No ethics charges for Ivey over election scandal after candidates decline to give testimony

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey will not face ethics charges related to allegations of interference in the 2022 elections, after the candidates who came forward declined to talk to state investigators, according to reports from the Florida Commission on Ethics made public last week.

In an Oct. 20 closed session, the eight members of the state ethics panel found no probable cause to charge Ivey with misusing his public position when he offered to help three Brevard candidates get political jobs or appointments between May and June last year.

Ivey admitted making offers to the candidates in an interview with investigators, according to a commission report released Wednesday, but denied it was meant to sway their decisions to run — the allegation at the heart of the ethics complaint.

The candidates — judicial candidate Kimberly Musselman, now a county court judge; County Commission candidate Chris Hattaway; and School Board candidate Shawn Overdorf — told FLORIDA TODAY in a series of exclusive interviews last year that the sheriff made the offers in an effort to coerce them out of races against Ivey's favored candidates.

None of them agreed to drop out, and Musselman ultimately went on to win the judicial seat. Hattaway and Overdorf lost their races.

All three failed to follow up on phone calls and emails from investigators seeking official statements or, in the case of Musselman, declined to comment entirely, according to the commission report. Media reports and an extensive interview with Ivey formed the basis for the decision, the report shows.

The sheriff thanked the commission in a brief written statement Thursday.

"I appreciate the efforts of the Ethics Commission in their review and findings of this matter!” Ivey said, through a sheriff's office spokesman.

The release of the report marks the first time the sheriff's comments about the allegations have been made public. He declined multiple interview requests throughout FLORIDA TODAY's initial reporting of the incidents and did not directly address the accusations during an Aug. 5, 2022, segment on local conservative radio talk show, Bill Mick Live.

The sheriff's account, documented in the commission report, largely corroborates the details of the exchanges as described by the candidates to reporters — with the exception of his intent, which Ivey said the candidates had "misrepresented" to the media, the report said.

According to the report, Ivey told investigators his offers to help Hattaway and Overdorf land jobs as aides for County Commissioner Tom Goodson (then Hattaway's opponent) were merely meant as alternatives in case they didn't win their races or if they dropped out for other reasons.

Goodson has previously denied having any knowledge of the offers.

Ivey's offer to lobby for Musselman's appointment to replace her then boss, State Attorney Phil Archer — who Ivey told investigators was then contemplating early retirement — was likewise meant as an option that carried no conditions about dropping out of the race, Ivey told investigators. Musselman is a former assistant state attorney.

The sheriff "confirmed he had conversations with these candidates but contends that the conversations, as reported, are not an accurate representation of what happened," investigators wrote in the report.

"While a public purpose for Respondent's (Ivey's) meetings with these candidates is debatable, the evidence does not indicate that he used his office in a corrupt manner to benefit himself or another as alleged," the report said.

Overdorf and Hattaway gave varying explanations for not participating in the investigation. Musselman did not return messages from a reporter seeking comment.

Overdorf said he decided not to give a statement because he felt like the investigator he initially spoke with wasn't especially interested in his testimony.

"At first I said, yeah, I'll give a statement and they called back and said, 'Well, it's not that big of a deal. If you don't want to, you don't have to.' Kind of dismissed it," Overdorf said. "I've been a cop for 23 years, I know what that means. I'm like, well, if you're not going to put much into this, I'm not going to put much in neither."

Investigators said in the report Overdorf was "at first hesitant to give a statement, but then stated he would if necessary. However, when contacted to provide a sworn statement, Mr. Overdorf failed to respond."

Hattaway placed the blame on himself, saying that he was in a class when the investigator called for his statement and unavailable to talk. After that, he said, "we just couldn't make our schedules work out."

"It does look like, if this were that big of a deal, how come I didn't make a statement? Because I told the guy I'm not afraid to talk, by any means," Hattaway said. "Shame on me for my lack of follow-up. I own that, wholeheartedly."

Hattaway and Overdorf had both called for official investigations into the incidents during a news conference in July last year.

They told FLORIDA TODAY they were not avoiding the investigators and said their version of the events hadn't changed. No one had put any pressure on them to not cooperate, they said.

Hattaway took issue with Ivey's suggestion to investigators that the allegations were just a way to score points on the campaign trail, saying that going public has "affected my relationships with a lot of people."

"It's probably one of the hardest things I've ever done," he said. "But if I had to do it over again, I'd do it over again."

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X: @EricRogersFT

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: No ethics charges for Brevard Sheriff Ivey over election scandal