Commissioners Lim and Gonzalez fined by the Commission on Ethics

From this month's Commission on Ethics Summary - 

 For Immediate Release:  August 08, 2013

Contact: Joseph Centorino, Executive Director

(305) 350-0613 or centori@miamidade.gov

Miami Heat tickets score an ethics complaint

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust (COE) today agreed to accept a settlement agreement with two political leaders in North Bay Village who failed to report a gift after attending a Miami Heat game last December.   Vice-Mayor Eddie Lim and Commissioner Jorge Gonzalez were the guests of the vice-president of a corporation that has been involved in real estate in the municipality.  They should have filed gift disclosure forms by the end of March for the tickets that were valued between $110-140 each.  As part of the settlement to the complaints (C13-13 and C 13-14), Lim and Gonzalez agreed to file gift disclosure forms, pay $100 each in investigative costs and accept Letters of Instruction.  

Note that the violation is that they hadn't disclosed the gift, not that they accepted a gift, worth over $110 each, from a corporation that does business with the Village.  

Of course they didn't disclose it.  They knew it would look exactly like what it was - personal reimbursement for access.   

I don't have the details on the complaint yet.  I have requested them.  It will be very interesting to find out who the Commissioners were hanging out with while the village goes broke.  

Kevin Vericker

August 8, 2013