Should the city of Jacksonville’s lawyer have hired his father-in-law’s firm?
That’s the controversy the City Council voted to resolve via soliciting an opinion from the Florida Ethics Commission. General Counsel Michael Fackler hired the Bedell Law Firm owned by his father-in-law Hank Coxe for “legal services directly rendered by his father-in-law for the Consolidated Government of the City of Jacksonville.”
Former General Counsel Jason Gabriel would be charged to solicit the opinion rather than a member of Fackler’s staff, via “a legal memorandum … prior to the Council taking final action on this legislation, providing the relevant facts and background and any legal analysis the City would request the Commission consider in providing a written advisory opinion.”
Asked what he would charge, Gabriel didn’t offer a verbal estimate.
Sponsor Mike Gay said Gabriel could “navigate this for us to get us where we need to be.”
“I’m not a lawyer. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I’m not a lawyer,” the Northside Republican said.
Republican Terrance Freeman lauded the resolution as a “proactive move.”
Another Republican, Matt Carlucci, said the City Council had a habit of “throwing a wrench into (Fackler’s) works” and that they currently are “playing games” with the lawyer.
Democrat Jimmy Peluso wondered why a lawyer for the local ethics commission didn’t send the memo, instead of hiring an outside lawyer to do it.
Republican Ken Amaro pressed Gabriel on whether there were conflicts, such as pending litigation, and Gabriel said that wasn’t the case.
Republican Rory Diamond said the Council doesn’t “trust” Fackler and so they have to “work around” him to find out what is ethical. In this case, he noted the Donna Deegan administration used Coxe’s firm for defense amid questions of staffers about an illegal gun registry that was being kept in City Hall and the Yates Building.
President Kevin Carrico said the question was whether it was “right or wrong” for Fackler to make the hire, and said Gabriel lacked a conflict
The question of the legality of the hire may be predicated on state law, given that local ordinances don’t address it.
Florida Statutes 112.3135 defines a father-in-law as a “relative.” And it sets restrictions on a public official, such as a General Counsel, hiring a relative.
“A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, or advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a position in the agency in which the official is serving or over which the official exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official,” state law reads.
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