In the union’s endorsement of DeSantis, Jeff Bell, president of the Republican-leaning Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association, praised his military record as well. | AP Photo Police union backs DeSantis, bashes Gillum as anti-cop over Dream Defenders ties

The union representing sheriff's deputies in Florida’s second-largest county endorsed Republican Ron DeSantis on Friday and bashed Democrat Andrew Gillum as “hostile toward law enforcement” for signing a pledge from a leftist group that calls police officers racists.

Called “The Freedom Pledge,” the document was created by the Dream Defenders organization and specifically targets the National Rifle Association and the Florida-based GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest private prison company. But the pledge also singles out police in calling for less criminal justice spending and more money for schools and social services.


Jeff Bell, president of the Republican-leaning Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association, said the Dream Defenders’ pledge and its broader platform disqualified Gillum.

“This is a blatant attack on our law enforcement community, an insult to the citizens we work to protect, and dishonors the memory of our fallen officers,” Bell said in a statement. “Gillum’s positions are offensive to the law enforcement community and are dangerous for our state. I look forward to working with Ron DeSantis as Governor — someone who will stand with us, support us, and work with us to protect our state and make Florida better for every family.”

Gillum’s campaign said in a statement that the Tallahassee mayor “has been a strong ally of law enforcement in Tallahassee, investing in additional officers to help reduce crime across the city. As Mayor Gillum has previously said, he will not take money from the private prison industry and instead will invest in community policing, smart justice and strategies that work with communities to reduce crime and create better opportunities for all Floridians."

The criticisms of Gillum and his connections to the Dream Defenders, a minority-empowerment group formed after the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, is part of a broader Republican effort to describe the liberal politician as “too radical,” a phrase used in a Republican Governors Association ad that detailed his association with the group.

Nailah Summers, communications director for Dream Defenders, said Gillum isn't responsible for everything the group believes in. Gillum has, for instance, specifically disagreed with Dream Defenders' support of a boycott of Israel over Palestinian rights.

“Our ideology is different from what we asked of politicians,” Summers said. “We know they’d never share the same ideals because were leftists, so we just asked that they prioritize different things in the pledge.”

Summers said “the pledge was written to do two things: get politicians to stop taking money from private prisons and the gun lobby; and get them to put more of the state budget into the root causes of violence, which all involve poverty, instead of into police and prisons. If every Floridian had quality public education (this includes treating teachers right), healthcare, decent housing and jobs, our crime rates would plummet. You’d think a sheriff’s association would want that.”

The part of the pledge that bothers the police union says that, “I will fight for a Florida that divests from prisons, detention centers, guns and police and invests in the basic needs and safety of its people, especially its children. I will fight for a reallocation of our state budget from police and prisons to good food, affordable housing, quality healthcare and public education.”

The pledge is linked on the Dream Defenders’ website to a lengthy policy platform called “The Freedom Papers” that, in addition to calling for social justice, says “police were never meant to protect and serve me and you. They started as slave catchers hired by wealthy plantation owners. ... Police and prisons have no place in 'justice.' ... Police and prisons aren't just racists but they work to enforce the separations of rich and poor.”

During a June 12 Democratic gubernatorial primary forum, Gillum praised the Dream Defenders in reiterating the pledge by him and the other candidates not to take any money from the private prison industry.

The group says the pledge has been signed by 30 candidates in Florida.

"I will not be taking money from private prisons and I believe private prisons ought to be illegal here in the state of Florida. They should not exist,” Gillum told an activist with the group. “When you all slept in for 30 days on the cold, hard marble floors of the state Capitol, I was pleased and proud to sneak food into you every night so you could eat — to stand up for you and to stand beside you because you all have been standing in the gap on behalf of marginalized communities, shaking up the political process, having politicians across the state run scared because they're afraid of your power and I hope you keep at it. Good luck.”

One of Gillum’s top supporters in Broward County is Sheriff Scott Israel, who gained a measure of national fame and notoriety over his agency’s handling of the killer in the Parkland massacre both before and after his Feb. 14 bloody rampage. Israel, a Democrat, has clashed with the police union, which held a “no confidence” vote in his leadership.

“Jeff Bell is a Republican,” said Israel’s political consultant, Amy Rose. “While I can't speak to the political makeup of his union, police officers in general are fairly conservative politically and I can tell you they have been vocally opposed to Sheriff Israel's progressive policing initiatives, including body worn cameras, juvenile civil citations, common sense gun control reforms, the requirement for deputies to carry a less lethal weapon and more.”

In the union’s endorsement of DeSantis, Bell praised his military record as well.

“As a former Navy JAG officer and Federal prosecutor, Ron has the experience and judgement needed to lead this state. Ron has consistently stood with law enforcement and supported us in our mission to keep communities safe,” the endorsement said. “His opponent, Andrew Gillum, is hostile toward law enforcement."