Broward’s police union endorsed Sheriff Al Lamberti for election a week after approving a contract with him, leading some to call it a conflict of interest.

BY AMY SHERMAN

Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti, who is running to keep one of the county’s law enforcement jobs, got the endorsement on Wednesday of the powerful police union.

The rank-and-file’s support comes less than a week after he and the Broward County Police Benevolent Association union concluded negotiations that include raises of 5 percent by the end of the three-year deal.

The endorsement of the PBA is a boost to Lamberti’s campaign to defeat a slate of Democrats in a county where voters rarely choose a Republican for a countywide seat.

Lamberti, a Republican, has raised about $460,000, more than twice as much money as any of his potential opponents.

Lamberti, the only Republican candidate, will face the winner of the Aug. 26 Democratic primary, which includes five candidates. The general election is Nov. 4.

PBA President Dick Brickman said the contract was a factor — but not the only reason — union leaders unanimously voted to endorse Lamberti. It was Lamberti’s three decades of experience at BSO that helped him win support.

`HE’S ONE OF US’

”He’s an insider,” Brickman said in a prepared statement. “He is one of us.”

Ethics experts, however, question the politicization of BSO contract negotiations. They said it’s a conflict of interest to have a sheriff negotiate a pact with the very union he seeks to obtain support from for his own election.

”How can you possibly both be negotiating and at the same time be asking the support of the person you are negotiating with?” asked Bob Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s law school who is writing a book about the sheriff’s office. “It makes no sense. It’s not his fault. It is a problem every sheriff has.”

Lamberti denied that he had any conflict and said getting a contract approved wasn’t a means to getting the endorsement.

”I never felt it was about the endorsement,” he said. “I always felt it was about taking care of my people.”

Lamberti, formerly a BSO major, was appointed to the sheriff’s job by Gov. Charlie Crist last fall after Ken Jenne resigned amid corruption charges.

In May, the union rejected a contract that offered 3 percent raises. At that time it appeared that Lamberti was in danger of not getting the endorsement.

”I think he upped the ante to garner the endorsement,” said Scott Israel, the Democratic front-runner in fundraising. “It is expected that the incumbent would get the endorsement of the PBA and it’s a shame that this endorsement was based on a contract being negotiated.”

PBA members will help Lamberti by holding fundraisers, distributing literature and holding signs on Election Day.

Many of the Democrats have said one of their goals is to lift employee morale at BSO — but that’s a tougher argument to make now that the union has endorsed Lamberti.

OTHER CANDIDATES

The Democrats running are Shahrukh Dhanji, state human relations commissioner; Israel, North Bay Village police chief and former Fort Lauderdale police captain; Richard Lemack, Hollywood assistant manager and former assistant police chief; attorney and former federal prosecutor Bruce Udolf and Wiley Thompson, former chief of staff to Ken Jenne and former FBI assistant director.

For his part, Lamberti has tried to win over Democrats — who outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 margin — by downplaying his Republican card and repeating the mantra: “Crime knows no party.”

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/623999.html