TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ The Florida Commission on Ethics fined former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum $5,000 Friday for failing to report the gift of a boat ride around the Statue of Liberty, ending an ethics saga that had plagued Gillum for more than a year in his failed attempt to become Florida governor.
The commission voted 5-2 to approve a settlement reached with the state ethics commission's attorney, who agreed to drop four more serious charges related to trips to Costa Rica and New York and a ticket to the Broadway hit "Hamilton."
Gillum was not present for the vote.
Tallahassee businessman Erwin Jackson, a longtime critic of the former mayor, filed a complaint last year accusing Gillum of accepting gifts above the state's $100 limit in 2016. Florida law prohibits public officials from accepting gifts over $100 from lobbyists, though family members have exceptions.
State officials then found probable cause on five of six counts that Gillum accepted gifts during those trips. In a report, the commission's advocate had contended that Gillum accepted gifts and "things of value" when he knew or should have known they were meant to influence what he did, and that there was probable cause that Gillum accepted gifts on those trips knowing or "reasonably believ(ing)" they exceeded the state's ethic's limits.
Gillum's attorney, Barry Richard, said the former mayor and Democratic candidate for governor admitted to failing to report the boat trip around the Statue of Liberty with Adam Corey, whom he considered a friend, but that the commission did not have the evidence to prove the other allegations.
"Mayor Gillum had said before the hearing that he shouldn't have done it," Richard said after the hearing. "He didn't realize that Corey was a registered lobbyist because Corey wasn't lobbying him. Corey had been a friend of his for years but, in his opinion, he should have reported it."
Gillum said when the settlement was reached that the evidence showed the actual cost of the boat ride was $85 and cast the fine as "vindication" against claims that he is involved in the public corruption allegations being investigated by the FBI involving Corey.
"The results confirm what I've said all along _ the facts matter and I never knowingly violated any ethics laws," Gillum said at the time.
But Ethics Commissioner Joann Leznoff, who was appointed by former Republican House Speaker Richard Corcoran, voted against the settlement because, she said, although "it's hard to prove quid pro quo," Gillum admitted to violating state ethics laws on the same day he said in a statement that he had been "vindicated."
To Leznoff, that was a sign the "agreement (was) not entered in good faith" because he claimed "he did not knowingly violate state ethics laws when he had, just that day, admitted that he had."
Richard said: "Vindication means a lot of things. When you're charged with five things, most of which are very serious, and the state drops four of them except the only one left is not very serious, then I would consider that a vindication."
Also voting against approving the settlement was Commissioner Kimberly Bonder Rezanka, who said she considered the fine too small.
The accusations against Gillum became a recurring attack against him by now-Gov. Ron DeSantis during the heated gubernatorial campaign last year. DeSantis, a Republican, narrowly defeated Gillum, who was attempting to become the state's first black governor.
Since the election, the FBI has opened an investigation into the handing of Gillum's campaign finances and relationships with some of his largest donors. Richard said a subpoena had been issued seeking information but he said he has not seen it, would not confirm who received it, and Richard is not serving as Gillum's lawyer on that case.
"I'm a legal adviser to Mayor Gillum, he asks me about a lot of things," he said. "He informed me of the fact a subpoena had been served on somebody and we had a brief conversation about it. I told him there was nothing to do because the FBI doesn't tell you anything _ other than for whoever gets subpoenas to respond to the subpoenas."
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