"This time, ethics commission should not let Wellington Mayor off lightly" - Palm Beach Post Editorial

May 10, 2013

The Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics has a second chance to sanction Wellington Mayor Robert Margolis for accepting an unacceptable cash gift after letting him off the hook.

The commission last week found probable cause to hold a public hearing into allegations that Mr. Margolis violated the county ethics code by taking $2,500 from Neil Hirsch. He is a former lobbyist who opposed developer Mark Bellissimo’s proposed equestrian village project.

The project was the major issue in last year’s municipal elections. The billionaire Jacobs family, part time residents whose estate abuts Mr. Bellissimo’s land, spent a record $500,000 to elect Mr. Margolis and councilmen Matt Wilhite and John Greene. The three have also enjoyed the largess of other equestrian village opponents who donated to their legal defense fund after the original election tally erroneously had Mr. Wilhite and Mr. Green losing.

Mr. Margolis, whose victory was never in doubt, set up the legal defense fund last May, two months after the election had been settled. He received $4,000 from Victoria McCullough, an opponent of the equestrian village, and $2,500 from Mr. Hirsch, a director at the time of the Wellington Equestrian Preservation Alliance. The alliance is funded solely by Lou Jacobs and run by Mat Forest, a lobbyist for the Jacobs’ business interests.

Days after receiving Mr. Hirsch’s check, Mr. Margolis voted to halt the equestrian village project. The ethics commission voted 3-1 to find probable cause that the vote was quid pro quo for the donation.

That is an improvement over the commission’s action in February, when the members found probable cause that Mr. Margolis violated the ethics code by accepting money from Ms. McCullough but dismissed the complaint because Mr. Magolis said he would return the cash. The commission bought the dubious claim that Ms. McCullough’s July check was a replacement for one she wrote in March that would not have violated the code because Mr. Margolis wasn’t sworn in until April.

There is no such cover story to explain away Mr. Hirsch’s check, which violates a prohibition against lobbyists giving public officials more than $100. Commissioner Robin Fiore said that Mr. Margolis has exhibited a pattern of “not doing due diligence.”

She was too kind. The pattern is one of blatant disregard for the ethics Mr. Margolis campaigned to uphold. The commission should impose the harshest penalty.

Rhonda Swan

for The Palm Beach Post