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Former commissioner may be fined

A judge says a Treasure Island commissioner violated state law when he voted on development code changes that would have benefited his employer.

By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published January 15, 2006

TREASURE ISLAND - Former City Commissioner Irving "Butch" Ellsworth maintained his innocence Friday, saying he may appeal if the Florida Commission on Ethics imposes the $5,000 fine being recommended by an administrative law judge.

"They kept offering and offering and offering to settle," Ellsworth said of the ethics commission. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Judge Susan B. Harrell on Wednesday issued an order finding Ellsworth guilty of violating state law when he voted twice in 2002 on development code changes that would have benefited his employer.

The votes were part of a messy community divide over proposals to put 10-story buildings on the north end of the city. Ellsworth, who was ousted from his commission seat in 2004, was and still is general manager of the John's Pass Marina, owned by the Rice family.

"The gain to John's Pass Marina Inc. and to Agnes Rice was not speculative," Harrell wrote in her order. "It is clear that Agnes Rice was seeking amendments to the LDRs (Land Development Regulations) that would provide more flexible use of the land she owned."

During the battle over tall buildings, the Rice family was planning a project called Kingfish Point that hinged on the commission's vote. The Rices, who operate Gator's on the Pass, own about 10 acres on the northern tip of the island, making them the largest landowners in the city.

Ellsworth was among the majority of commissioners who voted first to send the proposed land use changes to the city's planning and zoning board in May 2002 and later adopted the new laws in October. Voters rejected the changes, and a circuit judge eventually barred the city from enforcing the laws.

Harrell recommended Ellsworth pay a $5,000 fine, which is half of the maximum allowed for the ethics violation, as well as public censure and a reprimand. Her order is a recommendation to be considered by the Florida Commission on Ethics at its April 21 meeting. If the fine is imposed, Ellsworth still could take the case to the district court of appeal.

But ethics commission spokeswoman Helen Jones said the commission won't reject the judge's order without a legal reason.

"The majority of the time they accept them," she said.

No other Pinellas official has been fined more than $1,000 for ethics violations, although none of the four previous cases went to a hearing, Jones said.

Attorney J.D. Hadsall, a former commission opponent of Ellsworth's and current candidate for mayor, said he thinks the judge's recommendation "will make every public official aware of the fact that it might be late, but if you violate the public trust, they will get you sooner or later."

"The guy got the slap he deserved," Hadsall said. "Hopefully this will lead to better government. "It's finally the last chapter of the 2002 fiasco." If Ellsworth is successful in his appeal, the city could have to pay his legal fees. Ellsworth would not disclose that bill.

Mayor Mary Maloof, who voted against changing the LDRs when Ellsworth cast his votes, said she thinks he got bad advice from former City Attorney James Denhardt.

Ellsworth said that Denhardt did not give him any advice. In her order, Harrell wrote that the city attorney did advise Ellsworth before the final vote that he was justified in abstaining from the vote. She went on to say that the attorney for the ethics commission, Chris Anderson, also told Ellsworth not to vote.

A few days before he spoke to Ellsworth, she wrote, Anderson told Denhardt, too, "that Ellsworth was going to step on a snake twice; it's a no-brainer; don't vote on it again when it comes back."

The original complaint to the ethics commission was made by Sunset Beach residents Walter Herring and Rhonda Anderson, who have since moved out of state.

George Makrauer, another former commissioner and former resident who was active in the tall buildings debates, said he thinks the judge's recommendation will have far-reaching implications.

"This is not just a Pinellas phenomenon, this is happening everywhere," said Makrauer, who now lives in Celebration. "This is evidence of the kind of manipulation that can take place behind the scenes between powerful landowners and corrupt city officials.

"I think it's big."

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:47:20]