The Florida Ethics Commission has found no cause to pursue complaints against a current and four former Deerfield Beach officials over allegations that they failed to properly disclose free tickets they received to the Mango Festival previously held in the city or solicited tickets to it from city lobbyists.
The complaints were filed by blogger Chaz Stevens and stem from a report done for the city by Kessler International that raised questions about the ticket distribution in 2006 and 2007.
Vice Mayor Marty Popelsky, suspended Commissioner Sylvia Poitier, former Mayor Al Capellini and former Commissioners Steve Gonot and Pam Militello were listed in separate complaints brought before the Ethics Commission on Friday. The commission’s findings were made public today.
Kessler’s report said Poitier, Militello andGonot requested and received blocks of tickets to the Mango Festival for free and distributed them to garner political support. It said Popelsky and Capellini also received tickets to the festival.
But the Ethics Commission said the evidence did not support that the five had broken state ethics rules for accepting and not reporting gifts.
