The Florida Commission on Ethics (FCE) will ask the Florida Legislature for more funding for staffing shortages as the backlog of cases continues to pile on. Commissioner Don Gaetz requested the current funding remain the same but felt the commission might need to ask for more.
“We’ve had investigators out, people have been sick, relatives have been ill, people have left and (it’s) hard to recruit somebody,” Gaetz said. “So it’s been hard to kind of keep a full staff working all the time.”
The shortages and backlogs are compounded by a 2018 Constitutional Amendment which places limitations on business and lobbying for former lawmakers. Gaetz previously served as Florida’s Senate President from 2012 through 2014 and would seemingly be asking the Florida Legislature for additional funding for the FCE.
Part of the amendment said a “public officer or public employee shall not abuse his or her public position in order to obtain a disproportionate benefit for himself or herself; his or her spouse, children, or employer; or for any business with which he or she contracts; in which he or she is an officer, a partner, a director, or a proprietor; or in which he or she owns an interest.”
The amendment had to be carried out by legislation, HB 7009, which dealt with penalties for public officials who use their positions to their “disproportionate benefit.”
The FCE has more expanded spending power than other state panels as they fall under the state Legislature. However, there was some push back against the idea of bringing on full-time hires, with Commission Chair JoAnne Lenzoff suggesting part-time staffers to assist in the backlog of cases.
“Once we start talking about permanent positions, I think that’s when we would need to become a little more formalized in what we’re doing,” Leznoff said.
– – –
Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Florida Commission on Ethics Meeting” by The Florida Channel.
