The Jewish Card

Regardless, Wishna began to publicly support the president not long after taking the job, and in early 2003, he was named the statewide chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition's committee to reelect W.

Last week, Wishna told me he would resign from the Bush campaign if it would help him get his job back. But he's adamant that the district job is completely separate from his work for the president.

Wishna, as a district "executive consultant," tirelessly tried to drum up medical contracts for various services with predominantly Jewish condo boards. In his 20 months of employment, however, he never secured such an agreement. On January 31, NBHD Vice President Bob Burton fired him, saying there was no money left in the budget for his services.

Wishna says that shortly after that, he heard the real explanation from Jillian Inmon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition. She told him she had learned from her GOP sources that he'd really been fired because of the ongoing feud between commissioners Rodriguez and Sallarulo. The conflict stems from Sallarulo's objection to the now-infamous 50 percent pay increase for Wil Trower and the recent vote to raise property taxes by nearly 12 percent.

"Rodriguez had me fired to get back at Paul for opposing the tax increase and Trower's raise," Wishna said.

When I contacted the RJC's Inmon in her Boca Raton office and asked her about Wishna, she seemed taken aback. "I'm a friend of Harold's, and he's been very helpful to our efforts," she said, "but this is a conversation I'm not prepared to have with a reporter."

Wishna sought the help of Denver Stutler, the governor's chief of staff, who arranged for Rodriguez to call the Jewish leader at his home. The conversation degenerated into a shouting match during which, Rodriguez claims, Wishna called him an anti-Semite.

Wishna also complained to the Anti-Defamation League that the district was discriminating against Jews but held off making it official until he would know if he could have his job back. The day before his appearance at the board meeting, he still hoped to get back on the payroll. "I want to work this out on my own," he told me. "If I do, I will work hand in hand with the district to fix this problem."

But will he win his job back? Not so far. Though his speech before the board ranged from angry indignance to olive-branch diplomacy, none of it seemed to work. Wishna even spoke into the microphone about his support for the Bush brothers. "If there is anything I am doing wrong, I will not take these [political] positions" anymore, he announced.

Wishna said, basically, that he wanted to be a uniter.

"I don't want to see a divisive Broward County -- we have never had problems with race relations here...," Wishna told the board. "I am extending a hand so we can work for the good of the community... I know the power you have, because I had it... I do hope we will be able to work together in harmony."

Long-time district activist Jane Kreimer addressed the board shortly after Wishna sat down and blasted the former commissioners. "It is not the province of the North Broward Hospital District to [financially] support former board members," she said, adding that Rodriguez should have called law enforcement when Wishna demanded his job back under threat of the anti-Semitism allegations. "It's extortion."

After everyone spoke, Trower claimed that Wishna was terminated along with 43 other people due to NBHD's ongoing financial problems. After the meeting, Wishna said he no longer wanted his job back. "I would not go back now," he said. "I can't work with these people anymore."

He added that he was even going to resign from the RJC's Bush campaign, then thought better of it. Is he still going to file an official complaint against the district with the ADL?

"Yes," he promised. While Trower spoke of 44 layoffs, roughly 100 staffers, by my count, have been cast off from the district during the past 18 months. The CEO claims these firings, along with the tax increase, were necessary because of NBHD's financial problems.

There's no doubt the district is in terrible economic shape. But that just makes Trower's recent $200,000 raise (which was cut in half after a public outcry) even more outrageous.

Don't worry, though. Trower has empathy for those who lost their jobs. While speaking about the firings at this past board meeting, Trower said he was aware the layoffs had caused much "pain."

"We always regret this... and I do understand that people get angry when they lose their jobs," he said.