In a confidential session today, the Florida Ethics Commission held a probable cause hearing for an ethics complaint filed by School Board Member Jennifer Jenkins.
The complaint stemmed from a story we broke exactly one year ago today where text messages between Fine and West Melbourne City Councilman John Dittmore revealed that Fine threatened to withhold funding from the Special Olympics and flood mitigation projects for the citizens of West Melbourne because he wasn’t invited to a fundraiser sponsored by the West Melbourne Police and Chik-fil-a. Jennifer Jenkins was invited to attend and subsequently raised the most money of any other participant.
Additionally, when we did a public records request for the communications between Fine and Dittmore, Fine instructed him not to release the messages which is a violation of Florida’s public records laws. The West Melbourne City Attorney advised Dittmore that he must release the records, and he did so. After the messages were released, Fine made several attempts to get the attorney fired. He is now the attorney for Brevard County Commission.
Dittmore attempted to smooth things over with Fine in order to secure the funding that was already approved, but Fine stated he would have added to the veto list. He invited Fine to come to the event, but Fine stated it was too late and that he wouldn’t go “anywhere that whore is at,” referring to Jenkins.