MANATEE COUNTY — Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge is the subject of a Florida Commission on Ethics investigation after an ethics complaint filed against the commissioner was found to contain “sufficient” allegations of potential ethics violations.
The ethics complaint, which was first filed in June, alleged that Van Ostenbridge misused his public position when he purchased the detailed voter data of more than 19,000 constituents from within his district with a county-issued purchasing card. The complaint further alleges that the purchase was for the commissioner’s personal or political benefit, not for a valid public purpose.
The complainant’s allegations stem from the details provided in a Manatee County Inspector General audit report issued in May. The report made public the identified purchase and the County Clerk’s recommendation that Van Ostenbridge refund the expenditure.
For his part, Van Ostenbridge disagreed with the IG and Clerk’s finding that the purchase was inappropriate and had refused to reimburse the roughly $1,600 to the county until after the audit report had been made public.
In addition to concerns about the appropriateness of the expenditure itself, outside counsel who reviewed the matter on behalf of the Manatee County Clerk and Comptroller’s office raised additional concerns about the amount and nature of the data of private citizens that had become public record due to having been purchased—and received—via county resources.
Van Ostenbridge was notified in July that an ethics complaint had been filed against him in relation to the matter.
Once a complaint is received by the Commission on Ethics, it is reviewed to determine whether the allegations contained in the complaint indicate a possible violation of state ethics laws. If a complaint is found to be “insufficient,” it is dismissed without investigation.
If the allegations of a complaint are found to be “sufficient,” a preliminary investigation is undertaken into the allegations. The completed investigative report will then move forward to the Ethics Commission which will review all relevant information obtained to decide whether there is probable cause to believe that there has been a violation of any ethics laws.
Potential ethics violation cases remain under strict confidentiality while the Investigative Section of the Commission on Ethics completes its preliminary investigation. If the Ethics Commission ultimately finds that there is no probable cause to believe there were ethics violations, the complaint will be dismissed at that time, and all records related to the complaint will be made public.
Should the commission find that there is evidence to support “probable cause” that ethics violations have occurred, the complaint will become public record, and the case will enter the last stage of proceedings. The final stage requires that the commission decide whether the law was violated and, if so, whether a penalty should be recommended for the identified violations.
In 2021, the Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Manatee County's previous chair—Van Ostenbridge's immediate predecessor and one-time political ally, Vanessa Baugh—had violated ethics laws. In Jan. 2023, Baugh was able to reach a settlement in the matter by publicly agreeing she had abused her elected position and accepted an $8,000 fine, a public reprimand, and censure.
TBT will continue to follow this proceeding and will report updates as they become available.
