ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — After a weeklong investigation, Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond accused Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean of breaking Florida’s financial laws in four different ways, including writing more in checks than his office had its accounts.
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Diamond’s investigation came as a result of the controversy surrounding Gilzean’s spending, which included millions of dollars spent on grants and scholarships without commissioners’ approval.
The report, which is scheduled to be presented to commissioners Tuesday night, laid out the four main abnormalities auditors found.
The first, according to the auditors, was that Gilzean’s team spent more than 1/12th of their budget in October, November and December. The limit is in place because Gilzean is an outgoing supervisor, and the law prohibits defeated elected officials from draining the accounts of their replacements.
Gilzean’s monthly spending limit was $1,595,698 per month. The report said he overspent that amount by $5,068,616 since October 1.
In an interview, Diamond said Gilzean could have avoided this limit and issued payments for his November election invoices by simply asking commissioners’ permission.
“The law tells you exactly how you do it,” he said. “He could have avoided a lot of this drama and a lot of these issues, if he had just simply been transparent and candid with the county commission.”
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The second violation Diamond’s report named was spending $1.1 million on voter outreach grants for various nonprofits without permission – an issue WFTV has covered extensively.
Since the controversy began, Gilzean has maintained he was within his right to spend his office’s money as he saw fit, including boosting voter turnout by partnering with groups that work in areas of the county where turnout is lower.
However, Diamond’s report accused Gilzean of playing with fire by writing $587,173.13 more in checks thank his office had in the bank, which could result in an overdraft if all the checks are cashed.
Read: Orange County elections supervisor Gilzean responds to $5M spending controversy
“Whether you run a business or whether you’re just talking about your household. I think everybody knows you shouldn’t be writing checks or making payments that you can’t back up with money in your account,” Diamond said.
Finally, Diamond’s report said Gilzean’s office did not appropriately account for all its expenses during the fiscal year that ended in September. They estimated Gilzean had $600,000 more in expenses than his end-of-year reports reflected.
That effectively meant Gilzean shifted some of the financial burden from the past fiscal year into the current one, straining his finances and leading Diamond to accuse Gilzean of misleading the public.
Read: Gilzean sues Orange County after vote to withhold funds
Gilzean’s office did not provide a comment to any of the four specific accusations included in Diamond’s report. Instead, Gilzean pointed to the ongoing court case, and a judge’s recent order that the county explain why Gilzean isn’t entitled to the $950,000 commissioners are withholding from him.
“The investigation into allegations of improper spending and accounting practices is irrelevant. Comptroller Diamond’s opinion of this office’s finances isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” Gilzean said.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings issued a statement of his own after Diamond’s report was released.
“Comptroller Diamond’s investigation makes it clear that Mr. Gilzean did not follow the law, nor did he follow the best practices. As a result, he has put the Board of County Commissioners in a difficult position, which will require us to take additional action. We will discuss tomorrow what those actions should be and determine the next steps,” he said, calling on Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Gilzean from office.
Demings then said any organizations which had “inappropriately” been given money by Gilzean should return it.
“My goal in sounding the alarm about the spending by the Supervisor of Elections was to hold him accountable to the taxpayers and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners for spending the people’s money. Ultimately, our citizens deserve more transparency and assurance that the SOE follows the law. This is not about partisan politics but about right versus wrong and lawful versus unlawful.
With the Comptroller’s report, my concerns have been confirmed. Things were happening in the Supervisor of Elections office that are inappropriate. Comptroller Diamond’s investigation makes it clear that Mr. Gilzean did not follow the law, nor did he follow the best practices. As a result, he has put the Board of County Commissioners in a difficult position, which will require us to take additional action. We will discuss tomorrow what those actions should be and determine the next steps.
Perhaps the Governor should consider removing Mr. Gilzean from office now and appointing the incoming elected Supervisor of Elections, Karen Castor Dentel.
As for the organizations that received funds from the Supervisor of Elections due to inappropriate spending, I believe that money should be returned to Orange County.”
— -Mayor Jerry L. Demings
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