Reaction to Scott Israel’s ouster - Part 2 – the Judgement call
Bottom Line: Unlike the suspensions of Susan Bucher and Brenda Snipes who broke multiple election laws and refused to comply with court orders; Scott Israel was suspended for being incompetent according to the Governor and the 25 state senators who voted to remove him.This situation is challenging from a factual and pragmatic perspective. We’re not talking about the boss firing an employee they feel isn’t doing a good job. We’re talking about an elected official being removed by other elected officials on a judgement call.The threshold in this situation should be extremely high. To that end any conversation that begins with Democrat this and Republican that is probably already off-base. Any judgement made about the ouster of an elected official based on political affiliation is operating on a false premise. That’s part of what’s so concerning to me about how the Senate vote went down. That it was almost a straight party line vote is concerning to me,there’s nothing about the facts of Scott Israel’s case that’s ideological.
As for the outcome. We live in a representative republic. This is a teachable moment from a civics perspective. Have you read and considered all facts associated with this decision? Have you been present for all of the hearings, examination and cross examination? Most of us haven’t,we’re busy living our lives and that’s ok. It’s why we have elected representatives. They literally are there to represent our interests and by a 25-15 vote they made their decision.Elections have consequences. For victim’s families they believe that the consequence of electing Scott Israel contributed to their loved one’s death. For Scott Israel, he believes electing Ron DeSantis governor robbed him of his elected post.
In the end, our system of government played out the way it was designed to play out. Our governor made a judgement call.Informed senators voted on behalf of their constituents and they’ll be another election next year. From my perspective the most frustrating aspect of this and future conversations is the partisan one. I feel it’s absurd to have partisan races for sheriff and election supervisors. The law isn’t partisan with different rules for different political parties, and it’s patently absurd to have a partisan presiding over the elections of all voters. But again, elections have consequences. All elections. I guarantee no one on November 8th 2016, thought this is how Scott Israel’s term would end. How many voters treated the Broward’s Sheriff’s race in 2016 with the level of seriousness we learned it deserved? As I’ve said hundreds of times... All elections have consequences and the one’s closest to you often have the biggest impact on your day to day life yet receive the least attention. That’s my takeaway for you.