Just What The Doctor Didnt Order: Tim Ryan

Tim Ryan BY BUDDY NEVINS If an apple-a-day keeps the doctor away, Broward County Commission candidate Tim Ryan better get a bushel. Angry over Ryans three-year old lawsuit against a shadowy political committee funded by the Florida Medical Association, state doctors are preparing to throw money against him in his commission race. The lawsuit is against People for a Better Florida Fund, which spent at least $600,000 for a smear campaign against Ryan and Ken Gottlieb in the 2008 Democratic primary for state senator. FMA-supported State Sen. Eleanor Sobel won. People for a Better Florida Funds money came from almost exclusively from the FMA and doctors. Was Ryan Defamed? In his lawsuit, Ryan alleges that the group defamed him by falsely advertising that he made a shady land deal with the town of Davie. Ryans lawyer is a legal pit bull former state Sen. Skip Campbell. During three years of discovery, Campbell has exposed just how these political committees work. Revealing depositions show that the groups political consultant also

worked for Sobel. The groups deputy treasurer is also executive vice president of the FMA. Apparently some in the medical profession prefer to keep their political work private. They are agitated about the suit, said a well-placed source familiar with Tallahassee and Broward campaigns. Running for the open seat, which winds from south Fort Lauderdale to eastern Davie, Ryan said he anticipated a backlash from doctors. If you base your decisions on what people may throw at you, you cant be in public life and run for office, Ryan said. I find Ryans lawsuit fascinating. The legal protection for political speech is generous. The key question in this lawsuit is whether that protection includes telling lies about a candidate. The suit will hinge on whether the committee recklessly disregarded the truth when it printed falsehood in its ads. The ad said, Check the facts, Ryan said. They didnt even do that. Im happy someone is going after one of these shadowy committees. I wish it would happen more often. The consultants who have made these committees an odious part of political life should be held responsible if they lie. Campaign Continues Meanwhile, Ryan isnt letting the threat from doctors distract him from campaigning. He is going door-to-door in Fort Lauderdale, the base of his two major opponents Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom and former County Commissioner Ken Keechl. Ryan held a meet-and-greet this week at political consultant Judy Sterns Las Olas Boulevard office. Stern was working on state Rep. Evan Jennes campaign for the same seat. When Jenne dropped out, she switched her allegiance. Stern is controversial. However, Ive never heard anybody say she doesnt work hard in a campaign. With fewer than 9,000 expected to vote in the Democratic primary in mid-August, it is the hard work of meeting as many individual voters as possible that will win the race. Unless, of course, thousands of dollars in doctors money pours in and changes the equation.