Part-time legislating leads to conflicts of interest

TALLAHASSEE — Florida has a part-time citizen Legislature, comprised of people of varied backgrounds from teachers to real estate agents to funeral directors.

“We don’t want full-time legislators, and I’m glad we’re not like Congress,” says House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park.

Such professional diversity gives lawmaking a real-world component in Tallahassee but also leads to conflicts of interest for legislators who earn $29,000 a year.

As the reputation goes, the fox is often guarding the henhouse.

Educators routinely vote for and against bills that affect schools. Lawyers vote on bills affecting the legal profession. Medical professionals help write laws affecting doctors, hospitals and clinics. Many legislators work for colleges and universities that depend on state appropriations. And some work for phone and electric utilities regulated by the state.

A statewide grand jury on public corruption in Florida concluded that the conflict of interest law is too weak and should be strengthened to restore faith in government.

“Voting conflicts of interest should be criminally punished,” the grand jury report says. “When a public official has a conflict, he or she should step aside and disclose the conflict. The only benefit the public official should receive is for the public, not for the public official or anyone else.”

In city and county government, officials must abstain from voting on matters that could benefit them personally, but the rules are different in Tallahassee.

Senators and representatives are allowed to vote on matters in which they have a financial stake as long as they disclose it up to 15 days after the vote is cast. And Florida ethics laws say it’s legal for elected officials to vote on matters that affect their own professions.

During the past five years, dozens of legislators have filed voting conflict forms in cases where they had conflicts of interest.

Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, has extensive agricultural business interests, and sponsored and voted for a 2010 bill that he said could have affected his business, Blue Head Farms. The bill allowed landowners to keep agricultural tax exemptions for longer periods of time.

Rep. Esteban Bovo, R-Hialeah, voted to shield his employer, Miami Children’s Hospital, from budget cuts.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, has a stake in Caregivers Inc., a company that gets Medicaid money that Gaetz voted to appropriate.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, works for a law firm that serves as bond counsel to the local expressway authority, and voted on a bill affecting sale of authority bonds.

Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, a chiropractor, voted to confirm the appointment of his son to the Board of Chiropractic Medicine.

Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, took the extreme step of resigning from a House budget committee that oversaw the state lottery at a time when her husband, TV executive Mike Vasilinda, had a contract with the lottery.

Legislators who practice law are required to file quarterly forms disclosing clients of the firm represented before state government.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who works for the Gunster law firm, last month filed a list of 59 clients, including U.S. Sugar Corp.; the GEO Group, a private prison operator; Florida Power & Light; and racetracks, cities, real estate firms and utilities.

Robert Downey Jr. Calls ‘Due Date’ Director His ‘Soul Mate’Governor sued over delay