Zoning vote leads to debate

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 3, 2000

BROOKSVILLE- Consideration of a simple rezoning petition turned into an ethics debate Wednesday for Hernando County commissioners

As the commission prepared to discuss whether to rezone a Nobleton residential property for office use, Commissioner Pat Novy said she had received a campaign contribution from applicants Ray and Deborah Dickinson and therefore had a possible conflict of interest.

"The mere appearance of impropriety, whether I say it would change my vote or not, the mere appearance of impropriety is the issue," Novy, who is seeking re-election, said as she prepared to leave the chambers.

The three remaining commissioners -- Chris Kingsley, Paul Sullivan and Bobbi Mills -- challenged Novy's reasoning and suggested no conflict of interest existed.

If commissioners recused themselves every time a contributor came before them on an issue, Kingsley said, "We'd all be absent."

"Either you're going to accept a contribution from a person or you're not going to accept any contributions," he said. "People give you contributions because they think you're doing a good job as a commissioner and not because they expect a favor in return."

Mills and Sullivan, also up for re-election, said many of their supporters have come before the commission and walked away empty-handed. Sullivan said he thought Novy had a statutory obligation to vote on the matter as long as she was present.

Ray Dickinson said his only contribution to Novy came four years ago when he lent farm animals to a campaign event petting zoo. He implied that Novy, whose district includes the property in question, was trying to duck the issue because several Nobleton residents had fought the rezoning.

"I'm sorry Ms. Novy feels she has to excuse herself from this," Deborah Dickinson said. "It's a shock to me that she wants to excuse herself."

The commission continued with its hearing and approved the rezoning. It also asked its legal staff to return an opinion on whether members must recuse themselves on matters involving contributors.

Chief Assistant Attorney Bill Buztrey said later that he had contacted the Florida Commission on Ethics and learned that the law permitted Novy to abstain based on an appearance of a conflict.

Other commissioners need not adopt the same stance, he said.

In fact, Ethics Commission spokeswoman Helen Jones said, a 1978 opinion states clearly that receipt of a campaign contribution by itself does not constitute a conflict of interest. Conflicts are defined by statute as measures by which officials would affect their own private gain or loss, or that of their employers, relatives or business associates.

A 1987 Florida attorney general's opinion further states that a county commissioner who is at a board meeting may abstain from voting on a measure "only where such impropriety amounts to a conflict of interest" based on that statutory definition. Questions about specific situations should be submitted to the Commission on Ethics, the opinion concludes.

Sullivan questioned whether Novy's abstention met the legal criteria for excusing yourself from voting.

"She walked out of the room, and I don't think she should have done that, based on what we knew of the situation," he said. "There was no conflict."

Novy said land use issues prohibit any one-sided, self-interested communication and specifically benefit or hurt an applicant's financial situation. As such, she said, she preferred not to vote on items regarding people who have given her money.

She also said she does not take money from mining or other organizations that might seek a rezoning or other land-use variance from the commission.

"I try to be very careful that way," she said.

Novy has accepted contributions from commercial fishermen, some land-use lawyers and restaurants that have come before the commission on land-use matters. She said she took those donations after votes, not before.

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