Broward News & Opinion

Dale Holness has figured out the ultimate Broward County hustle.

The former county mayor is running for Congress. At the same time, he is walking the halls of the Governmental Center as a registered lobbyist.

And unfortunately, it's getting hard to tell where the campaign ends and the payday begins.

Start with the money.

In December 2025, Daer Serrano wrote a $3,500 check to the Holness congressional campaign. Serrano is the chief executive of E-Care Ambulance.

The company wants a lucrative piece of the local medical transport market. To get it, they need the golden ticket to operate ambulances in Broward — a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN). So they hired Holness to work his former colleagues and push the approval.

After the holidays, Holness got to work on behalf of E-Care. Visitor logs show he was actively taking meetings in this capacity. For example, he met with Assistant County Administrator Michael Ruiz on Feb. 27, 2026.

Taking campaign cash from a major donor and then lobbying for his company a few months later completely blurs the line between a political backer and a corporate client.

But the hustle gets even sloppier.

Public visitor logs reveal a highly suspicious meeting where the required paperwork completely falls apart.

On March 9, Holness met with Commissioner Alexandra Davis about 'transportation.' Minutes later, in the same office, another meeting was registered on the same topic with executives for ProKel Mobility. Their team ostensibly met with Davis's aide, also about 'transportation.'

ProKel does para-transit and wants a piece of that business.

Same meeting?

Here is the problem: Holness is not registered to lobby for ProKel Mobility.

But these meetings are happening side by side. Same subject. Same timing. Same office.

That looks coordinated. And if it is not coordinated, it raises an even bigger question.

If Holness is bending the rules, why are commissioners going along with it?

Not quietly. Directly. With a paper trail.

Why turn the County Commission into a referral network for a former politician who is now cashing in on access?

Make no mistake. This is the revolving door in real time.

Voters overwhelmingly approved a six-year lobbying ban to stop exactly this kind of inside game. Holness may have slipped through a technical gap by resigning before it took effect in 2022, but the message from over 80% of the voters was clear: Slow the revolving door. Create distance between public office and private profit.

The commissioners know that. They are the ones who have to live under it.

And yet, they are the ones going along with it anyway.

Why?

They know he's sloppy. They know how this ends if they're in the same boat.

The remaining question is how much liability the county commissioners are willing to take on before they decide this operation has drifted too far off course.

Because once it breaks, they'll be the ones up the creek.

And he'll be long gone with the only paddle.