Ethics Commission Dismisses Yet One More ‘Legally Insufficient’ Complaint, This Time Against the Council’s Pontieri

In the last two years the Florida Ethics Commission has tossed out complaints against Flagler County Airport Director Roy Sieger,  former Palm Coast City Manager Lauren Johnston, Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris, former Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin, former Council member Ed Danko, Bunnell Planning Board member Lynn Lafferty, and Flagler Beach City Manager Dale Martin. 

In that span, the commission hasn’t found so much as probable cause to pursue potential ethics charges against any of the local officials against whom complaints were filed, underscoring what those complaints have often had in common: either those who file them are not familiar with the Ethics Commission’s jurisdiction, or they are using the complaint system, which costs complainants next to nothing, to damage the reputations of their targets. 

The commission, for its part, tosses out dozens of such complaints every month for being legally insufficient. Today, the commission announced that it had tossed 97 such complaints from around the state, including one against City Council member Theresa Pontieri, who is running for a County Commission seat. Frequently, complaints are filed against individuals in an election race. 

The complaint against Pontieri was filed by Sherry Hedden, a resident of Palm Coast’s R-Section, on March 9, subsequent to a hearing before the council on a land use change by ICI Homes for a long-standing–and long-dragging–project in the E-Section. The city had approved the project as a 58-home development 14 years ago. ICI was now seeking to increase the total to 71 homes and shrink the lot sizes somewhat. The request eventually cleared the council, with Pontieri’s support, on condition that it would be turned over to a nonprofit, with the houses sold at affordable prices to public servants. 

Along the way, public speakers critical of the deal criticized Pontieri for accepting campaign contributions totaling $5,000 from ICI and associated companies. ICI has frequently contributed to local candidates’ campaigns, in Palm Coast or on the County Commission, as have other developers. It isn’t illegal. The contributions’ documentation is public. Courts have ruled that elected officials are not required to abstain from votes involving companies making such contributions. 

Hedden complained to the Ethics Commission that Pontieri “did not disclose that she had received the contributions and did not abstain from discussion or voting on the first reading of the request of the business.” Jeremy Davis, a frequent commenter during council meetings, noted the contributions during his segment at the first reading of the measure. “I’m not alleging wrongdoing, but perception matters,” he said. 

Pontieri voted for the project–with criticism and a warning that she would not do so on second reading absent explicitly new public benefits the developer had to offer, which resulted in the pledge to convert the project to a nonprofit operation. The Hedden complaint alleges that Pontieri “once again did not disclose the association she had with the developer” on second reading, which is inaccurate: Pontieri at that meeting addressed the contribution and said she was returning it, also saying that she would have approved the proposal as it had evolved regardless. 

Even accepting Hedden’s claims, the Ethics Commission found, there was no “legally sufficient basis for investigation,” because there was no violation of law. “Moreover, regarding political campaign contributions, we have found that such are a special class of gifts permitted by law and, thus, that they are not prohibited by [ethics statutes], absent a specific agreement or understanding, which is not sufficiently alleged here,” the commission found. 

The complaint was dismissed at the commission’s closed-door session on June 5 and disclosed today. Pontieri said the commission’s findings speak for themselves.