Ric Bradshaw's son-in-law paid by a private company to serve as PBSO's medical director
You won’t find Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s son-in-law on the agency’s payroll, even though he is providing part-time medical director services for PBSO, a position that, according to invoices, costs taxpayers about $100,000 a year for 30 hours of work a month.
Dr. Peter LoFaso, 53, who is married to Bradshaw’s stepdaughter Kelly, was brought in by a private company to do the job. Bradshaw, 75, himself approved an expansion in 2020 of the office's employees benefits-insurance brokering contract with the Gehring Group to include the services.
LoFaso was providing guidance to PBSO the day after the contract was signed, sheriff's office emails show.
Medical directors help set policy on health-related matters. LoFaso gave the sheriff's office guidance on conducting temperature checks for COVID and whether employees were at risk working at the headquarters on Gun Club Road after experts found toxic black mold among other issues, PBSO emails show.
LoFaso created a company called Amicus Medical Consulting LLC in August 2019, about six months before his work began for PBSO, invoices and state corporate records show. Originally Kelly LoFaso was a managing member of Amicus, but she was removed within days of its formation.
The sheriff's office did not seek competive bids from any private companies interested in providing the medical director services. Bradshaw signed a document that made competitive bidding unnecessary, and handed over the work to the Gehring Group, which is based in Palm Beach Gardens.
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The initial March 2020 contract for medical-director work called for the sheriff's office to pay Gehring $2,750 a month for 10 hours of work at the rate of $275 an hour. By September 2021, the number of hours had tripled to 30, priced at $8,250 a month and an additional $275 an hour for additional work performed.
County commissioners didn't see the contract extension before Bradshaw approved it. As a constitutional officer with complete power over his agency except for budgeting, Bradshaw can bypass them. County commissioners approve Bradshaw's budget once a year, but individual contracts with vendors are not presented to them.
County Mayor Maria Sachs said the policy needs to change.
"I want to see county government become more transparent," said Sachs. "That means all of our contracts should be posted online for taxpayers to review, and that includes our constitutional officers. We need to be seeing those contracts that are awarded by them."
Does arrangement for PBSO's medical director job violate Florida's anti-nepotism law?
Had Bradshaw directly hired LoFaso as a sheriff's office employee, he might have run afoul of Florida’s anti-nepotism law, which prohibits public officials from advocating for the hiring or promotion of relatives, according to Barbara Petersen, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability. The law defines a son-in-law as a covered relative.
Petersen said Bradshaw should have had no involvement in the hiring of Gehring to perform medical director services if he knew that his son-in-law was going to fill the job.
And when the Gehring Group contract for medical director services was amended to provide for a significant increase in work and pay, it was clear by then that his son-in-law was doing the work. The spirit of the law was being violated, Petersen said.
Because LoFaso was paid through the Gehring Group, it may be legal, according to Caroline Klancke, executive director of the Florida Ethics Institute and former general counsel for the Florida Ethics Commission. However, she said, the arrangement gives rise to an appearance of impropriety, noting: “This does not engender public confidence.”
The Palm Beach Post asked Bradshaw whether he knew the Gehring Group was going to employ his son-in-law to provide medical director services or whether he had anything to do with the hire.
“PBSO asked the Gehring Group for a service, not a person," spokesperson Teri Barbera said. "How and who the Gehring group provided the service is up to them.”
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How much is LoFaso being paid by PBSO?
How much the Gehring Group is paying LoFaso is not known. PBSO claims any agreement between the company and the doctor is not a public record because it is between two private entities. Gehring's founder, Kurt Gehring, did not respond to several calls from The Post.
Petersen, a longtime public records expert disagrees, saying that a contract for work done on behalf of a governmental agency is indeed open for inspection by members of the public, who ultimately pay for the work. The law also requires PBSO to retrieve the contract from the private company and release it, she said.
A Dec. 1 letter from The Post's attorney to Bradshaw and Gehring reiterating the paper's request for the contract under Florida's public records law had not been answered by press time. Multiple efforts to obtain the documents or comment from the Gehring Group or Gehring himself were unsuccessful.
What is Dr. Peter LoFaso’s background?
LoFaso, a board-certified internist, is a doctor of osteopathy and in 2008 became a fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Internists.
His profile on the Florida Department of Health website says he graduated from medical school in 2000 from the University of Health Sciences in Antigua. The websites of three other states where he is licensed say his school was the Kansas City University Of Medicine & Bioscience College Of Osteopathic Medicine.
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LoFaso once had a practice in Wellington and sought a seat on the Village Council in 2006 but lost.
LoFaso has no record of discipline against him with the Florida Department of Health or by other states where he is licensed — Idaho, Virginia and North Carolina.
His medical office is listed on the Health Department's website as being in Port Orange in Volusia County. It is nearly 200 miles north of West Palm Beach.
More: PBSO report says mold makes headquarters building 'impossible to fix'
What medical services have been provided by PBSO's medical director?
LoFaso in 2020 and 2021, as the pandemic raged, reviewed and assisted the sheriff’s office on policies concerning COVID — not only for employees but also for inmates at the jail, emails between LoFaso and the sheriff’s office show. The doctor advised the agency about such issues as masking, testing, social distancing and safety for employees in contact with the public.
He also offered a medical opinion after tests in 2020 showed the sheriff’s complex on Gun Club Road was riddled with mold, including toxic black mold. LoFaso concluded it posed a “significant health risk” and recommended moving all employees, emails show.
Monthly invoices submitted to the sheriff’s office from 2020 through 2021 by Gehring Group provide almost no detail as to what work LoFaso was doing each month. The invoices simply say: “Consulting.”
The state Ethics Commission has jurisdiction over county sheriffs when it comes to the anti-nepotism law. A spokesperson said the commission could not comment on whether the hiring of LoFaso to provide medical director services violated the law.
Bradshaw facing a test for another term as Palm Beach County sheriff
A Democrat, Bradshaw was first elected in 2004, making him the county’s longest-serving sheriff. He may face his toughest challenge next November if his former top deputy, Michael Gauger, wins the Republican nomination.
County campaign finance records show that Kurt Gehring and his wife, Linda, each gave $1,000 to Bradshaw’s campaign on May 8. So, too, did their son, Klif. The Gehring’s group CFO, Kathleen Grangard, made a $1,000 contribution as did her husband, Steven. The maximum per person contribution under law is $1,000.
As of Dec. 7, Bradshaw’s campaign had raised $213,945, according to the Supervisor of Elections website and another $230,000 through his political action committee, Friends of Ric Bradshaw. Gauger has raised nearly $117,000.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Ric Bradshaw's son-in-law paid for PBSO work through private firm
