The nine-member ethics panel, whose members are appointed by the governor, speaker of the state House and president of the Senate, can't initiate investigations without a sworn complaint from a citizen. Right now, a bill in the Legislature would change that and give the ethics commission the power to initiate an investigation if a supermajority of the panel agrees to do so. The bill was introduced last legislative session, but died on the calendar behind other bills waiting for action. State Sen. Burt Saunders, chairman of the Ethics and Elections Committee, said he believes the bill which has been reintroduced will pass this year if it can get through the House. Critics of the proposal say they fear a more powerful ethics commission could be abused as a tool for political witch hunts.
Government affects so many private interests.
One loophole the proposed bill would close is the definition of a business associate - a definition likely to come into play in Norris' case. Right now the civil ethics code prohibits an elected official from voting on matters affecting business associates. But a public official can create a corporate alter ego and escape those restrictions. In Norris' case, the ethics commission prosecutor has argued that Norris had a business relationship with his partners before he formed the corporation through which he eventually received his stake in Stadium Naples. Norris' attorney, Mark Herron, disagrees.