No Hearings On Scott Israel On Tuesday, But He's Still A Focus Of Attention In Tallahassee
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – Florida Senators did not hold any hearings on former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel on Tuesday but he remained a major topic of discussion, analysis and anticipation for tomorrow's expected Senate vote on his future with BSO.
On Monday night, families of Parkland victims, like Gena Hoyer, whose youngest son Luke died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, told their stories of pain and loss to a Florida Senate Rules Committee deciding the fate of former Sheriff Scott Israel.
"My youngest son, Luke, was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018," Hoyer told the Committee. "The failure that knots my stomach the most is the failure of BSO to enter the building during the shooting."
The Rules Committee voted to recommend that Israel be removed and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the committee's recommendation at a news conference on Tuesday.
"This has been a long time coming and I think they showed a lot of strength and I look forward to the Senate disposing of this matter tomorrow," DeSantis told reporters.
The Committee went against the recommendation of the special master, Dudley Goodlette, who is an attorney and former Republican State Representative chosen to oversee Israel's Senate trial this past summer. The Governor alleged that Israel failed to properly train his deputies, changed BSO's active shooter policy giving deputies discretion on confronting an active shooter and oversaw deputies who failed to confront the confessed Parkland killer. Israel denied those claims and the special master recommended Israel be reinstated, saying Parkland was a "culmination of individual failures."
On Wednesday the full Florida Senate will gather in the Senate chamber for the final vote. Senators will hear the report from the Rules Committee recommending Israel's removal. There will be a motion to adopt the report and then the 40 Florida Senators — 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats will debate and vote on whether Israel should be removed or reinstated.
The odds are not in Israel's favor. CBS 4 News spoke to him briefly by phone on Tuesday.
"I'm just not going to comment while the Florida Senate considers my case," Israel said.
Israel's attorney, Ben Kuehne, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon. It reads in part, "Sheriff Scott Israel is disappointed by the Senate Rules Committee's abandonment of the Rule of Law and principles of fundamental fairness by its exercise of brute political force yesterday….Sheriff Israel hopes the full Senate will fairly deliberate on the Special Master's Report recommending the Sheriff's reinstatement, the only just and proper result based on the Governor's failure to prove any ground for the removal from an office to which Sheriff Israel was elected by a landslide margin. The people of Broward County deserve their right to choose their sheriff by election.
At Monday's committee vote, Florida Senators voted down party lines, and it was the vote of one Democrat, Senator Lauren Book, that irked some of the Parkland families. Book served on the MSD Commission which investigated the Parkland shooting. She clearly struggled with her vote on Israel on Monday.
"It's not lost on me that these families want accountability and consequence," she said from the dais on Monday.
On Tuesday, Book was asked about her vote. Book said she voted for Israel's reinstatement because she believes former BSO deputy Scot Peterson is truly to blame. She said she worries that blaming Israel would undercut the state's criminal case against Peterson who stood outside the freshman building and failed to go in as shots rang out.
"I want to hold the person who actually stood there while those children were being slaughtered accountable and for me that's what that's about," Book said.
Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was murdered at MSD, doesn't buy that argument.
"She's playing partisan politics," Pollack said. "Everyone failed that day. It wasn't just Peterson. It was a systematic failure and she saw all of it. She was privy to more evidence than anyone, than any Senator."
The Florida Senate will convene Wednesday in the Senate chamber at 2 p.m. They've set aside 4 hours for the debate and vote on whether to remove or reinstate Scott Israel.
