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Florida Integrity Calls for Ethics Reform

March 30th, 2012 by flanews

An ethics case against a Republican State Senator is now in the hands of the Florida legislature. Today the Florida Commission on Ethics asked lawmakers to discipline Senator Jim Norman for failing to report a 500-thousand dollar home his wife received as a gift. Ethics commissioners are passing the buck because they lack the authority to punish lawmakers. As Whitney Ray tells us, the case is shedding light on what some government watchdogs consider a flaw in Florida’s ethics policy.

A half a million dollar home on a lake in Arkansas is at the center of an ethics case against an up and coming Florida senator. The home was a gift to Senator Jim Norman’s wife, in 2006. Norman failed to report the property when he ran for senate four years later.

Friday, the Florida Commission on Ethics asked the State Senate to decide a penalty, because they lack the authority to punish lawmakers. Norman’s attorney says there should be no penalty because his client was just following the legal advice he was given at the time.

“He did what he was given advice of council to do. The commission determined there was cause on that,” said Mark Levine, Norman’s Attorney.

The commission’s lack of power to punish lawmakers coupled with the fact that it can’t launch its own investigations, has help earn Florida a C minus in a statewide corruption report.

The grades were given earlier this month by the Center for Public Integrity. Dan Krassner, Director of Florida Integrity, has been compiling data for his own report.

“It’s time to give the Florida Ethics Commission the power to investigate and the ability to impose fines on sitting senators and sitting members of any public office,” said Krassner.

Krassner says a lot needs to change to improve Florida’s ethics grade, and adds the state legislature can start now by taking up Norman’s case quickly and handing him a stiff penalty. Florida Integrity will release its own report on corruption in the state legislature later this spring and offer legislative fixes to the problems.

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