Florida Morning: Hogan, Brown will face off for mayor; Haridopolos stalls state ethics legislation

Submitted by Abel Harding on March 23, 2011 - 7:49amFlorida Morning
@abelharding, abel.harding@jacksonville.com


HARIDOPOLOS STALLS ETHICS LEGISLATION - "The office of Senate President Mike Haridopolos has put the kibosh on a fellow Republican's ethics bill ‚ the same bill Haridopolos himself had co-sponsored last year," writes the Miami Herald's Marc Caputo. "The decision to stall the bill, which is designed to crackdown on legislative voting conflicts of interest, draws attention to the issue of ethics in a Legislature where lawmakers have run afoul of disclosure laws. Haridopolos, a candidate for U.S. Senate, was recently admonished by his rules chairman for "inadvertently" failing to detail his finances on Constitutionally mandated ethics forms. Also, Haridopolos often goes out of his way to say that all senators' bills are treated similarly in that they're each assigned three committee stops ‚ and it's up to the committee chairmen to put bill on the agenda. But when the legislation sponsored by Sen. Paula Dockery appeared on the proposed Wednesday agenda for the Government Oversight and Operations Committee, Haridopolos' office ordered it removed with no explanation.