Terms of Baugh's Settlement Disclosed

BRADENTON – Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh has reached a settlement with an advocate for the Florida Commission on Ethics regarding her role in Vaccinegate. If approved, Baugh would pay an $8,000 fine and receive public censure and reprimand for violating state statute "by using or attempting to use her public position and/or resources to deviate from Manatee County's COVID-19 vaccine distribution policy to serve specific individuals and zip codes at a state-operated pop-up vaccine site."

Baugh would admit "the facts as set forth in the Report of Investigation" regarding her violating Section 112.313(6) of the Florida Statutes, which deals with standards of conduct for public officers, employees of agencies, and local government attorneys. Section 6 reads:

MISUSE OF PUBLIC POSITION.– No public officer, employee of an agency, or local government attorney shall corruptly use or attempt to use his or her official position or any property or resource which may be within his or her trust, or perform his or her official duties, to secure a special privilege, benefit, or exemption for himself, herself, or others.

For the purpose of negotiation, the advocate agreed not to proceed on "allegation 1," which was that the commissioner had violated Article II, Section 8(g)(2) of the constitution which reads:

"A public officer or public employee shall not abuse his or her public position in order to obtain a disproportionate benefit for himself or herself; his or her spouse, children, or employer; or for any business with which he or she contracts; in which he or she is an officer, a partner, a director, or a proprietor; or in which he or she owns an interest. The Florida Commission on Ethics shall, by rule in accordance with statutory procedures governing administrative rulemaking, define the term "disproportionate benefit“ and prescribe the requisite intent for finding a violation of this prohibition for purposes of enforcing this paragraph. Appropriate penalties shall be prescribed by law."

The advocate explained the acceptance by noting that the other allegation "embodies the facts in Allegation I as they pertain to the special benefit received by Respondent."

According to Millie Fulford, Complaint Coordinator for the ethics commission, after a settlement is negotiated, the stipulated agreement is forwarded to the complainant(s), who have the opportunity to respond in writing.

"Consideration of the stipulation is then agendaed for usually the next Commission meeting at which the Commission will consider, and vote to approve or reject, the stipulation," Fulford explained to TBT via email. "If approved, the matter is essentially over and a copy of the agreement and final order is forwarded to the Governor, Speaker, or Senate President (depending on the public position of the Respondent). If rejected, the parties may renegotiate the terms of the settlement for it to come back before the Commission. If no agreement is made, the matter is sent to the Division of Administrative Hearings for trial before an Administrative Law Judge. If a Recommended Order is rendered by the ALJ, it would then come before the Commission for consideration."

As we've seen in previous cases, including proposed settlements by Manatee County Schools Superintendent Cynthia Saunders and former Florida Senate President Jack Latvala–both of whom had settlement agreements rejected by the commission with aggressive language–Baugh isn't out of the woods.

Jennifer Hamey is a local attorney who was one of 18 people to file ethics complaints against Baugh after she was discovered to have unilaterally directed county staff to limit the lottery pool for a pop-up COVID vaccination clinic sponsored by Gov. Ron DeSantis to just two zip codes in her district before vaccines were fully available to the general public. Hamey told TBT that she does not feel the proposed settlement goes nearly far enough.

"I think it completely undervalues the extent of her egregious behavior," said Hamey. "I have every intention of making that known to the ethics commission and encourage members of our community to do the same."

Click here to view a PDF of the settlement.