Ethics Complaint Against Former Fla. CFO Gallagher Dropped
The Florida Ethics Commission voted 5-2 last week to drop a complaint against former Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher over his ownership of stock in insurance companies regulated by the department he once headed.
Gallagher has not held public office since losing the Republican primary for governor to now-Gov. Charlie Crist.
The commission accepted an agreement that Gallagher’s lawyers had worked out with the ethics commission advocate’s office, an agency of the attorney general’s office.
It says the public interest would not be served by pursing the complaint, his holdings were small, not held very long and he did not intend to violate state law.
In the agreement, Gallagher acknowledged he should have sought a legal opinion from the commission before buying insurance stocks.