do, when they sign up they should be signing up understanding that they will be community oriented.”
Undocumented immigrants
Israel and Tony agreed on one major issue that’s controversial across the country: whether deputies should enforce immigration laws or leave such matters to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
The candidates were asked what they’d do if they learned someone in the audience was in the country without documentation.
“Not a darn thing,” Israel said. “We don’t enforce immigration laws. We are the Broward Sheriff ’s Office, not Customs, not ICE. That’s not our job to do.”
Tony agreed. “We are not part of any federal organization,” he said. “Make no mistake about it: We do not wear a patch on our sleeve that says ICE.”
Leadership
Permeating much of the back and forth was the reason Tony is in office and Israel is the former sheriff: the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, in which 17 people were killed.
In January 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Israel, saying he demonstrated incompetence and neglect of duty in connection with the shootings at Stoneman Douglas and at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2017, when five people were killed. The Florida Senate upheld DeSantis’ decision in October.
Tony said he’s spent the last year reforming agency and modernizing its policies after what he said is years of mismanagement, including lessons learned from the two mass shootings.
“We also looked very closely at the two failures we had both at the airport and Stoneman Douglas, which had repeated patterns of incident command structure failures,” Tony said. Changes were made “so that we continue on the path of progress and not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Tony said active shooter training for deputies has been increased, the agency now has centers to analyze threats in realtime and for training, and an office of emergency management.
“We can’t go backwards,” he said.
Israel said he presided over a well-run agency, only to have the job stolen away from him by the Republican governor for political reasons, not because of performance.
He asserted at length this week, as he has in the past, that the real reason he was removed is because he spoke out for gun control, challenging the National Rifle Association during a CNN town hall held at the BB&T Center in the aftermath of the school shooting.
“If it wasn’t for my stance at the BB&T Center a year and a half ago regarding firearms in Broward County, we wouldn’t even be here right now,’” Israel said. “We need a sheriff who doesn’t care what the NRA says, who doesn’t care what anyone says.”
He’s using the Republican governor’s decision, upheld by the Republican majority in the Florida Senate, to mobilize voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic county. “I’m the elected sheriff of Broward County. We need to send a strong message to Tallahassee that we’re in charge of this county.”
Israel also exhibited defiance toward the people in the Parkland and Coral Springs who are the nucleus of his most outspoken critics, who pushed for his removal and oppose his attempted political comeback. They are also the communities most directly affected by the Stoneman Douglas massacre.
“We’re not the sheriff for Parkland or any one group. We’re the sheriff for everyone in Broward County,” Israel said.
Campaign money
Campaign reports show Tony is leading in the competition for campaign contributions.
Tony’s campaign committee raised $31,495 in December and his separate Broward First political committee raised $28,500. That brings Tony’s combined total for the entire campaign so far to $843,000.
The period between Thanksgiving
and the new year is notoriously slow for political fundraising, and campaign reports filed this month show Israel did poorly.
In December, Israel’s campaign committee raised just $300 and Committee for a Stronger Broward political committee reported no contributions. His total since starting fundraising last year is $311,000.
Israel, who had visible and enthusiastic supporters at the candidate forum, said in a brief interview he wasn’t concerned.
“We’re comfortable where are now. Like any candidate running for any office you always want to raise more money, but you know a race doesn’t go to the rich or the strong or the fast. The race goes to he or she who endures,” Israel said.
Real Democrat
Broward is so overwhelmingly Democratic that the winner of the August primary is virtually guaranteed to win the November election.
Both Israel and Tony are currently Democrats, but have been registered Republicans in the past, something each sought to use against the other.
In rejecting Tony’s criticism of the way the Sheriff’s office responded to the mass shootings, Israel said: “I’ve only heard one other person speak like that and that’s Governor Ron DeSantis. … This is a Republican appointee trying to put down a Democratic sheriff. There’s no other way to say that.”
Tony responded that he is a “lifelong Democrat” who only briefly was a Republican.
Israel, he said, was a “lifelong Republican” — until Israel failed to get appointed sheriff by a past Republican governor. Only then did Israel become a Democrat, Tony said, calling Israel’s criticism of him based on party affiliation “appalling and offensive.”