Tallahassee Mayor John Marks has not yet decided whether he’ll fight charges that he broke the state’s ethics law. The Florida Commission on Ethics said there’s enough evidence to believe Marks violated the law by failing to recues himself from a vote involving a company that paid him as a board member. The commission will bring formal charges against Marks, but Marks lawyer, Barry Richard, says the infraction is relatively minor.
“They’re not violations involving any allegations of corruption or dishonesty.”
Marks has the options of challenging the findings before a judge or an appellate court, or he can try to settle with the commission. The commission is releasing documents from the case. The documents include testimony from Marks in which he said he didn’t seek an opinion on whether there was a conflict of interest before participating in the vote.
