With Florida law overturned, Brevard commissioner Jason Steele could resume lobbying work
A federal judge’s decision striking down a lobbying law could have consequences for Brevard County’s newest county commissioner, who made his living as a lobbyist until he was appointed to take over a vacant position on the commission this summer.Jason Steele announced that he would be dropping his lobbying work for the cities of Satellite Beach, Cape Canaveral and the town of Indialantic when he took office in July after being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He is now looking into whether he will be able to resume his work and maintain his position as commissioner after the judge’s decision.
“Now that the courts have once again said I can go back in, I am once again doing a deep dive with the county attorney to determine if this would be appropriate,” Steele said when reached by telephone Friday.“The last thing I want to do is start lobbying again unless it’s on sound legal grounds,” he added.
A U.S. District judge agreed with local officials who said the voter-backed lobbying law violated the First Amendment.
"The In-Office Restrictions are content-based, overbroad restrictions on speech," wrote Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday. In March, the judge issued a preliminary injunction against a restriction.
The prohibition was created through a 2018 constitutional amendment that was passed with 79% voter approval. The Legislature passed a law implementing it last year.
The bill’s architect, Don Gaetz, the former state Senate president who served on the Constitution Revision Commission, said the provisions were designed “to nail shut the revolving door between public office and private lobbying.”
“State and local politicians have called me or come to see me, troubled that their present activities or future career plans might be in jeopardy, and that reassured me,” Gaetz said. “Everybody is for ethics until it knocks on our door.”
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Jason Steele, a Melbourne Republican, was chosen to fill a vacancy on the County Commission in south Brevard's District 5. That vacancy was created in March, when DeSantis named Republican County Commission Vice Chair Kristine Zonka as administrator of the Florida Department of Health office in Brevard.
Steele, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1980 to 1982, has served on state positions under two governors and did government lobbying work for the Melbourne-based Smith and Associates firm until his appointment this summer.Much of the recent focus of his work has been lobbying the state and federal government on behalf of municipalities, especially on issues like short-term rentals and AirBnBs, he said. Putting aside his job as a lobbyist meant a major reduction in income, Steele said.
“This completely shut down my livelihood. I made a decision that the county commission job was more important than the lobbying job. I needed to do it because the law said I had to do it,” Steele said.
But, he asserted, his lobbying work did not run afoul of his work on the County Commission. And if he were to resume that work, he said there would be little to no conflict of interest because the municipalities he worked on behalf of and the county share many of the same goals. He also said that he would recuse himself on any votes that presented a conflict.
“This is an easy situation for me. I know what my duties are as a commissioner and that’s put the county first. In the event that I go back to lobbying for cities, I will never ever do anything to put that in conflict,” Steele said. “I am there by the governor’s appointment and I will do my job.”
Ben Wilcox, research director for Integrity Florida, a nonpartisan research institute and government watchdog, said that even the perception of a conflict of interest can often be enough to erode public trust.
“A lot of times things might not be illegal or unethical going on, but it still doesn’t look good to the public,” Wilcox said. “Any time there’s a perception that somebody is doing something that might have a conflict of interest, it can cause the public to lose confidence. Even if the conflict of interest isn’t actually there.”
With the judge’s decision this week, Wilcox said there’s likely to be a lot of confusion around the state over what’s next as local governments study the letter of the law carefully to avoid running afoul of the federal court.
“I think a lot of people are going to have similar questions similar to what this county commissioner is asking,” Wilcox added.County Attorney Morris Richardson and his staff are working to research the implications of the court's decision on Steele's role.
"Obviously the constitutional prohibition on lobbying is permanently enjoined from being enforced right now. It’s simply not applicable right now," Richardson said. "We'll have to do a deeper assessment. We’d have to look at each potential relationship and issue under the Florida code of ethics."
"I know personally that the commissioner is taking his ethical responsibilities very seriously and is doing his research as well," Richardson added.
Contact Vazquez at tvazquez@floridatoday.com or on Twitter @tyler_vazquez. Support his work by subscribing to FloridaToday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: With law overturned, Brevard commissioner Steele reconsiders lobbying
