TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Andrew Gillum, a former candidate for governor, will appear before the Florida Commission on Ethics later this month to respond to claims he accepted gifts from an undercover FBI agent during his time as Tallahassee's mayor.
The hearing comes less than a month after a Tallahassee city commissioner was indicted on federal bribery charges.
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Since the beginning of Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign, he dogged with questions about his possible ties to the FBI probe into city hall.
“This investigation seems to have centered around an individual,” Gillum said in August.
The Jan. 25 hearing will focus on determining whether or not there is probable cause Gillum accepted gifts from an undercover FBI agent, known as Mike Miller, during trips the two took together.
Tallahassee Activist Erwin Jackson filed the complaint in June.
“The FBI undercover agent arranged these trips, paid for these trips, paid for a baseball game, paid for boat trips, boat rides and also paid for the now famous Hamilton tickets,” said Jackson.
In December, Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox was indicted by the federal government on 44 counts ranging from racketing to extortion.
Jackson doesn’t believe the investigation is over.
“Not only will he [Gillum] be found to have acted unethically in this hearing, but in the very, very near future he will have an opportunity to explain his actions in a federal trial,” said Jackson.
Gillum’s Attorney Barry Richard told us in a statement,
I am confident that when the full process is completed, Mayor Gillum will be found to have fully complied with Florida law as he has consistently stated. This investigation was not initiated by the Ethics Commission. The Commission is fulfilling its responsibility to investigate all citizen complaints and this hearing is a routine part of its process.
Barry said many of the facts in Jackson’s complaint were not true.
Jackson says he expects the Commission of Ethics to decide if there is probable cause Gillum violated ethics laws when it meets.