Sheriff Al Lamberti's Democratic challenger Scott Israel looked like a long-shot candidate, but he's been pulling out all the stops recently, flinging whatever poo will stick to Lamberti, and the Sheriff isn't ducking fast enough.
In fact, the sheriff has skipped out on two debates with Israel, one on Channel 10 and the other in front of the NAACP.
The latest gift to Israel: the sheriff's close associate in the department, pictured walking next to him in a campaign commercial, has been charged with falsifying records after a plea deal.
Sgt. Mitch Kogod was making $85,000 a year working on Oakland Park and was known as one of the closest deputies to Lamberti.
The charges center around alleged off-duty "double-dipping." For example, at an LA Fitness club he was being paid by the sheriff's office to serve court papers, while at the same time he was moonlighting doing security for the club, according to the South Florida Times.
The sheriff's office did not release the terms of the plea deal. If he hadn't struck a deal, Kogod would have faced multiple felony counts.
Israel might have known this was coming, in the good old Broward-politics style. On Tuesday, he posted this update to Facebook: "Everyone loves surprises!! We're hearing everyone's going to be seeing some surprises starting today!!"
"Bet Lamberti is sweating today!!" Israel's campaign wrote on Facebook after the charges were announced.
Kogod was previously under investigation for giving favors to Dolphins players.
Israel might be way behind in fundraising and major endorsements, but he's not shying away from using negative associations like this against the sheriff. Check out this recent seedy ad from a group that supports Israel:
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