Jacksonville City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Anna Lopez Brosche is facing an ethics complaint alleging she failed to include money deposited in a state retirement fund on her financial disclosure form.
The complaint was filed with the Florida Ethics Commission Thursday, according to an email sent to WJCT from Jacksonville attorney Kyle Bedran.
Brosche disputes the accusation.
A statement from Brosche spokeswoman Ryan Wiggins says the councilwoman isn’t vested in the Florida Retirement System and only learned Thursday that she had made donations to it.
Related: Jacksonville City Election Voters' Guide
It goes on to say that Brosche has spoken with the head of the city’s ethics department and that she’s doing what’s necessary to remedy the situation.
According to Bedran, the retirement fund in question contains a little over $5,000 deposited there over the past three-and-a-half years.
Full Statement From Brosche Campaign Spokesman Ryan Wiggins
“Anna is not vested in the Florida Retirement System, and only learned today that she had even made donations to it. Since she is not yet vested and the donations were insignificant, she was unaware she needed to include it as an asset on her financial disclosure form.
No one is infallible, in fact, our current mayor had to file corrected financial disclosure forms last July. Anna would never intentionally withhold financial information from the citizens as she is a firm believer that the citizens are entitled to know and understand the official assets and interests of those in office and on the ballot.
Financial disclosures hold elected officials accountable to the voters by exposing potential conflicts of interest. Anna has spoken with Carla Miller, the Director of Ethics for the City of Jacksonville and is in the process of taking all necessary steps to remedy this situation.”
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
