The six-way Democratic primary for Broward County sheriff is one of those elections without an ideal choice, in which the question is simply which of the viable candidacies is the better one. That is why we recommend Scott Israel, the former sheriff.
Gregory Tony, the incumbent, should not have been appointed and does not deserve to be elected. The other four candidates lack sufficient money and political support to be competitive.
This has been our most difficult endorsement decision. We recognize that it will be poorly received among the families shattered by the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where a former student firing a military-style semi-automatic rifle left 17 students and faculty dead, and 17 injured. Their grief is beyond anyone’s comprehension and deserves respect.
Many of them held Israel to blame, as did Gov. Ron DeSantis when he carried out a campaign promise to suspend him.
We thought so too, at first, and advised then-governor Rick Scott to remove Israel.
With time, however, that judgment seems harsh. Israel could not have prevented the tragedy. The school system was more to blame. So was the FBI, which did nothing about a credible warning of a potential school shooter.'
Israel’s most serious failing was a policy that left it to a deputy’s discretion whether to engage an active shooter.
Overall, Israel had been a good sheriff.
The question, then, is whether Tony, his major rival, deserves the office to which DeSantis appointed him upon suspending Israel.
He does not, and the department would be in better hands with Israel.
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