Renzo Downey
Ronald Rubin, the former state banking regulator fired a year ago over sexual misconduct allegations, is running for office in November.
But Rubin isn’t seeking office in Florida. He’s returned to Washington, D.C., and is positioning himself for a run to be Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, an office he held before he was the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) Commissioner.
Rubin picked up his nomination petition on Friday to run for a spot on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2F, one of six such commissions in Washington’s 2nd ward.
Candidates have until Wednesday at 5 p.m. to file their candidacy ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Candidates must have lived in the district for 60 days before submitting their petition.
As of Friday evening, two other candidates — Peyton Jane Gibson and Sherene Joseph — had filed for the fifth Single Member District in ANC 2F, near the Logan Circle neighborhood. None of the candidates had submitted their final paperwork to run for the office.
ANCs, the result of Washington’s Home Rule Charter, are nonpartisan bodies. Commissioners are the official voice advising the district government and federal agencies, and their recommendations carry “great weight” in decisions affecting their neighborhoods.
Agencies cannot take actions affecting a neighborhood — including zoning, education and budget — without giving commissions 30-day notice.
In 2016, Rubin won the same district with 370 votes, enough for 62% of the vote.
But this time, he returns with extra baggage from his time in Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet fired Rubin in July 2019 after OFR received complaints of sexual harassment and inappropriate comments made by the former Commissioner in the office. Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who oversees OFR, and Attorney General Ashley Moody voted with the Governor to remove Rubin while Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the lone statewide elected Democrat on the Cabinet, withheld her vote.
The following month, then-Department of Financial Services general counsel Peter Penrod suggested Rubin may face perjury and other charges for what Penrod described as patently false statements while defending himself.
Then in late September, Rubin sued the state, arguing he was denied public records for his “investigation of racketeering, political corruption, abuse of power and misuse of taxpayer money at the highest levels.”
Rubin was once an enforcement attorney for the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He had been a “self-employed freelance writer” for more than three years before taking the OFR job.
The Office regulates banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, finance companies and the securities industry. In December, the Cabinet selected Russell Weigel to succeed Rubin.
On the day the Cabinet approved Weigel’s appointment, DeSantis gave Rubin a less than stellar review, who spent only five months on the job.
“I actually think it’s been run a lot better since we got rid of the other guy just in the interim to be honest,” DeSantis said at the time.
