Orange County changes rules after official gave tickets to spouse’s nonprofit

Mayra Uribe is accusing her opponent Pete Clarke of ‘stalking,’ which most people who knows Clarke think is ludicrous.

Orange County Commissioners have voted to close a loophole that allowed one elected leader to give more than 500 free concert and sporting tickets to her husband’s small nonprofit

Since 2019, Commissioner Mayra Uribe has transferred tickets for the county’s Skybox at the Kia Center and Camping World Stadium to her husband Kevin Sutton’s nonprofit. All Star Dads lost its tax-exempt status in May because it hasn’t filed 990 tax forms for three years in a row. 

Under the policy change pushed by Mayor Jerry Demings, Orange County Commissioners will no longer be able to give tickets to nonprofits where their spouse or family member serves in a leadership role. Demings told Florida Politics last month that the tickets “should be allocated in a manner that avoids even the appearance of impropriety.”

Commissioners will also be barred from giving tickets to the same nonprofit more than twice a year.

“With thousands of IRS-tax-exempt nonprofit organizations in Orange County, Skybox tickets can help uplift an organization and provide an overall community benefit. The goal is to ensure that as many nonprofits as possible have access to the benefits of publicly owned venues,” Demings’ policy read. 

The county will also check to make sure a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status is in good standing with the IRS.

The board voted on the new ticket policy unanimously Tuesday on the consent agenda with little discussion from the board or comment from the public

Uribe, who is up for re-election in the Nov. 5 election against another Democrat Linda Stewart, has stood behind her husband and said she did nothing wrong by helping his group, when she spoke to the Sentinel last month after Florida Politics broke the story on Sept. 5.

Even after the bad publicity, it appears All Star Dads was still getting exclusive access from County Commissioners.

Uribe and Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero each transferred two tickets for Twenty One Pilots — a total value of nearly $500 — to All Star Dads for the Sept. 11 concert at the KIA Center, records show. The two Commissioners transferred the tickets on Aug. 1.

“I’m proud of what he does,” Uribe told the Sentinel regarding her husband’s organization, as she blamed political adversaries for the ticket controversy.

Uribe did not address the tickets or her husband’s nonprofit at the meeting before the county’s vote.