Broward Health Halts Public Meeting On Alleged Interference With FBI Probe

A public meeting called to discuss whether the North Broward Hospital District’s top lawyer deliberately obstructed an FBI investigation was shut down shortly after it began Wednesday on her advice.

The allegations against general counsel Lynn Barrett will now be discussed in the future behind closed doors. The move to hold the meeting in private was made over the vigorous objections of two North Broward commissioners and the Sun-Sentinel.

“I totally disagree that we can go into the shade for something like this.  I don’t think its good public policy,” said Commissioner Chair David Di Pietro, an attorney.

Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board Editor Rosemary O’Hara told the commission that she had consulted with the newspaper’s attorney and was told that a private meeting on the allegations is “not allowed under the law.”

Most government meetings in Florida must be held in public under the state Sunshine Law.