Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony often makes highly disparaging remarks about others. It’s often petty and untrue, but he has a First Amendment right to do it.
Take the city of Deerfield Beach, where the sheriff is embroiled in an ugly and protracted contract dispute. He threatened to “destroy” the city manager for resisting BSO’s excessive contract demands, and he has described elected city officials as corrupt, incompetent and liars.
But if Tony thinks someone has disparaged him, he’ll get even — whether it’s legal or not.
Tony has cut off retirement benefits to Deerfield Beach City Manager Rodney Brimlow, a retired BSO captain, allegedly for speaking disparagingly about the sheriff.
Brimlow, 55, retired from the sheriff’s office in 2021 after a 25-year career. Like other high-ranking BSO employees, he signed a severance agreement that allowed him to keep his health care benefits in retirement until he’s eligible for Medicare in a decade.
That’s important, because Brimlow has two special needs children who require extraordinary levels of care.
Steve Bousquet, South Florida Sun Sentinel columnist.
On Aug. 13, Col. Andrew Dunbar sent Brimlow a letter notifying him his health benefits were terminated for making disparaging remarks about Tony or the sheriff’s office.
The letter did not say what the remarks were. But it came days after a complaint was filed with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, accusing Tony of threatening Brimlow.
The sheriff has repeatedly accused Brimlow of filing a false police report against him, a charge that Brimlow forcefully denied at a crowded city meeting Aug. 19. But Brimlow carefully avoided criticizing Tony personally.
The key clause in a BSO severance agreement.
When he retired in 2021, Brimlow signed a 10-page severance agreement in which he “agrees to not make or endorse any disparaging or negative remarks or statements concerning the sheriff, BSO, or any of its past and present officers.”
The agreement has an exception for statements made to any government agency.
After Brimlow’s lawyer, Barbra Stern, demanded an explanation, Brimlow got a letter from BSO counsel Terrence Lynch telling him he violated “Paragraph 5” and the non-disparagement language. But Lynch didn’t cite the alleged remarks, either.
So-called non-disparagement clauses are widely considered unenforceable, especially if they were not in effect at the time of employment.
“BSO had an obligation to pay a portion of the medical premiums for Mr. Brimlow and his family’s medical insurance, which includes coverage for two special needs children,” Stern said. “We have demanded that BSO honor the agreement.”
In a photo posted to X, former Broward Sheriff’s Office Capt. Rodney Brimlow at a retirement ceremony in 2021 with Sheriff Gregory Tony. (X/Sheriff Gregory Tony)
Stern called Tony’s action “a bullying tactic” and threatens to sue Tony.
The clause is absurd on its face. Why should any elected official demand legal protection against criticism from anybody? The criticism is part of the job.
Besides, we find nothing in the record in which Brimlow made disparaging remarks against Tony.
But other former BSO employees have, such as Neal Glassman, a retired BSO captain who retired in 2019 after a 30-year career.
At the Aug. 19 Deerfield Beach meeting, Glassman strongly defended Brimlow and accused Tony of being cowardly and repeatedly lying by accusing the manager of filing a false police report.
“When he says something,” Glassman said of the sheriff, “wait for the lie — because his lips are moving.”
Now that’s disparaging.
But Tony can’t do a thing about it because Glassman did not have to sign a non-disparagement clause when he retired. The language surfaced after a 2020 Sun Sentinel article in which Glassman criticized BSO for a weak response to a highly publicized break-in at the Tamarac home of a veteran.
At a town hall in a Deerfield Beach church Wednesday, as part of his “Know the Facts” campaign, Tony seemed not to know of Brimlow’s loss of health benefits. By mistake, a questioner cited a “non-disclosure” agreement and Brimlow’s BSO pension, which is not affected.
“His pension was earned,” Tony said. “He did his time in this uniform. So I’m not petty, and I’m not vindictive.”
Tony can dish out criticism, but he can’t take it. Brimlow should challenge the loss of his family’s health benefits. By forcing Tony to defend his petty “Don’t criticize me” clause in court, Brimlow can prevent the sheriff from lashing out at someone else.
Steve Bousquet is the Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240 and follow him on X @stevebousquet.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/09/06/sheriff-dishes-it-out-but-cant-take-it-steve-bousquet/
