From the Miami Herald:
Broward Sheriff Scott Israel tells staff he’s being suspended over Parkland response
It appears that Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is preparing to pack up his office.
The two-term sheriff, the object of fierce criticism over BSO’s handling of the Parkland massacre, told his top commanders that he will be removed from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis, sources have told the Miami Herald.
DeSantis, who was sworn in Tuesday morning, had not made a formal announcement of a possible suspension. Israel’s discussions with staff about his ouster was first reported by Miami New Times.
Stuart N. Kaplan, one of Israel’s lawyers, said Israel was in his office at the public safety building in Fort Lauderdale working on Tuesday.
“The governor has not said anything to us, directly or indirectly, as to whether or not the sheriff is going to be suspended,’’ Kaplan said. “He is working and continues to serve the citizens of Broward County.’’
But Jeff Bell, BSO’s union chief, said Israel told his staff on Monday that his ouster was inevitable.
“We know that he is telling everyone at the public safety building that he is going to be gone,’’ said Bell, who was at DeSantis’ swearing-in ceremony in Tallahassee on Tuesday.
Personally, I have come to the conclusion that this is a terrible idea.
Sheriff Israel has been described as “the most powerful Democrat” in Florida’s most Democratic county. DeSantis is a Republican who won by a narrow margin.
Rule Number 1 of big government is: never admit to the failing of big government.
As mad as many people in Broward are at Sheriff Israel, I doubt most of them can admit that he was a worthless piece of shit whose incompetence led to the deaths of all those people.
They will twist and turn and pervert the truth until Sheriff Israel is turned into a martyr for wanted to push gun control in the “Gunshine state” ousted by a mean and nasty Republican with an axe to grind after his near loss in the recount in Broward and embarrassing the NRA on CNN.
That fits the narrative much better than the facts of Parkland Commission Report.
I mean, really… the Parkland Commission was made up of a bunch of Sheriffs from those redneck, Red counties up state.
I predict that within a year, definitely by the next election, when the Parkland Commission Report is stale in people’s minds, Sheriff Israel will be back, proclaiming his greatness and will be held up as the victim of a political hatchet job at the hands those awful Republicans.
Broward County residents elected Sheriff Israel, if they don’t trust him they can vote him out next election.
Update
A buddy of mine in Broward, who lives only a couple of miles from Parkland, agrees with my assessment but proposed one other potential that we agreed to be a positive outcome.
Sheriff Israel eats his service weapon out of disgrace.
It would be a fitting end to that coward.
I would suspend him, then fire everyone below him that you can, and place new restrictions on the department and appoint a person whose only job is to folloew him and report every fuckup and political act he does that isn’t job related. Bring up specific pieces of the report every time his name is mentioned so it is always out there and can’t be forgotten easily. Hang this on him and never shut up about it. And when he comes up for reelection you had better have someone worth voting for going against him, not some hack that has an R by his name. You want to crush your opponent, and unless the firing is followed by jail or a huge civil judgement for something, that wouldn’t be it. Electoral defeat and his name forever tied to that in a negative way would.
First thing: Whether you kick him out or not, Broward is not going to vote Republican.
And if the Sun sentinel has come out as hard as it did against him, it means he has been found expendable by the Democratic party.
The only reason to keep him for a while is to use him as whipping boy and to show he was a lying scum. Use him to get SB 7026 eliminated and you can always kick him out after the Legislative season is over.
I still think that the Junior Senator and ex Governor’s squeaker of an election would have been a lot easier if he had fired this uniformed failure about March 1st last year. Maybe then the Guv wouldn’t have been stampeded into signing bad gun bills because he looked weak for not doing anything.
If Israel is the only one that goes, nothing in Coward County Sheriffs Office will change.
What will DeSantis do to the Parkland School District Leadership?