lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
“We here at the new and improved Central Florida Tourism Oversight District are all about transparency…. Who told the public about this?!”
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
You'd think the chair of the Florida Commission on Ethics would be aware of the Government in Sunshine statues (and it's in the state constitution) which basically state all government records are free and open to the public. Well, not all. There are exclusions (Legislature has exempted much of its records). You're in a state agency, you receive an FOI from anyone (especially the media), you comply. Or you may lose your job.
I'm appalled...but then not appalled...at Gilzean's lack of knowledge in this matter. That why agencies have lawyers. Best to take their advice.
I'm sure this is going to end up on AG Moody's desk for an opinion on the statute.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
tissandtully
Well-Known Member
Not sure why people keep posting Orlando Sentinel paywalled stories when this is the Florida Bulldog's reporting they are basing it off of and it's free:
www.floridabulldog.org
Gilzean $400K public job 'inconsistent' with ethics seat, won't quit
By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org - Defiant Gilzean $400K public job 'inconsistent' with ethics commission seat, but he won't quit
www.floridabulldog.org
tissandtully
Well-Known Member
Rules for thee but not for me!
Not sure why people keep posting Orlando Sentinel paywalled stories when this is the Florida Bulldog's reporting they are basing it off of and it's free:
Gilzean $400K public job 'inconsistent' with ethics seat, won't quit
By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org - Defiant Gilzean $400K public job 'inconsistent' with ethics commission seat, but he won't quit
I shared that specific article as that was where I read the story - however, fair point and noted!
flynnibus
Premium Member
Holy %#^* - what a moron. Just walk away…Glen Gilzean in the news again today.
"Instead of resigning, Glen Gilzean is questioning whether Florida’s ethics commission “weaponized” a memo that concluded he was ineligible to serve as both the state’s ethics chairman and administrator of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tourism oversight district.
The opinion released on Thursday concluded that Gilzean couldn’t do both jobs because of a state law that bars ethics commissioners from holding public employment.
Gilzean earns a $400,000 annual salary as administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the special district taxing that oversees Disney World’s government services. His position on the ethics panel is unpaid.
In an email Thursday afternoon, Gilzean wrote that he was “weighing” his options on how to proceed and then questioned the ethics commission’s timing in releasing the opinion. The Florida Bulldog first obtained the correspondence, which the ethics commission released Friday to the Orlando Sentinel in response to a public records request.
“It is deeply inappropriate that your legal opinion was disseminated to the press at the same time you sent it to me,” Gilzean wrote in the email to the commission’s general counsel and ethics director Kerrie Stillman. “As far as I’m concerned, someone on your staff knowingly leaked this memo and weaponized it, how did this happen?”
Stillman responded that the memo wasn’t leaked but produced in response to numerous public records requests.
“Producing it was my call and mine alone,” she wrote. “There was no ill intent and no weaponization of this situation by me or anyone else on staff.”
Gilzean also asked the ethics commission’s general counsel to review his employment contract with the tourism district and “propose specific changes that you believe would bring it into conformity with the relevant rules.”
“As you know, I am not a lawyer and believed my status at CFTOD was of no concern,” Gilzean wrote. “At the very least, I did not appreciate the nuanced factors that distinguish an employee and an independent contractor. Regardless, now that this has come to my attention, please rest assured that I am weighing my options and will take action before the Commission’s next meeting.”
The ethics commission next meets on Sept. 8. Gilzean hasn’t responded to phone messages and an email seeking comment.
Steven Zuilkowski, the commission’s general counsel, responded that he is not permitted to assist Gilzean with modifying his employment contract.
“I am the Commission’s lawyer, but no individual commissioner is my client. … I believe other legal advisors outside the Commission staff will be able to assist you in this regard,” he wrote."
Full article below.
DeSantis’ Disney chief suggests ethics commission ‘weaponized’ memo
Instead of resigning, Glen Gilzean is questioning whether Florida’s ethics commission “weaponized” a memo that said he was ineligible to serve as both the state’s ethics cha…www.orlandosentinel.com
Taking the GM position… he thought was an independent contractor? Lol
And this is the guy who is supposed to be leading staff.
Unreal
Guess...
Interesting comment in Scott Maxwell's Orlando Sentinel's story on Gilzean...
"Gilzean’s contract with the Disney district says he can lose his $400,000-a-year government job if he violates the very ethics statute that the ethics commission lawyer said he hasn’t been following..."
Not sure why people keep posting Orlando Sentinel paywalled stories when this is the Florida Bulldog's reporting they are basing it off of and it's free:
Gilzean $400K public job 'inconsistent' with ethics seat, won't quit
By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org - Defiant Gilzean $400K public job 'inconsistent' with ethics commission seat, but he won't quit
Maybe because the Orlando Sentinel is kinda the local paper?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
He was appointed but nobody is clean. He was already on the commission when he sought the district administrator job. Unless he kept it from the board then they knew and didn’t care either.
I love this comment made by Gilzean, "To that end, would you please review my contract with CFTOD once more and propose specific changes that you believe would bring it into conformity with the relevant rules."
Dude, the statute clearly says members of the Ethics Commission can't be public employees. There's no way to "propose specific changes that would bring it into conformity with the relevant rules." Other than amending the statute.
Section 112.321(1), F.S., makes it pretty clear..
"No member may hold any public employment."
Dude, the statute clearly says members of the Ethics Commission can't be public employees. There's no way to "propose specific changes that would bring it into conformity with the relevant rules." Other than amending the statute.
Section 112.321(1), F.S., makes it pretty clear..
"No member may hold any public employment."
That would be the only solution. However, for 3 months now the Chair of the Florida Ethics Commission has been violating the provisions of Section 112.321(1), F.S. So what's his fine going to be?
Oh, the timing of that job and rulings by the Commission, including one where it overruled its own Advocate's recommendation, is HIGHLY suspicious. And I'm sure the OCTOD was aware of them. The rulings are public. And these were well known.
And that's all I'm going to say about them.
pdude81
Well-Known Member
Surprised Garcia didn’t find this HiGhLy UnUzOoAL
Chi84
Premium Member
I haven’t been keeping up as much as I should, but I love how Disney - after being told to drop the lawsuit - doubled down by adding counterclaims to the state litigation asking for specific performance of the development contracts and damages for breach of those contracts.