Peter Schorsch
While the past may be prologue, in the race for St. Petersburg City Council, Justin Bean’s history is something he just cannot shake.
On Monday, the 30-year-old St. Petersburg entrepreneur is again facing calls to “come clean” with voters on a 2010 run-in with the law, which first came to light last month, as well as a previously disclosed 2013 misdemeanor DUI charge.
Gina Driscoll, Bean’s opponent in the District 6 race, is arguing that his initial explanation simply doesn’t add up. With that, the 46-year-old sales manager accuses Bean of lying to both voters and reporters.
Driscoll is most bothered most by the “confusing and conflicting” accounts coming from Bean and his campaign team, which she said has been working overtime to conceal the candidate’s past.
After initially vowing to stick to the issues on the campaign trail, Driscoll is now pushing for the race to be more “transparent and honest.” Also, she demands Bean apologize to voters.
While Tampa Bay Times learned in April of Bean’s arrest on a misdemeanor DUI charge, the paper found no account of the 2010 incident in three Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal databases.
Lakeland Police Department records show officers responding to a complaint of trespassing On Oct. 8, 2010, in a parking lot of Florida Southern College. When an officer asked Bean several times to give identification, the 23-year-old future candidate refused, arguing that he was not a student.
Campus security then asked the police to order Bean to leave.
Bean was neither arrested nor booked; he did, though, receive a citation order to appear in court. Bean’s campaign said the since the charge was later “expunged,” it was not in FDLE records, although it was found in Polk County court archives.
According to the county, on Dec. 14, 2010, Bean entered a plea of no contest. The judge withheld adjudication and assessed a fine of $320.50. By March 2011, the Times notes Bean paid $385.50 in all, including court costs.
Bean, who said he was in town that night to attend a concert, admitted he should have obeyed the officer.
“I was young, and I made a mistake and should have just given him my identification, and I chose to question why and that was the wrong decision,” he told the Times.
However, after the 2010 incident became public – as well as a backlash on the 2013 DUI arrest – Bean and his campaign have been in damage-control mode.
In an interview with FloridaPolitics.com last month, Bean admitted he did not reveal the resisting arrest charge because “it wasn’t something [he] was thinking about.” Despite that, he refused to apologize.
Driscoll is not buying that excuse. She said Bean’s campaign team immediately contradicted that account when they said the very next day the candidate didn’t bring it up because the charge was “expunged.”
“That turned out to be a lie,” Driscoll said. “I understand why Justin doesn’t want to talk about this issue – but the voters deserve honesty and transparency.”
Driscoll also does not accept Bean’s claim of forgetfulness over the resisting arrest charge: “Justin can’t really expect people to believe an explanation like that; give the voters some credit.”
As proof, Driscoll’s campaign gave a timeline of so-called inconsistencies:
On April 12, Bean acknowledged the 2013 DUI, without a full disclosure of the other charge, something voters were unaware of when he advanced through the Aug. 29 primary when he became the top vote-getter.
“Would Bean have advanced if voters knew he’d hidden his resisting arrest charge?” Driscoll asked. “Why hasn’t Bean apologized to the voters he wants to represent?”
On Sept. 26, Tampa Bay Beat first reports on the resisting arrest charge.
Why did Bean not come clean at once to voters, Driscoll wondered.
After Bean explained to FloridaPolitics.com on Sept. 28 that he didn’t disclose resisting arrest because “it wasn’t something that I was thinking about,” a senior member of Bean’s campaign team said that day didn’t disclose resisting arrest charge because the record was “expunged.”
But using the term “expunged” is disingenuous, according to Driscoll.
If the trespassing incident was truly expunged – a court-ordered process by which a legal record is erased in the eyes of the law – it would have also been removed from Polk County records. It wasn’t since the records were later discovered by the Times.
Driscoll also notes that as of Monday morning, Bean still has not expressed regret for not promptly admitting to his past indiscretions.
“St. Pete needs a leader,” Driscoll said. “To me, that means transparency, honesty, and owning up to your mistakes. I’m calling on Justin to apologize to voters and release his full criminal record.”
