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“Florida lawmakers with real estate, construction and development ties" - Daytona Beach News Journal, March 2023.

Recall Florida finds this problematic. Our fight as we enter our fourth year has been about bringing awareness to county corruption, and working through the legislative process to bring equity to an almost 50-year-old law, F.S. 100.361, which allows you, the citizens, the right to recall corrupted officials.

 At the end of the 2023 Legislative Session, SJR 1066, “Recall of County Officers and Commissioners, was assassinated in route to the third committee in the Senate. The House version, HB 209, passed every committee in the House, and two committees in the Senate under its version. When we became aware of SJR 1066’s death, we strategized a different route and asked Rep. Joel Rudman to put it HB 209 up for a full floor vote in the House of Representatives. It overwhelmingly passed 113-1 which then, according to procedure, was placed in Senate messages, where the Senate again fired a second round through the heart of HB 209. In our mind, we can only assume that Senate President Kathleen Passidomo decided the recall bill to grant non-charter county citizens the right to recall corrupt county officials would go no further, a right granted to charter counties since 1968. How does this tie into these articles? Let me explain...

You see the realtors, home builders and developers in the natural order of business must enter into a contractual relationship. It’s the natural order of most business. In Florida law, if you are a public official and have oversight or influence over these entities, we read it as being prohibited. F.S. 112.313 (7) CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP. —(a) No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he or she is an officer or employee.

The Florida Association of Counties attorneys under their Chapter Conflicts of Interest Page 8, Section 4 subsection 2(b)states ”Sales of goods or realty, the provision of services for compensation, the ownership of shares of stock (CEO 99-13), and the holding of stock options (CEO 05-18, note 8) have been found to constitute contractual relationships.”

Here are some examples of situations where an elected official who is also a realtor or developer could violate this prohibition:

When we as citizens of the State of Florida begin to ponder these relationships, the picture begins to focus, and we become bitter. The Senator/Realtor/Developer body needs the County Commissioners to maintain their businesses, and the county commissioners/Realtor/Developer need the zoning boards to maintain theirs. Giving watchful citizens the right to recall for cause would be devastating to their bottom line. While in Tallahassee lobbying for recall in non-charter counties, we became aware of “2024 will be the Year of the Developer.”

As Florida citizens we must hold strong to the importance of our elected officials maintaining public trust within our governing institutions. The authors of our Florida Constitution did and penned some pretty strong language against those violating our trust in Article 2 Section 8(c). Any public officer or employee who breaches the public trust for private gain and any person or entity inducing such breach shall be liable to the state for all financial benefits obtained by such actions. The manner of recovery and additional damages may be provided by law. When we read headlines such as this:

 â€œFlorida lawmakers are wealthier than ever,” - Pensacola News Journal 2019.

It’s time for them to be accountable to us. This strong evidence requires it. Demand sponsorship and full passage through both chambers of the Legislature NOW before session starts. Join us at Recall Florida.