Broward Health Deal Exposes Ethics Loopholes Big Enough For Multi-Million Dollar Deals

Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca was part of a “concerted campaign” to divert public Broward Health money to pay for a marketing effort run by his employer, Zimmerman Advertising.

Zimmerman had sought to convince Broward Health CEO Dr. Nabil El Sanadi that the district’s “budget was insufficient to do the marketing job that the district needed,” according to an independent special counsel’s report provided to the district on Wednesday.

LaMarca allegedly got so heavy-handed during the push to obtain a no-bid, $71.4-million advertising contract that he once threatened El Sanadi, whose Jan. 23 suicide triggered a series of disclosures about investigations and insider deals that have rocked the public hospital system.

“I put you here, and I can take you out,” LaMarca said, according to Broward Health Vice President Doris Peek, whose statements are contained in a report presented to Broward Health’s governing board on Wednesday.

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By Dan Christensen and Buddy Nevins, FloridaBulldog.org, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, April 1, 2016 

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