No surprise here to see the convicted criminal still engaged in questionable activity with another politician.
A lobbyist was cited by the ethics commission; now he's suing and wants to clear his name
Lobbyist Ron Book was cited in September for failing to cash checks from county Commissioner Sara Baxter for a ride on his private jet to Tallahassee to attend the inauguration of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
By Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post, 11/1/2024
Lobbyist Ron Book has filed a lawsuit challenging the ability of the Palm Beach County Ethics Commission (COE) to take action against him based on an anonymous complaint.
Book was cited in September for failing to cash checks from county Commissioner Sara Baxter for a ride on his private jet to Tallahassee to attend the inauguration of Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2023. Book's lawyer, Mark Herron of Tallahassee, argues in the lawsuit that a new state law should be applied retroactively, a move that would prevent the COE from pursuing the complaint even though it was filed well before the bill was considered by the Legislature.
The new law, SB 7041, adds time limits to the length of ethics investigations, requires sworn affidavits to launch complaints and bans second-hand knowledge from being used in investigations. Critics argued the law would limit the ability of ethics commissions to enforce county ordinances.
The law took effect Oct. 1; Book was cited three weeks earlier. The lawsuit says the statute says it can be applied retroactively. Should Book prevail, ethics investigations that were being pursued before the effective date of the new law could be jeopardized.
Ethics commissions across the state, including the Palm Beach County COE, called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto the bill as did newspaper editorials but DeSantis signed it into law in June.
Book argued in September when he was issued a "letter of instruction" that the commission had no right to follow up on the anonymous complaint because the action was taken after DeSantis signed the law. Much of what was alleged in the anonymous letter was confirmed through the COE investigation.
Book cashed the checks 18 months after they were written once a COE investigator asked him for verification. He also paid for Baxter to attend a pricey VIP dinner as well.
Sitting on the checks after 90 days of receiving them turned the trip and the dinner into gifts, according to COE, which meant Baxter had to report them as such, and she did not. The COE has not taken formal action against Baxter but Book's lawsuit discloses that a complaint, not yet made public, has been filed against her as well. Efforts to obtain comment from the COE as to the claim made in the lawsuit that a complaint against Baxter is pending were unsuccessful.
The COE has yet to file an answer to Book's appeal filed in Circuit Court. The case is not expected to be heard for several months.
Will the Ethics Commission cite Commissioner Baxter?
Book was cited for violating that part of the county’s ethics code that bars a registered lobbyist from giving a gift of more than $100 to an official of any governmental agency within Palm Beach County.
“Because the checks were not cashed, the value of the airfare and dinner may be considered a prohibited gift in excess of $100,” the COE concluded. Baxter said she never reported the trip and dinner as gifts because she reimbursed Book. She has said she was unaware that Book did not cash the checks.
The letter-of-instruction penalty for Book was one of the lower citations that could have been levied. He was told “to be more diligent in the future." Book's lawyer, Herron, said Book believes he did nothing wrong and is determined to clear his name. That is why he is asking the courts to nullify what the COE did, Herron added.
Although COE could not establish an exact value of admission to the VIP dinner, Investigator Mark Higgs said in his nine-page report that open-source reporting showed sponsorship packages for political donors ranged in cost from $25,000 to $1 million.
Precedent-setting lawsuit is months away from being resolved
The COE investigation began in August 2023 after the agency received the anonymous letter complaining that Baxter attended the inauguration on Book’s private jet and went to the dinner after the inauguration.
One of Book’s clients is BBX Capital, a real-estate holding company, that is currently building a major warehouse project in an unincorporated area west of Delray Beach. BBX made a $15,000 contribution to Baxter’s political action committee shortly after it was created on Nov. 15, 2022.
It obtained final approval for its project in June 2023 despite opposition by county planners. County Mayor Maria Sachs was the only commissioner to vote against the project.
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