Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham has withdrawn his petition for legal fees from Joe Keel, owner of Keel and Curley Winery, after the Florida Commission of Ethic’s attorney filed a draft order dismissing Higginbotham’s request for fees.
The Ethics Commission was to go over the draft order at its July 24 meeting. After withdrawal, the order was struck from agenda.
Hillsborough County can pursue to collect legal fees if an allegation was falsely or recklessly made.
Keel filed an ethics complaint on Higginbotham because Keel believed Higginbotham acted unethically in the midst of the rezoning for Keel and Curley Winery, using the weight of his position to persuade people to oppose the winery’s rezoning last summer. The rezoning allowed the business to open a craft brewery on site. He said that Higginbotham and his wife, Devon, attempted to solicit a winery neighbor to file a noise complaint.
During the ethics investigation, the Ethics Commission found that Higginbotham and his wife did not ask the neighbor to file a complaint, however, a conversation between the neighbor and Devon did occur, and in this conversation she indicated Higginbotham might assist if a complaint was submitted, according to the draft order.
“Because the thrust of the allegation was substantiated, it cannot be said that Keel filed the complaint with knowledge that the statement was false or with reckless disregard as to its truth,” according to the draft order.
Keel had also said he had “no proof” that Higginbotham was responsible for three Hillsborough County agencies visiting the winery in a short period of time for noise, zoning and fire regulations.
“The implication here is that Keel felt the winery was being targeted for investigation by the County and that Higginbotham was somehow involved. While no evidence was found to support this belief, we cannot say that Keel’s feeling was so baseless as to consider the allegation falsely or recklessly made,” according to the draft order.
Calls to Higginbotham’s attorney, Latour “LT” Lafferty, haven’t been returned.
In the initial ethics complaint against Higginbotham, the Ethics Commission cleared Higginbotham and dismissed Keel’s complaint.