Once Again, Mike Haridopolos’ Ethical Lapses Are Put on Display

NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

For Immediate Release: April 18th, 2011
Contact: Eric Jotkoff, (850) 222-3411

Once Again, Mike Haridopolos’ Ethical Lapses Are Put on Display

State Senate President and Republican Senate hopeful Mike Haridopolos continues to grab headlines for all the wrong reasons. In this morning’s St. Petersburg Times, the newspaper outlined a laundry list of Haridopolos’ unethical practices that have come to define his career, stemming from his ties to a Tallahassee lobbyist who is at the center of multiple Haridopolos controversies.  The controversies range from funneling taxpayer dollars to developers facing criminal theft charges to undisclosed investment property purchases and conflicts of interests.

The story sounds familiar because it is. Haridopolos has been at the center of ethics complaints in recent months and was even admonished for failing to properly disclose his finances. And he’s not alone; when it comes to corruption, the Republican Senate primary field is littered with examples. Former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner was recently hit with an ethics complaint over his financial disclosure failures and former Senator George LeMieux received a bar complaint for representing conflicting clients. 

“Another day brings another story about Mike Haridopolos and his unethical dealings and sadly this is becoming routine.  What’s even worse is that these kinds of troubling reports of unethical practices are coming to define not only Haridopolos but the entire field of Republican Senate hopefuls,” said Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party spokesman.  “From Adam Hasner to George LeMieux back to Mike Haridopolos, all of these candidates represent the type of Republican corruption and self-serving politics that Floridians can’t stand. That’s a message that the Republican nominee is going to hear loud and clear next year.”

BACKGROUND:

The St. Petersburg Times detailed Mike Haridopolos’ ties to a lobbyist and controversies surrounding their relationship. The controversies include securing taxpayer dollars for a developer who is now facing criminal charges, and a Tsamoutales client paying Haridopolos $60,000 a year for consulting services that were never originally mentioned on the State Senator’s financial disclosure forms. [St. Petersburg Times, 4/18/11]

Adam Hasner was hit with an ethics complaint. According to the Palm Beach Post, an ethics complaint was filed “against former state House Majority Leader and likely GOP U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, for not filing a required personal financial disclosure form within 60 days of his November departure from office.” [Palm Beach Post, 4/10/11]

George LeMieux was hit with a bar complaint for representing conflicting clients.A Bar complaint was filed against LeMieux, saying LeMieux, as a private attorney with Gunster Yoakley, represented conflicting clients –the state and Florida East Coast, which owns the rail corridor that the state wants for passenger rail. [St. Petersburg Times, 1/16/10]

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