A deputies’ union on Thursday announced that 85 percent of its members who voted — 534 out of 628 — cast ballots expressed “no confidence” in Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel's leadership.
“He fails to listen to the people, he fails to listen to the leadership,” said Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association. “Amazing leadership starts from the top, and there is no amazing leadership here. We are a ship out at sea with no power — adrift.”
Although the plan is to present the results of the vote to Gov. Rick Scott and urge him to remove or suspend Israel, the vote is largely symbolic and does not translate into immediate action or consequence for the sheriff.
Israel wrote off the vote as “inconsequential” and an attempt to extort a pay raise while Gov. Scott punted on how he’ll proceed, the Sun-Sentinel reports.
“Those who purportedly voted in this straw ballot reflect only a small number of the 5,400 employees. The unions representing the vast majority of our employees solidly support the leadership of this agency,” Israel said.
