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Letter to the editor

Gulfport official fined in ethics case

By NICK JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
Published October 24, 2007

City Council member Michele King agreed to a settlement with the Florida Commission on Ethics last week after admitting that she filed incomplete financial interest forms.

The ethics investigation resulted from a complaint filed this year by Christine Brown, who ran against King for City Council this year and in the 2005 election.

The complaint alleged that King had failed to list rent money she received from two rental properties as income between 2001 and 2005.

After being notified of the investigation, King admitted that she had failed to list the rent money received as income, and corrected her current statement.

She said that her husband, William, had filled out the forms while acting as her campaign treasurer and that the mistake was unintentional.

The properties had been listed, but not as income.

King said the properties had been operating at a significant loss.

"We listed the property, but we didn't think it was part of my income because it didn't make any money," King said.

The settlement was worked out by James Peterson III, an advocate for the state ethics commission.

Peterson's recommendation to the commission stated that there was no evidence that King's failure to list the rent had been intentional.

King will be fined $100 as part of the settlement.

"It was the only way it could turn out, and I was glad they understood that there was never anything intentional with it," King said of the investigation.

News of the settlement came just weeks after King was accused of a Sunshine Law violation during a City Council meeting, for what a resident said appeared to be note passing.

The accusation resulted in an investigation by the Gulfport Police Department that was forwarded to the State Attorney's Office.

King said the recent accusations against her stemmed from resentment by Brown and her supporters. "This is a candidate that thinks she should have won," she said.

Brown was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

Nick Johnson can be reached at nickjohnson@sptimes.com or 893-8361.

[Last modified October 24, 2007, 00:04:14]