Panel retreats on LaBrake decision

The state Ethics Commission says many questions about the ousted Tampa housing director now are officially open.

By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 10, 2002

TAMPA -- Criticized for being too soft on ousted Tampa housing chief Steve LaBrake, the state Ethics Commission now appears to be saying: We take it back.

In a retreat from a November report that found LaBrake blameless in a series of scandals, the Ethics Commission says it does not have enough hard facts to conclude whether LaBrake misused his official position to build a home in South Tampa with his girlfriend, Lynne McCarter.

Nor can it determine whether the couple broke ethics codes by profiting from gift baskets McCarter sold to a non-profit group that had received millions of taxpayer dollars in contracts through LaBrake's office.

Those questions and others now remain "open," said Chris Anderson, one of the commission lawyers who drafted the report. "I think when there's factual cloudiness, the opinion process doesn't lend itself to resolving it."

The new report again asserts, however, that because the couple was not married, LaBrake did not violate anti-nepotism laws by overseeing McCarter's promotion in the city's housing office.

Like the November opinion, the new report was drafted by the commission's lawyers and remains preliminary until the commission formally meets to adopt or reject its findings.

Ethics commissioners angrily rejected most of the November opinion that acquitted LaBrake and McCarter, saying it relied on incomplete information submitted by the city of Tampa.

Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, under fire for his handling of the scandal, asked the commission for an advisory opinion in September. His city attorney, James Palermo, oversaw the "fact gathering" that the Ethics Commission later called unreliable.

Palermo did not return a call for comment Wednesday.

LaBrake, who boasted in November of the commission report that initially cleared him, said Wednesday he was not surprised by the latest findings.

He has known since he faced the commission in November it would reject most of the original report.

"That's what they told me verbally up there," LaBrake said. "This formalizes it."

LaBrake said the media exerted pressure on the commission to reject its attorneys' initial report. "Do they take the opinion of their staff or do they bow to political pressure?" LaBrake said. "Legally, we violated no policy, no codes, no laws, zippo."

The Ethics Commission will meet Jan. 24 to vote on whether to adopt the new report.

LaBrake continues to face state and federal investigations.

And, in a process separate from the advisory opinion, the Ethics Commission is investigating complaints by private citizens about LaBrake.

LaBrake said he is compiling a rebuttal to charges he misused his position.

-- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 813-226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com.

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