Peter Schorsch
Ron Book, one of the most influential lobbyists in Florida, has won a lawsuit filed against Palm Beach County’s Ethics Commission after it claimed he violated a local gift ban.
A panel of Judges in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County found that the county Ethics Commission acted without legal authority in citing Book for providing a gift in excess of allowable limits — $100 — to Palm Beach County Commissioner Sara Baxter.
In January 2023, Book allowed Baxter to ride on his private jet to Tallahassee for the inauguration of Gov. Ron DeSantis and paid for Baxter to attend an expensive VIP dinner.
Baxter had written a check to cover costs, which would clear Book of any appearance of violating gift limits, but Book didn’t cash it for 18 months, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The court found that the Ethics Commission violated a new Florida law that bans local ethics boards from launching their own complaints and adds strict rules governing how complaints are filed, including that they not be filed by anonymous sources. The Ethics Commission’s citation against Book was based on an anonymous tip that Baxter had failed to disclose gifts from Book.
The Ethics Commission opened an investigation, dismissed it, then issued a letter of instruction to Book. The court’s finding clears Book of the allegations and any subsequent action from the Ethics Commission.
The decision is based on a new Florida law (SB 7041) passed in 2024, which bans the use of second-hand knowledge in investigations, as was the case in the complaint against Book. While the law didn’t take effect until three weeks after the initial complaint against Book had been filed, Book’s attorney, Mark Herron, argued it should be applied retroactively. The court agreed, and its decision means the Ethics Commission can no longer pursue the complaint.
“Simply because local ethics agencies were previously unregulated does not give the local government a vested substantive right of regulation,” the court opinion reads.
While the ruling is a big win for Book, it could also be a win for others. Any pending investigations that were launched in violation of the new law that may violate provisions that have since taken effect could be jeopardized by the precedent Book’s suit sets.
Baxter also faced an ethics complaint accusing her of failing to report gifts from Book, but the Ethics Commission has since dismissed it. The Commission did find “probable cause” that she violated the code of ethics, but stopped short of issuing the same “letter of instruction” that had been issued to Book.
The letter simply warns individuals not to repeat the violating behavior.
