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06-05-2020, 03:30 AM
Everyone call Helen Ferre, former Trump White House spokeswoman, now Ron DeSantis Communications director.
Governor’s office passes on union’s request to oust Sheriff Gregory Tony
See article on: www.sun-sentinel.com
By Skyler Swisher, South Florida Sun Sentinel
2 hrs ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t going to act on a deputies union’s request that he suspend Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony’s from his post ahead of August’s election, the governor’s spokeswoman suggested Thursday night.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association asked the governor in a letter to oust Tony, citing omissions the DeSantis-appointed sheriff made on job applications and other paperwork about his past.
Helen Ferre, a DeSantis spokeswoman, knocked down the notion that the governor is planning to suspend Tony.
“Broward voters will have the opportunity to decide who will be their sheriff,” she wrote in an email.
DeSantis made similar remarks to reporters in Tallahassee in early May.
The union is supporting Al Pollock in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary election and has been waging a public battle against Tony.
Tony should be suspended because he hid information about his past on job applications, Jeff Bell, the union’s president, wrote in the letter made public Thursday.
“Broward Sheriff’s Office employees have lost respect for and must endure a sense of disgust when employees come to work knowing that their ‘sheriff’ has lied, cheated and obtained the position that he holds today through deception,” Bell wrote.
Bell’s union, which represents about 1,400 of the Sheriff Office’s roughly 5,500 employees, has voted “no confidence” in Tony’s leadership.
Tony’s campaign dismissed the letter as a political stunt.
“It’s no surprise that a suspended police officer who represents a union that has already endorsed the sheriff’s opponent is writing a politically motivated letter to the governor." Joshua Karp, a campaign spokesman, said in a prepared statement. "It’s not worth the paper it’s written on.”
The governor can suspend a sheriff for malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties or commission of a felony. The Florida Senate is responsible for upholding or overturning a suspension.
In interviews, Tony has dismissed omissions on his law enforcement paperwork as politically motivated attacks digging up decades-old issues and urged voters to evaluate his present performance as sheriff.
As a first-time candidate, Tony has faced scrutiny for not disclosing on a 2005 job application with the Coral Springs Police Department that he shot and killed an 18-year-old man in 1993 when he was a teenager. Tony, 41, was not found guilty of wrongdoing in the shooting, and he says it was self-defense.
He wrote he’d never used hallucinogens, but on a previous application with the Tallahassee Police Department, he admitted to using LSD in 1995. He also left off his application that he’d been accused of passing a bad check when he was a student at Florida State University. That charge was dismissed, but Tony wrote an apology letter for leaving it off his Coral Springs application when it turned up in a subsequent background check.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has launched a preliminary investigation into Tony’s paperwork.
Bell and Tony are enemies.
Tony suspended Bell with pay and placed him under an internal affairs investigation in April, accusing the union leader of making false statements, engaging in corrupt practices and engaging in conduct unbecoming. Bell has said he was punished for saying that deputies didn’t have the equipment they needed to protect themselves from coronavirus.
DeSantis appointed Tony to the post in January 2019 to replace Scott Israel. DeSantis ousted Israel as sheriff as part of the fallout from the Feb. 14, 2018, Parkland school shooting that left 17 students and staff dead.
Israel is also challenging Tony in the Democratic primary.
Staff writer Lisa J. Huriash contributed to this report.
Staff writer Skyler Swisher can be reached at sswisher@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher.
Governor’s office passes on union’s request to oust Sheriff Gregory Tony
See article on: www.sun-sentinel.com
By Skyler Swisher, South Florida Sun Sentinel
2 hrs ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t going to act on a deputies union’s request that he suspend Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony’s from his post ahead of August’s election, the governor’s spokeswoman suggested Thursday night.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association asked the governor in a letter to oust Tony, citing omissions the DeSantis-appointed sheriff made on job applications and other paperwork about his past.
Helen Ferre, a DeSantis spokeswoman, knocked down the notion that the governor is planning to suspend Tony.
“Broward voters will have the opportunity to decide who will be their sheriff,” she wrote in an email.
DeSantis made similar remarks to reporters in Tallahassee in early May.
The union is supporting Al Pollock in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary election and has been waging a public battle against Tony.
Tony should be suspended because he hid information about his past on job applications, Jeff Bell, the union’s president, wrote in the letter made public Thursday.
“Broward Sheriff’s Office employees have lost respect for and must endure a sense of disgust when employees come to work knowing that their ‘sheriff’ has lied, cheated and obtained the position that he holds today through deception,” Bell wrote.
Bell’s union, which represents about 1,400 of the Sheriff Office’s roughly 5,500 employees, has voted “no confidence” in Tony’s leadership.
Tony’s campaign dismissed the letter as a political stunt.
“It’s no surprise that a suspended police officer who represents a union that has already endorsed the sheriff’s opponent is writing a politically motivated letter to the governor." Joshua Karp, a campaign spokesman, said in a prepared statement. "It’s not worth the paper it’s written on.”
The governor can suspend a sheriff for malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties or commission of a felony. The Florida Senate is responsible for upholding or overturning a suspension.
In interviews, Tony has dismissed omissions on his law enforcement paperwork as politically motivated attacks digging up decades-old issues and urged voters to evaluate his present performance as sheriff.
As a first-time candidate, Tony has faced scrutiny for not disclosing on a 2005 job application with the Coral Springs Police Department that he shot and killed an 18-year-old man in 1993 when he was a teenager. Tony, 41, was not found guilty of wrongdoing in the shooting, and he says it was self-defense.
He wrote he’d never used hallucinogens, but on a previous application with the Tallahassee Police Department, he admitted to using LSD in 1995. He also left off his application that he’d been accused of passing a bad check when he was a student at Florida State University. That charge was dismissed, but Tony wrote an apology letter for leaving it off his Coral Springs application when it turned up in a subsequent background check.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has launched a preliminary investigation into Tony’s paperwork.
Bell and Tony are enemies.
Tony suspended Bell with pay and placed him under an internal affairs investigation in April, accusing the union leader of making false statements, engaging in corrupt practices and engaging in conduct unbecoming. Bell has said he was punished for saying that deputies didn’t have the equipment they needed to protect themselves from coronavirus.
DeSantis appointed Tony to the post in January 2019 to replace Scott Israel. DeSantis ousted Israel as sheriff as part of the fallout from the Feb. 14, 2018, Parkland school shooting that left 17 students and staff dead.
Israel is also challenging Tony in the Democratic primary.
Staff writer Lisa J. Huriash contributed to this report.
Staff writer Skyler Swisher can be reached at sswisher@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher.