If Sheriff Gregory Tony broke the law, why is he still in office? | Scott Maxwell

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony has generated a lot of controversy since taking office.

Among other things, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Tony repeatedly lied about his past.

Tony’s woes, however, were amplified Monday when a judge validated one of FDLE’s key accusations, ruling that the sheriff had violated the law. Specifically, administrative law judge Robert Kilbride ruled Tony concealed a previously suspended driver’s license when seeking a renewal in 2019 — after Tony was sheriff.

The judge noted that failure to disclose a prior suspension was a third-degree felony and recommended Tony receive a suspension.

The judge also recommended Tony attend ethics training. But the biggest question here is: Why the hell is this man still in office?

Gov. Ron DeSantis has removed other local officials with reckless abandon, even when they stood accused of no crimes.

Yet here, the FDLE accused Tony of violating the law for years. A judge has now confirmed that. Yet this ally and appointee of the governor is still there.

When DeSantis removed the other guys, his justification was a supposed commitment to the “rule of law.”

He even got Attorney General Ashley Moody to parrot that line in a press release about his ousting of Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell with Moody saying: “We are fortunate to have a Governor committed to the rule of law …”

DeSantis used the same phrase to justify ousting Tampa Bay prosecutor Andrew Warren, saying he wanted a replacement who would “uphold the rule of law.”

Spare us the “rule of law” claptrap if the law-breakers who happen to be your political pals get a pass.

Now, DeSantis said he was suspending those two for not enforcing laws. That was debatable. But let’s say that was accurate. In what ethical Bizzaro World are you outraged by officials who supposedly don’t enforce laws stringently enough, but fine with officials who actually break them?

For the record, I’ve never been a fan of governors removing duly elected officers from office for much of anything short of a crime, even if I don’t care for that official.

Why do I think that? Because I don’t live in Russia. I live in the United States of America, where most of us respect democracy and the results of properly held elections.

In this country, I know that the person who wins an elected office gets to keep that office — even if I think I can make a pretty compelling case that the winner is a crumbum.

That’s a basic principle of democracy — respecting the will of citizens who cast votes, even if you disagree with their choice. This principle has been respected by most every governor this state has ever had.

DeSantis, however, doesn’t care about those principles. If he wants an elected official gone, he yanks them from office — under the pretense of the “rule of law.”

So before we wrap up, let’s look at how the rules of law applied to Sheriff Tony — not according to my opinions, but according to Florida statutes.

Judge Kilbride ruled that Tony “knowingly violated the provisions of section 322.212(5)(a), when he applied for a Florida driver license renewal in person on February 1, 2019, and, upon questioning, failed to disclose to the driver license examiner that his driving privilege had previously been revoked, suspended, or denied …”

And what does statute 322.212(5)(a) say? “It is unlawful for any person to use a false or fictitious name in any application for a driver license or identification card or knowingly to make a false statement, knowingly conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit a fraud in any such application.”

Note the key words there: “Knowingly violated” and “unlawful.” The judge used both.

One of the most remarkable quotes that highlights DeSantis’ double standards comes from DeSantis himself.

Four years ago, when it was first revealed that Tony had concealed other details about his past — details FDLE would later say he also should have revealed — DeSantis said it wasn’t his job to intervene. Specifically, he said “that’s ultimately a decision the people in Broward can make.”

Well, thanks, Governor Gaslight. You just made precisely the argument you’ve repeatedly rejected when removing others from office.

It takes a lot of gall to invalidate a local election.

It takes even more to do so in a blatantly inconsistent fashion.

And it requires citizens to either check their brains or integrity at the door to believe any of that supports “the rule of law.”

Scott Maxwell is an Orlando Sentinel columnist. Contact him at smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com.