No Bull, No Fluff, No Smudges
Your news source for
Flagler, Florida and Beyond
FlaglerLive | May 23, 2019
School Board member Janet McDonald and her husband Dennis McDonald agreed to settle a three-year-old case with the Florida Commission on Ethics, conceding that they had made minor and unintended violations on their financial disclosure forms.
FlaglerLive | January 30, 2019
The ethics commission also found probable cause to believe the former mayor “misused his position to accept things of value for himself and others in return for access and influence.”
FlaglerLive | December 12, 2018
A state ethics investigation found that both Dennis and Janet McDonald inaccurately reported assets on disclosure forms ahead of election runs. The late Frank Meeker, a county commissioner, filed the ethics complaints shortly before his death in 2016.
FlaglerLive | December 8, 2017
The state Ethics Commission ordered Kim Weeks to pay nearly $130,000 and Dennis McDonald and Mark Richter Jr. to pay the rest to compensate the county for defending against frivolous and defaming complaints they’d filed.
FlaglerLive | October 5, 2017
The orders are a remarkable victory for county government and for County Attorney Al Hadeed, who led the charge to recoup fees from Weeks, Dennis McDonald and Mark Richter Jr.
FlaglerLive | January 27, 2017
The fine and public censure bookend Barbara Revels’s eight years of public service as a member of the Flagler County Commission, where she had been its most effective member and most skillful parliamentarian.
FlaglerLive | January 3, 2017
If the Florida Commission on Ethics did not exist, its chairman argues, thousands of ethical violations and trespasses of good government would occur, continuing to diminish what little trust the people have left in government.
FlaglerLive | December 13, 2016
Barbara revels, the former Flagler County commissioner, agreed to settle the ethics case against her, admitting to numerous errors in three years of required financial disclosure forms.
FlaglerLive | September 14, 2016
Colleen Conklin took months to file a financial disclosure form and paid a $1,500 fine over it, but an ethics investigation found her failure had been “willful,” and the Florida Ethics Commission could have had grounds to remove Conklin from her Flagler County School Board seat.
FlaglerLive | September 9, 2016
Former Supervisor of Elections Kimberle Weeks filed two of the five complaints, Mark Richter Jr. also filed two, and Dennis McDonald filed the fifth complaint. None attended the ethics commission hearing in Tallahassee this morning.
FlaglerLive | August 24, 2016
It’s an unusual case: county government is seeking to recoup money spent to defend against the ethics cases filed against county commissioners and the county attorney by Kim Weeks, Mark Richter Jr. and Dennis McDonald.
FlaglerLive | July 7, 2016
Flagler County Commissioner Frank Meeker, saying he’s had enough, filed complaints against both Dennis McDonald and his wife, Janet, a school board member, alleging that they have not properly disclosed property and other assets they own.
FlaglerLive | June 8, 2016
The complaint, by Mark Richter, had alleged that the county administrator had personally gained from the acquisition of the old hospital in Bunnell that became the sheriff’s operations center, among other claims the ethics commission found groundless.
FlaglerLive | May 24, 2016
That means Manfre will concede to a $6,200 fine and a public reprimand and censure that the ethics commission approved on April 15, thus finally ending a saga that began two years ago and has severely damaged his chances for re-election.
FlaglerLive | May 17, 2016
It’s the Flagler commission’s latest attempt to strike back against almost 30 ethics, elections, Florida bar and other complaints filed against commissioners and the administration since 2014, but a previous attempt to recover fees has been unsuccessful so far.
FlaglerLive | April 22, 2016
Calling the protracted ethics case against him “terrorism,” “nonsense” and politically motivated “slime” by two former colleagues, Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre this morning delivered his most detailed—and impassioned—defense of himself since the case against him began in 2014.
FlaglerLive | April 20, 2016
The Florida Ethics Commission threw out complaints against four of the five Flagler County commissioners and County Attorney Al Hadeed in the latest sweep of what has been a drizzle of frivolous complaints against county officials.
FlaglerLive | March 11, 2016
After deciding last month to agree to a $6,200 fine and move on, Manfre now says he’s changed his mind, citing the disparity between his fine and that of his predecessor, Don Fleming, for what Manfre says were worse ethical lapses.
FlaglerLive | February 16, 2016
An administrative law judge suggests the sheriff lied under oath as part of his defense in a case that has clouded his term since 2014 and that continues to damage his image in a re-election campaign featuring a slew of opponents.
FlaglerLive | February 2, 2016
County Attorney Al Hadeed says the Florida Ethics Commission was wrong to deny Flagler attorneys’ fees from frivolous complaints filed by government opponents. He wants the decision appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.
FlaglerLive | January 22, 2016
The state ethics commission found too thin Flagler’s argument to recover fees from frivolous complaints by John Ruffalo and Dennis McDonald against County Attorney Al Hadeed and County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin.
FlaglerLive | December 17, 2015
The issue started as a $25-a-day fine over a late financial disclosure form that was itself never in question, that School Board Chairman Colleen Conklin never made sure had reached the commission.
FlaglerLive | December 1, 2015
The Florida Elections Commission voted to dismiss three elections complaints against Flagler Commissioners Frank Meeker and Nate McLaughlin as the county administration filed another petition to seek attorneys’ fees in related complaints.
FlaglerLive | July 8, 2015
The Florida Ethics Commission last year had rejected a deal that would have had Manfre admitting to one violation, seeking a deeper investigation that has now resulted in a potentially harsher penalty.
FlaglerLive | July 6, 2015
The complaints, filed by Ronald Reagan Assemblies member John Ruffalo, allege conflicts of interest in the commissioner’s votes and target the attorney’s counsel to the commission.
FlaglerLive | December 16, 2014
Manfre’s practices and claims of innocence until cautioned otherwise came under withering criticism by several members of the commission, who voted 7-2 to further investigate all charges originally brought against him.
FlaglerLive | November 25, 2014
The Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Sheriff Jim Manfre violated ethics laws on three counts, but in an agreement, Manfre conceded to one violation and got two other charges dismissed.
FlaglerLive | July 31, 2013
Ex-employee Terry Geigert had made six allegations against Tony Capella, Palm Coast’s public works superintendent, charging he favored RoadTek, a friend’s company, in no-bid contracts, sold his house for cash to the company owner, and fired Geigert in retaliation for whistleblowing.
FlaglerLive | March 14, 2013
Ethics Commissioner Matt Carlucci says an ethics reform bill adds teeth to previously weak enforcement, but would also open a loophole that would give politicians greater immunity from prosecution while increasing the costs of ethics cases.
FlaglerLive | October 19, 2012
The Florida Commission on Ethics today found probable cause that Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming violated the state code of ethics when he accepted a free, gift membership to the Hammock Beach Resort since 2005, a finding that may seriously damage Fleming’s chances of re-election in less than three weeks.
Archive for Live Briefs »
