Bill McCollum Ethics Complaint

Democratic activist Kenneth Quinnell has filed an ethics complaint against Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Quinnell list several instances that McCollum used tax dollars for questionable air travel.

My guess is Quinnell filed the complaint in response to former Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist judicial appointee Jose Lorenzo's ethics complaint against Alex Sink's use of state air travel. Tis the election season and these kind of tactics from both sides will become more common.

I wasn't going to blog about McCollum's and Sink's air travel. The green solution is to give Florida cabinet members bicycles. Sink and McCollum can Lance Armstrong-it from Miami and Tallahassee. That isn't realistic. Florida cabinet members need to get around the state. I am more concerned with the Ethics Commission refusing to investigate if Gov. Charlie Crist paid for flights on private planes. At least we have a record of the McCollum and Sink flights.

Text of ethics complaint

Misuse of Public Position in Violation of Section 112.313(6), Florida Statutes:

On several occasions, Attorney General Bill McCollum has used state aircraft for personal purposes rather than official business in violation of Section 287.17 and Section 112.313(6), Florida Statutes. Section 287.175, Florida Statutres specifically states that a violation of Section 287.17 “constitutes misuse of public position as defined in s. 112.313(6), and is punishable as provided in s. 112.317.”

State of Florida flight records show that Attorney General McCollum, on numerous occasions, used State aircraft for personal reasons at taxpayer expense. His personal use of state planes included using state planes for commuting purposes (by diverting state planes to pick him up or drop him off near his home in Sanford, Florida) and other uses unrelated to the official business of the state. Section 287.17, Florida Statutes limits the availability of state aircraft to official business only. Diverting planes from Tallahassee to a public official’s personal home for commuting purposes or to take him to personal destinations does notn constitute official business and is an inappropriate use of state resources.

The following are specific incidences of Attorney General McCollum’s misuse of state planes either through diverting the planes to his personal residence or using the planes for other personal reasons, as reported in newspaper articles and reflected on the Attorney General’s flight logs and schedule:

*On February 3, 2007, McCollum had a state plane fly empty from Tallahassee to pick him up at his home in Sanford and take him to the Panhandle for a funeral and then return him to Sanford with the empty plane then returning to Tallahassee.

*On August 1, 2007, McCollum used a state plane for a trip to Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, but then had the plane drop him off at his home in Sanford rather than returning him to Tallahassee. The state plane returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On September 10, 2007, McCollum had a state plane fly empty from Tallahassee to pick him up in Sanford for a trip to Naples and then to Tallahassee.

*On April 26, 2007, McCollum took a state plane from Tallahassee to Palm Beach Gardens and then had the plane drop him off in Sanford. The state plane returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On October 26, 2007, McCollum took a state plane from Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale, but then had the plane drop him off at his home in Sanford rather than returning him to Tallahassee. The state plane returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On May 16, 2008, McCollum took a state plane from Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale and on the return flight had the plane stop in Sanford. The state plane returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On May 21, 2008, McCollum’s staff traveled from Tallahassee to Sanford in a state plane to pick him up, they traveled to Key West and then all returned to Tallahassee.

*On May 29, 2008, McCollum flew in a state plane from Tallahassee to Vero Beach and was dropped off in Orlando and the state plane returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On June 20, 2008, McCollum had a state plane fly him from Tallahassee to Sanford and then fly to Tampa and then return him to Sanford with the empty plane returning to Tallahassee.

*On July 21, 2008, two of McCollum’s staff members flew from Tallahassee to Sanford to pick him up and then they traveled to Fort Myers and St. Petersburg and then returned to Tallahassee.

*On November 5, 2008, McCollum had a state plane pick him up from his home in Sanford for a trip to Miami and West Palm for two days and then had the plane return him to Sanford. The state plane returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On January 21, 2009, McCollum had the state plane fly empty from Tallahassee to the central Florida region to pick him up at his home in Sanford and take him to Miami. The plane then dropped him back off at home and returned empty to Tallahassee.

*On February 11, 2009, McCollum traveled in a state plane with his staff to a ang reduction converence in Miami, Florida. On February 12th, the state plane stopped in central Florida where McCollum got off the plane and the plane then returned to Tallahassee without him.

*On February 19, 2009, McCollum had an empty state plane fly from Tallahassee to central Florida to pick him up from his home in Sanford. The plane then took McCollum to Sarasota — flight time of 36 minutes. The plane then flew McCollum from Sarasota to West Palm Beach where it dropped him off and then returned empty to Tallahassee.



*On April 21, 2009, McCollum to the state plane from Tallahassee to Orlando where he attended a Board of Directors meeting for General Electric and then he returned to Tallahassee.

Attorney General McCollum has misused his public position in violation of the law and wasted taxpayer money by costly and unnecessary use of state airplanes. For these reasons, I respectfully ask the Commission on Ethics to conduct a full invenstigation.