In the second half of 2011, former assistant police chief Bobby Deal was a busy traveler.
He attended four conferences across the country from July-December, attending pension-related events as a member of the Police and Fire Pension Fund board.
Two outside organizations covered some of his costs for expenses like hotels and airfare, leading Carla Miller, the city’s ethics officer, to file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics. The complaint contends Deal solicited a gift from a prohibited donor, accepted that gift, accepted a gift of value meant to influence an action and failed to report gifts valued at $100 or more.
Ultimately, the commission found no probable cause on any of the four counts and they were dismissed, according to a ruling filed Wednesday.
Miller filed the complaint with the state board in March after the Jacksonville Ethics Commission received a complaint about 10 trips taken by Deal. Because he is a “reporting local official,” Miller was instructed by the local commission to pursue the matter.
“Four of the trips … were paid by outside entities. It does not appear that Lt. Deal spoke at these conferences but the entities still paid for his hotel/airfare expenses,” according to an attachment with the complaint.
However, the state commission’s ruling showed he attended the conferences in a working capacity and wasn’t subject to gift rules.
Deal attended three conferences with the financial help of Opal Financial Group, which produces institutional investment conferences across the country, according to the report. Another trip was partially funded by the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association.
For a July 2011 trip to Newport, R.I., Opal paid $406.80 to cover airfare and lodging for Deal. He served as a moderator, according to testimony in the report.
The group paid $500 in expenses on a September 2011 conference in San Francisco, where he served as a moderator.
The local pension fund picked up the tab on another $41 to cover expenses.
An official with Opal confirmed Deal served in the moderator role, according to the report.
The Illinois group paid for hotel expenses and waived a conference fee for Deal’s trip to Lake Geneva, Wis., in October 2011. Exact amounts weren’t available. Deal served as an advisory board member there, the president of the organization said in the report.
The last trip Miller questioned was a December 2011 conference in Dana Point, Calif., where the report said he served as a moderator.
No figures on expenses paid were included.
The state commission said that because of Deal’s service as a moderator or advisory board member, the contributions from the groups wouldn’t be reportable as gifts because the value for his service “is of equal or greater consideration than the expenses.”
Neither group has a business relationship with the local pension fund, so Deal’s actions or votes at the time wouldn’t have been influenced, the report said.
Deal retired from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and resigned from the pension board in July of this year.
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