Embattled Broward Clerk of Courts Brenda Forman has another issue to deal with in addition to her ex-husband challenging her in the next election.
Broward’s legislative delegation is pushing a bill that seeks to stop Forman — who is facing a criminal investigation and an election challenge from her former husband she once claimed was mentally incapacitated — from being able to oversee the county’s finances.
A House panel advanced the proposal (HB 1183) Monday. Forman has hired a lobbying firm, Peebles, Smith and Matthews, to try to defeat the bill.
The measure seeks to undo a change made by voters last year that will move oversight of the county’s $2.5 billion investment portfolio from the county administrator to the clerk of courts in 2025.
Last year, Florida voters approved Amendment 10, which required every county to elect its sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, supervisor of election and clerk of court. What Broward voters might not have noticed in the fine print is that the amendment also made the clerk of courts the “custodian of all county funds” unless otherwise provided by a special law.
In Broward, the county administrator — who reports to the nine-member County Commission — has long handled that duty.
If the Legislature approves the bill and Gov. Ron DeSantis signs it into law, Broward voters would then decide in another referendum which office should handle financial oversight. It would need a majority vote to pass.
“This bill simply allows voters to decide whether to keep the system that has been successful for 46 years,” said state Rep. Bobby DuBose, D-Fort Lauderdale.
John Wayne Smith, a lobbyist representing Forman’s office, said Broward’s structure is unique compared with other counties in Florida, and voters just decided the issue.
“The Broward model concentrates a lot of financial power — more than any other county — under the county administrator,” he said.
Forman worked in the traffic and misdemeanor division in the clerk’s office before being elected in 2016 as clerk of courts, a position held by her then-husband Howard Forman. She was listed as a defendant in a foreclosure suit in 2014.
She said she was compelled to run because she had a dream in which God told her to do so.
Forman, 60, is facing allegations that she made false statements under oath when accusing an attorney of stalking her, according to a governor’s order appointing an independent prosecutor to look into the matter.
She also has clashed with her political predecessor and ex-husband, Howard Forman, 73.
Within months of taking office, Brenda Forman drew headlines by claiming her husband had been incapacitated by early-onset dementia a day after he filed for divorce.
That dispute ended with Broward Circuit Judge Mark Speiser’s ruling that she acted in “bad faith” when she filed the claim about her husband’s mental capacity.
Howard Forman is coming out of retirement to run against his ex-wife for his old job. Also in the race is Michael Francis, a courthouse deputy.
The clerk of courts oversees hundreds of employees who provide support to 90 judges. Included in the office’s duties are the filing of court proceedings, marriage licenses, collection of court fees and passport applications. The clerk is elected countywide and serves a four-year term. The current salary is $178,865.
Staff writers Larry Barszewski and Rafael Olmeda contributed to this report.
sswisher@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher