Five weeks after hiring a Fort Lauderdale law firm to help it respond to a state review of its contracts, Broward Health’s governing board reversed course Wednesday and fired the firm.
Mitchell Berger and the Berger Singerman law firm were axed in a 4-1 vote that appeared to dance around the true reason for the change: partisan politics.
As the two-time finance chair of the Florida Democratic Party and co-chair of the National Finance Council of the National Democratic Committee for almost three years, Berger is one of Broward County’s best-known Democratic fund raisers. His hiring by Broward Health’s Republican board – all appointed by Gov. Rick Scott – did not go unnoticed in the Governor’s Office in Tallahassee.
Berger was singled out for criticism in a letter from the Inspector General to Gov. Scott that resulted in the suspension of two commissioners on March 18.
By Dan Christensen and Buddy Nevins, FloridaBulldog.org, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, Mar. 30, 2016
