Brevard County Commissioner Jim Barfield has agreed to pay $1,750 in civil penalties to settle a complaint filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics by Suntree resident Matt Nye over mistakes in Barfield's past financial disclosure reports.
And Commissioner Curt Smith, who has a similar case pending, said he also expects to have pay up to settle the complaint.
In separate interviews, both Barfield and Smith told FLORIDA TODAY that they believe Nye's ethics complaints, which were filed in early 2017, were politically motivated.
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Barfield, Smith and Nye all are Republicans. But Nye is seen as being in a separate faction of the party, in relation to the two county commissioners.
Nye organized the Brevard Tea Parties, and now serves as chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, the national parent organization of the local Republican Liberty Caucus of Central East Florida, which he founded in 2008.
At the time Nye filed his complaints, it appeared that both Barfield and Smith would be seeking re-election to a second four-year term on the County Commission in 2018 — Barfield in District 2 and Smith in District 4.
Smith is seeking re-election, and has one announced opponent so far, Republican Trudie Infantini, a former county commissioner. But Barfield has decided not to seek re-election, citing business commitments.
Nye — who this year is challenging incumbent Florida Rep. Thad Altman is a Republican primary in House District 52 — said his filings were not politically motivated.
Elected officials each year are required to file a financial disclosure form, known as Form 6, with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Nye said he decided to file the complaints after listening to a County Commission discussion over a measure to regulate lobbyists proposed by Republican District 3 Commissioner John Tobia, who is more politically allied with Nye.
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Nye said he was concerned about comments from Barfield and Smith, which he perceived as dismissing the need for Tobia's proposal. So, Nye said, he decided to look into Barfield and Smith's financial disclosure statements.
"Commissioner Curt Smith went so far as to state it was a 'solution in search of problem' and stated Brevard County commissioners were among the most ethical in the state," Nye wrote in a letter on his campaign letterhead. "Now the voters of Brevard County can see, and Commissioner Barfield must agree — by virtue of his settlement with the Ethics Commission — that is not the case. Given the failure to follow instructions on something as simple as a Form 6, one cannot help but wonder what Commissioner Barfield has 'glanced over' during his time in office, overseeing the county's billion-dollar budget. Barfield ran, and was elected as, a brilliant self-made millionaire business owner, yet he can't fill out a simple financial disclosure by himself without committing multiple ethics violations."
Barfield concedes he made some mistakes on the form, but said Nye's complaint "was politically motivated to discredit me, and does not reflect my ethics and commitment to good government."
"As a county commissioner, I am required to file a complete financial disclosure annually on a Form 6," Barfield said in a statement. "An ethics complaint was filed against me by Matt Nye, candidate for Florida State House District 52 regarding my financial disclosure. I filed amended forms that corrected the minor deficiencies."
"On the 2014 disclosure, I inadvertently left off the Brevard County Commission salary for my first month and a half in office (November and December 2014). I donate my County Commission pay to the Brevard County Public Safety Charity, and have done so since January 2015. Additional errors were clerical in nature, which were corrected. It was just an oversight. I made a mistake, and I fixed it. Because these were my mistakes, I have paid for my own legal fees and will pay the fine."
Barfield said Nye's ethics complaints amount to "political games. It was all political."
Similarly, Smith contends that the mistakes he made on his financial disclosure forms were "a clerical error."
Nye's ethics complaint against Smith involved several issues related to the descriptions and reported values of some of Smith's assets, as reported in his 2014 and 2015 financial disclosure forms.
Smith said ethics complaints like the ones Nye filed are "just an opportunity for your political opponents to play 'gotcha.' It's just amazing. It's no wonder people don't want to run for political office."
Nye insists the issue isn't one that can be easily dismissed.
“According to the Commission on Ethics, since 1987 — as far back as the computer database goes — there have been 14 ethics complaints filed against Brevard County commissioners, three of which resulted in penalties or fines. All three of those have been in the last 13 years — 2005, 2008 and 2012," Nye said. "Now, we have two cases filed in one year against two sitting commissioners that are going to end up with fines and penalties, yet we’re told by those same commissioners their board has no ethics problems.”
Nye said he expects Smith's case to go before the Commission on Ethics in March.
Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.
His Political Spin column appears Sundays in FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Berman at 321-242-3649
or dberman@floridatoday.com.
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