By Bryant Thigpen
Riverbend News
The State of Florida Commission on Ethics (FCOE) has dismissed an ethics complaint that was brought against Suwannee County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Glenda Williams. In a closed session on Friday, July 24, the commission dismissed the complaint based on a lack of legal sufficiency.
According to the press release by the FCOE, the commission met to review the complaints to determine if the complaints had legal sufficiency to warrant an investigation. These reviews are limited to questions of jurisdiction and determinations as to whether the contents of the complaint are adequate to allege a violation of the Code of Ethics or other laws within the commission's jurisdiction.
The complaint, filed by Erica Williams, alleges that Glenda violated the “Misuse of Public Position” section of the Florida Statutes, which says, “No public officer, employee of an agency, or local government attorney shall corruptly use or attempt to use his or her official position or any property or resource which may be within his or her trust, or perform his or her official duties, to secure a special privilege, benefit, or exemption for himself, herself, or others.”
According to the order dismissing the complaint, Erica visited the Supervisor of Elections office on Friday, June 12. Erica alleged that Glenda “was not welcoming or helpful” to her during her visit. Erica further claimed that Glenda did not explain the candidacy process to her and did not distribute certain materials to her. Erica described Glenda’s tone during their exchange as aggressive.
However, the order stated that the complaint failed to indicate a possible violation of the Florida Statute. “To indicate a possible violation of the statute, a complaint must allege, in a factual, substantive, nonconclusory manner, that a respondent corruptly used or attempted to use her public position or resources within her public trust, or that she corruptly performed her official duties, in order to specially benefit herself or another.”
The commission concluded that, “In this instance, the complaint does not allege in factual, substantive, nonconclusory manner that Respondent (Glenda) or another received a benefit from her alleged treatment of the Complainant (Erica).” Therefore, the commission dismissed it for failure to provide a legally sufficient complaint.
“I am pleased to have this behind me and know had there been grounds for an investigation, none of the allegations could have been proven to be true,” Glenda stated. “We have surveillance video in the elections office 24/7 that would reveal I went above and beyond to assist Ms. Williams in her endeavor to run for political office.”