Broward Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony wants the State of Florida to force Broward County to give him a hefty budget increase. He wants it so badly that on Tuesday he and a team of his top brass will be in Tallahassee to appeal the county’s partial denial of his unprecedented billion-dollar-plus proposal.
While state law grants county commissions broad discretion to set budgets for the constitutional officers they fund, including sheriffs, Tony seems wired to win.
The Florida Administration Commission, which will decide the matter, is chaired by Gov. Ron DeSantis, an ally who originally appointed Tony as sheriff seven years ago and has stood by him despite Florida Department of Law Enforcement findings that Tony lied under oath to obtain a Florida driver’s license, lied about his prior LSD use on an application to become a police officer in Coral Springs and failed to disclose his arrest for murder as a juvenile in Philadelphia when applying for jobs as a police officer and to the governor before his appointment as sheriff. Tony was acquitted.
The other three commission members are in DeSantis’s Cabinet: Attorney General James Uthmeier, DeSantis’s former chief of staff; Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. The meeting can be viewed live online at 9 a.m. on The Florida Channel…