The Commission on Ethics on Wednesday dismissed a complaint filed by a union that alleged conflict of interest by Gov. Rick Scott in the move to privatize prisons.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is in the middle of an effort to represent the state's corrections officers, had alleged in the complaint that Scott was conflicted because he oversees both the prisons agency and is a trustee of the State Board of Administration, which invests state money -- including holdings in companies that would benefit from prison privatization.
But the commission said Wednesday it could find no legal basis for the complaint, which it said made no substantive, factual case of a violation of ethics laws.
The Teamsters filed the complaint as the union seeks to win the right to represent corrections officers in Florida. Right now, most officers are represented by the Police Benevolent Association. Several thousand ballots asking officers which union they want have gone out and are in the process of being returned, with the decision expected in mid-November.
Lawmakers this year required the prison privatization in the budget, which Scott then signed. But the move, which would have put nearly 30 prison facilities in the southern part of the state into private management, has since been put on hold because of a separate legal challenge. A Tallahassee judge in September blocked the planned privatization, saying lawmakers violated the Constitution in the way they passed the proposal -- putting it in the fine print of the budget, rather than passing a stand-alone bill.
The Teamsters' complaint also alleged that Scott was biased because his inaugural committee took money from companies likely to bid on the private prisons.
"Alleged receipt by the governor's inaugural fund of contributions from (private prison operators), coupled with the complainant's use of the phrase 'pay to play politics,' does not equate to the quid-pro-quo, criminal-bribery-like understanding required to indicate a possible violation" of the law, the commission wrote in its dismissal order.
The Teamsters had argued that the state pension fund owned millions in GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America securities, and that those are the two companies most likely to bid to take over state prisons. Pension officials have said most of that stock was held either in accounts that follow certain indices -- where managers don't decide directly on individual stocks to purchase -- or in an account that is managed externally.
The commission essentially found that even if the two oversight roles were at odds, the governor would be pursuing a "valid public purpose" and thereby not be acting in a way that would violate the law.
The commission's consideration of the complaint and decision to dismiss it were made in executive session.
