Ethics complaint alleges local commissioner misused position in relationship with husband’s charity

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Ethics Commission has received a complaint filed against Commissioner Mayra Uribe.

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The complaint alleges Uribe misused her position with her office’s relationship with All Star Dads, a charity run by her husband Kevin Sutton.

Attorney Christian Waugh lives in Uribe’s district.

In the complaint, he points to an office space, 3520 South Orange Avenue. It’s the headquarters for Commissioner Mayra Uribe’s campaign, and according to the charity’s Facebook page, the office for her husband’s charity, All Star Dads.

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Waugh argues in this complaint to the Ethics Commission that Uribe is violating Chapter 112 of the Florida statute by partnering with a charity her husband runs. He claims she’s bolstering her household income.

“You’re just, you’re not allowed to do anything that can give yourself a private benefit,” Waugh said.

“It’s all assumptions. There’s no proof,” Uribe told 9 Investigates.

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Mayra Uribe argues all claims made in the complaint are false.

She says the charity had already vacated the property when her campaign moved in. She showed us inside the office where there were campaign signs and shirts. She provided documents showing her campaign has been paying the rent.

In the complaint, Waugh points to flyer after flyer where Uribe shares toy drives, backpack drives, and more community events her office organized. The flyers lists sponsors like Zaxby’s and the Sheriff’s Office, but also, the same charity, All Star Dads, run by Uribe’s husband Kevin Sutton.

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“The more advertising Commissioner Uribe does, the more funding and access All-Star Dads can get, the more money that her husband can get. That’s the dot-to-dot relationship,” Waugh said.

“There’s no financial gain. There’s actual help to help people. All of those flyers are helping people,” Uribe said, responding to the allegation.

Uribe would not talk about the finances of her husband’s charity and how much he’s paid from the charity.

She called this complaint “a political attack.”

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Robert Maguire with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says there are clear ethical issues with the relationship between the commissioner’s office and her husband’s charity.

“The issue is also that you don’t want to give the public the appearance that this is a vanity project by a political figure, or this is a way to boost their income. So, there are certain, ethical issues and potentially legal issues when it comes to these kinds of things,” Maguire said.

Uribe told Channel 9′s Ashlyn Webb that she believes this complaint was to “intimidate” her.

She says it was filed the same week she called out Visit Orlando-- after a county audit alleged the organization violated county contract and miscategorized public funds. She also alleges Waugh was paid to file the complaint.

Waugh told 9 Investigates he was not paid and didn’t know anything about the Commissioner’s push to hold Visit Orlando accountable.

Now, there are more concerns laid out in this ethics complaint about how this charity is run and if it’s legally allowed to solicit donations.

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