A council member who made accusations in April now is accused of violating election law.
By PHIL DAVIS
Published July 15, 2005
PORT RICHEY - Before he was appointed to the City Council in April, Jim Priest was a key player in uncovering potential election law violations in council member Phyllis Grae and mayoral candidate Mark Abbott's campaign literature.
Now Priest has his own paperwork problems.
The Pasco County Supervisor of Elections' Office says Priest has not filed financial disclosure forms required within 30 days of his appointment to the council and also for an October 2004 appointment to the city's Planning and Zoning Board.
Priest insisted Thursday that he has until September to file the forms for both appointments. He said political foes dredged up the information as punishment for his council votes.
"I'm not delinquent as far as I'm concerned," Priest told the Times. "That's how I understand it from (Supervisor of Elections) Kurt Browning's office."
Melba Hamilton, chief deputy at the county elections office, said Priest might still be covered by a grace period on his council appointment. But the form required after his planning and zoning appointment "is definitely delinquent," Hamilton told the Times.
State law requires all officials, elected or appointed, to disclose sources of income, property owned, business interests, debts and intangible income such as stocks and bonds. Candidates file the form with elections paperwork. Appointees to government boards and councils have 30 days to file when they accept and a month to file again when they leave.
Despite a Nov. 29, 2004, letter from the city advising him to fill out the form, Priest filed neither when he accepted the planning and zoning appointment nor when he left to join the council.
"The people have a right to know where he gets his money," said John King, a local gadfly who challenged Priest to explain his financial filing status at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
King said he plans to file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics. In April, Priest provided information to then-Mayor Eloise Taylor that Grae and Abbott ran afoul of state election rules by campaigning as Republicans for a nonpartisan office. After she lost the election, Taylor filed complaints against Grae and Abbott with the Florida Elections Commission. The cases still are under investigation.
Hamilton said the Ethics Commission is the final authority on whether Priest violated elections law. If a violation is found, he could face fines from $25 for each day of delinquency up to $1,500.
Priest said King has been on his case since the council voted last month on an expansion plan at Sunset Landing Marina. The council made its approval contingent on the marina's gaining state approval. That condition upset several dozen residents who wanted the council to give the project its unequivocal blessing.
Since then, Priest said, King has been patrolling his street looking for code violations. Three residents were cited. King also has been digging through public records for information about Priest.
"This is a harassment tactic," Priest said. "This is basic thuggery."
