Tallahassee ethics board votes to extend political-activity ban to staff

The Tallahassee Independent Ethics Board voted on June 16 to amend its bylaws so that prohibitions on certain political activities apply to both members and staff, a change board members said is intended to protect the board's independence during election periods.

Board attorney John read the bylaw language in Article 3, Section C, which sets out prohibited political activities for covered individuals: "No member shall serve in an official capacity with any campaign for city commission. No member shall publicly endorse or publicly oppose any incumbent city commissioner or candidate for city commission. No member shall publicly call for the hiring or discipline of any city public official as defined by local ordinance. No member shall make a speech on behalf of any incumbent city commissioner or candidate for city commission. No member shall attend a political function sponsored by or held on the behalf of a candidate for city commission." Board members agreed those prohibitions should explicitly apply to staff as well.

Adam Komisar moved to recommend amending the bylaw language to say "member or staff," Mary Alice seconded, and the board voted to adopt the recommendation. Board members said the change is meant to avoid even the appearance that the ethics office or its board is involved in local campaigning or could be used as a vehicle to influence electoral outcomes. "We didn't want to get this ... caught up in the middle of the election process," a board member said during the discussion.

The board also discussed prior efforts to forward recommendations to the city commission and agreed to delay additional submissions until after the election cycle to avoid entanglement in campaign timing. Staff said the amended language will be prepared for whatever formal steps the board’s rules require for bylaw changes.