Attorney General Crist Suggests Florida Ethics Legislation to Control Public-Private Agencies

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist has unveiled ethics legislation aimed at officials working for public-private agencies in Florida.

According to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Crist was motivated to suggest the legislation due to the growing scandal involving the state’s insurance pool. It also said that, for Crist, the bill also carries some political firepower because much of the controversy involving Citizens Property Insurance swirls close to Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, his rival for next year’s Republican nomination for governor.

Gallagher pushed the Legislature to create Citizens in 2002 to sell insurance to property owners in high-risk areas who can’t find private coverage. He also appointed the organization’s first board and brought in many of the executives who remain in charge of the embattled agency.

Two weeks ago, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet, including Crist and Gallagher, proposed a set of changes aimed at increasing oversight of Citizens, which is being investigated by multiple agencies amid allegations that its former chief operating officer, R. Paul Hulsebusch, accepted bribes from a company that won contracts with the agency.

The ethics proposal would apply to Florida’s wide range of “quasi-public” agencies, many of which are not covered by conflict-of-interest rules required of state agencies and public employees. The measure would prohibit public officers or employees of Citizens and other public-private organizations from having any contractual relationship or also working for companies that do business with the agency.

The measure also would extend to those who serve on the boards of such public-private agencies, commissions, councils and corporations. In promoting the need for such a prohibition, Crist cited Citizens and PRIDE, the prison-industries corporation where two executives were asked to resign because of their roles with spin-off companies.