Barbara Sharief sues Lauren Book for libel over campaign ads in hostile state Senate race

Former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief, who is running for state Senate, is suing her opponent, Sen. Lauren Book, over what she says are libelous campaign ads during a race that has grown increasingly hostile.

Book’s campaign, meanwhile, suggested they might file a countersuit.

Sharief’s lawsuit filed Friday afternoon in Broward County Circuit Court seeks over $1 million in damages and accuses Book and a political committee, Winning Florida, of falsely claiming in campaign ads that Sharief “defrauded Medicaid,” a reference to Sharief’s home healthcare company paying nearly $700,000 in settlements about a decade ago after an audit found the company had overbilled the Medicaid program for patient care.

Sharief did not admit guilt as part of the settlements.

“Book falsely stated that Sharief was engaging in fraudulent behavior and corruption using taxpayer funds,” the lawsuit says. “Book knew this was untrue and harbored serious doubts as to the veracity of the statements.”

In an interview Friday evening, Sharief denied ever over-billing Medicaid and decried a claim in one of Book’s campaign ads that said she “narrowly avoided jail time.”

“It’s incredible to see that somebody could take something that’s very routine in the healthcare profession and turn it into something that’s criminal,” she said. “I’ve never been accused of anything criminal.”

Sharief’s lawsuit also says Book’s campaign made “slanderous” references to her 2015 vote as a Broward County commissioner seeking to attract the authorized U.S. manufacturer of the Russian-style AK-47 assault rifle to the county. One of the campaign mailers shows Sharief holding an AK-47 — an image that, according to the lawsuit, was taken when Sharief attended a gun buyback event.

Sharief told the Miami Herald she found the mailer especially egregious because her own father was shot and killed when she was 14 years old.

“My father died of gun violence and she’s putting me on a mailer that’s essentially advertising that I like guns and I’m putting guns on the street,” Sharief said.

Sharief’s campaign recently ran a TV ad slamming the mailer and saying Book is “desperate to win” the state Senate District 35 Democratic primary and maintain her seat.

The race for Senate District 35, a newly redrawn district that includes parts of Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Southwest Ranches, Cooper City, Davie and Hollywood, has become a tense back-and-forth between two well-known Broward lawmakers. Book, the Democratic leader in the Florida Senate, is facing her first ever challenger in Sharief.

Sharief, 50, is from Miramar. Book, 37, recently moved from her home in Plantation, which fell outside of the district, to neighboring Davie.

A representative for Book’s campaign said Book has not yet been served with the lawsuit. But Claire VanSusteren, Book’s spokesperson, said the suit was “nonsense” and suggested they could escalate by filing a legal challenge of their own.

“While it’s hard to comment on a challenge when Lauren Book has yet to be served, it’s clear Barbara Sharief is trying to distract from her well-documented record of defrauding Medicaid and being twice fined for overbilling the state — as covered in numerous news stories — with this nonsense lawsuit,” VanSusteren said.

“If Sharief continues down this frivolous path, there is little doubt she will be met with a lawsuit herself for falsely attacking Lauren Book and her family in TV commercials and mailers with disgusting, distorted attacks on a foundation whose mission is to protect children from child abuse,” she added, in reference to Book’s nonprofit organization, Lauren’s Kids.

The registered agent for the Winning Florida political committee, attorney Jason Blank, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sharief is being represented by attorney Michael A. Pizzi in this lawsuit. Pizzi is the same lawyer who is representing U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in a similar libel lawsuit against her opponent Dale Holness, in the race for Florida’s 20th Congressional District.