STORMS REIMBURSED: Commissioners voted 4-1 to reimburse Commissioner Ronda Storms for attorney fees she incurred during a state Ethics Commission investigation. Storms was cleared in the case brought by activist Marilyn Smith, who claimed that Storms broke the law by trying to keep a Valrico bikini bar from opening. Smith said Storms violated the county charter by asking a building official to delay a certificate of occupancy for the bar. Storms will receive $8,798.75.
Let's review why Storms went before the Ethics Commission.
Former county Building Official David Ford testified that Storms asked him as "a favor" to delay the bar's certificate of occupancy. Ford said he did not act on the request. Other testimony in the two-day hearing detailed how Storms and other county officials took special interest in the business.
This should be cut and dried. Except no one gets so much as a hand slap from the Ethics Commission. It's one of the worst kept dark secrets in Florida. Storms can say she was cleared by the commission. The fact is she used her influence to block a club that legally was cleared to open. There is also the matter of legal fees that the county had to pay to fight Gemini Property Ventures. I can't find the article, but both sides decided to pay their own fees and Gemini dropped the suit.
Storms achieved nothing, overstepped her authority and cost the taxpayers. Now she is being compensated by the Hillsborough County Commission. What a crock.
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