Dec 20, 2007 1:14 am US/Eastern
Ethics Panel Seeks Tougher Penalty For Timoney
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The Miami-Dade Ethics Commission board met Wednesday to discuss what discipline should be handed down to Miami Police Chief John Timoney for his free use of a luxury SUV.
Last month, the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission found probable cause to believe that Miami's top cop had broken the law.
"One of two things will happen now," Robert Meyers, Director of the Miami Dade Ethics Commission said at the time, "there will either be a settlement that the Ethics Commission could agree to, or there will be a hearing."
Going into Wednesday's meeting an attorney for the ethics commission and Timoney's attorney thought they had reached a settlement both sides could accept; a $500 fine and letter of instruction which basically laid out the gift disclosure ordinance.
But commissioners balked at the agreement saying it amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. They instead want Timoney to sign a letter of reprimand, acknowledging that what he did was wrong.
The ethics probe into Timoney's actions was launched after a CBS4 investigation revealed that the chief had accepted the free use of a luxury Lexus SUV from Lexus of Kendall for more than a year.
Timoney's attorney said his client would be willing to plead no contest to charges of failure to file a gift disclosure form for the use of the SUV, pay a $500 fine, and receive a letter of instruction from the commission which would inform him of the gift disclosure ordinance in the county.
"Let it be real clear," said Miguel Diaz De La Portilla, Timoney's attorney, "that there is absolutely no finding of any corrupt intent, or any improper use of position by the chief. And that's a finding by the ethics commission staff."
But the commission felt under such a settlement Timoney may be getting off too easy.
"I'm not asking for a trial," said retired judge and commission member Seymour Gelber, "I want him reprimanded which is one of the few things we can do to make a point, to show that we really care about what happens in this community. When you send a man a letter of instruction, it is merely a notice to the community and the world to do the right thing, which he doesn't even admit to in this thing. And I think that a letter of reprimand is perfectly appropriate."
Timoney must now decide if he will accept the terms of a $500 fine and a letter of reprimand. If he does not, he will have to face the ethics commission in a public hearing. Ethics commissioners say if Timoney opts for a public hearing, the most he would be facing would be a $500 fine and a letter of reprimand.
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