Ethics complaint targets Anna Brosche financial disclosure

Kind of Blue: Anna Brosche has to demonstrate crossover appeal.

Anna Brosche, a Jacksonville City Council Republican running for Mayor, was the subject of a complaint filed Monday with the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Complainant Kyle Bedran, a lawyer from Jacksonville, contends that Brosche omitted required Form 6 disclosure of her Florida Retirement System account for four years.

The account, per Bedran, has $5,313 in it.

This is a small portion of her net worth, which is $1,96 million as of the end of 2018.

However, Brosche is running a campaign based on the premise that Mayor Lenny Curry‘s administration has not been transparent, and a complaint like this impedes that narrative.

On behalf of Brosche, consultant Ryan Wiggins said this was an error of omission that would be corrected.

“Anna is not vested in the Florida Retirement System, and only learned today that she had even made donations to it. Since she is not yet vested and the donations were insignificant, she was unaware she needed to include it as an asset on her financial disclosure form. No one is infallible, in fact, [Jacksonville’s] current Mayor had to file corrected financial disclosure forms last July,” Wiggins said.

“Anna would never intentionally withhold financial information from the citizens as she is a firm believer that the citizens are entitled to know and understand the official assets and interests of those in office and on the ballot. Financial disclosures hold elected officials accountable to the voters by exposing potential conflicts of interest. Anna has spoken with Carla Miller, the Director of Ethics for the City of Jacksonville and is in the process of taking all necessary steps to remedy this situation,” Wiggins added

This follows on a Monday report from the 4th Circuit State Attorney that explored violations of the Sunshine Law in the last two races for City Council President.

Brosche and her allies had many hours of phone calls on city phones, a point noted in the report. They denied that those communications impacted city business, however.

Brosche and Curry each have negative ads on television targeting them.

The anti-Brosche ad paints her as a tool of the donor class; the anti-Curry ad says that the Mayor is too busy disparaging Brosche to solve the crime problem.

A survey of this race conducted Feb. 12 by St. Pete Polls showed Curry with a comfortable 58-20 lead over Brosche, though her campaign has maintained it is too early to poll.

Vote by mail ballots are being sent out now.

Early voting begins Mar. 4.

We are reaching out to the Brosche campaign for comment; expect an update.