TALLAHASSEE, FL—In a primary contest that is quickly escalating into a heated battle for the soon-to-be vacant Senate District 35 seat, Miramar Democrat Rodney Jacobs launched a new political advertisement blasting former Broward Mayor Barbara Sharief. The ad implies that Sharief, whose company was found to have overbilled Medicaid patients, "learned her skills" from her "friend" Rick Scott, who oversaw the largest Medicare fraud fine in history.
"Is this how she got her skills? We all know what Rick Scott did," Jacobs, the Executive Director of Miami’s newly-weakened Civilian Investigative Panel police watchdog board, told The Floridian. His 40-second ad, which first circulated last night, begins with a black-and-white image of Sharief.
White text fades onto the screen, demanding: "Tell us who your friends are, and we'll tell you who you are, Barbara Sharief."
Eerie music plays as it cuts to a 2017 Sharief proudly introducing the conservative, then-Governor Rick Scott at the Florida International Trade and Cultural Expo.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure and privilege at this time to introduce my friend and the most business-friendly Governor in the country, our Florida Governor Mr. Rick Scott!" the liberal Sharief says, lauding Scott's business acumen before hugging him on stage.
WATCH: Barbara Sharief - Rick Scott Advertisement
"You think this is where she got her Medicaid fraud skills from, her friend?" Jacobs questioned The Floridian. He referenced Sharief's South Florida Pediatric Homecare Company overbilling Medicaid services by nearly $500,000 in 2013. Instead of carrying out a legal battle, Sharief settled by shelling out nearly $700,000 to cover the amount she was overpaid and the rough $100,000 in legal fines.
She has never admitted any wrongdoing.
As for Scott, now a U.S. Senator, his source of fabulous wealth spawns from his title as the CEO of the nation's largest healthcare chain, Columbia/HCA (which is now HCA Healthcare). In the late 90s, he resigned once the FBI began a probe into the company, which ultimately paid a whopping $1.7 billion fine to silence the charges of massive Medicare fraud.
Scott denies any knowledge of fraud.
This is not Sharief's first lawsuit. In fact, since 2022, she's been on the other side of the courtroom in her libel case against the termed-out Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book. During Book's campaign to hold her seat against Sharief, the Senator sent out mailers claiming the former Mayor had "defrauded Medicaid" and "narrowly avoided jail time."
Sharief says these are lies. And, on Friday morning, a judge (somewhat) agreed with her by allowing the case to go to trial.
Jacobs, a first-time candidate, is out-raising Sharief and screenwriter Chad Klitzman in the days leading up to the August 20th primary in the heavily blue district. Between June 1st and July 12th, Jacobs added nearly $200,000 to his campaign war chest compared to Sharief's $82,000—$77,000 of which is from her own coffers—and Klitzman's $28,000, Florida Politics reported.
The winner will face the sole Republican candidate, former county Sheriff's Deputy Vincent Parlatore, on November 5th.
