Special prosecutor recommends impeachment for Kissimmee mayor amid ethics complaint: Report

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The special prosecutor tapped to investigate an ethics complaint made against Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa related to $50,000 in COVID-era grants being awarded to businesses owned by her or her family concluded there is "clear probable cause" to file articles of impeachment against her, and even recommended the City of Kissimmee consider referring the matter to law enforcement.

A total of 7 allegations were made in the complaint. The prosecutor recommended no further action on four of those allegations, but did recommend actions on three.

The backstory:

According to the report, the allegations are that Espinosa and her family received a total of $50,000 in three grants through the city's Boost 2.0 Grant Counts program – federal COVID-relief dollars designated for local businesses – to support their local businesses, without acknowledging the potential conflict of interest nor conducting a conflict of interest screening.

"There is clear probable cause to proceed with this matter. There are public dollars, and $50,000 is a substantial sum. Notable, Mayor Espinosa does not deny that she and members of her family took this money via grants to their businesses; she says only that she was not warned until after the funds had been received that she should not take them. That is, frankly, an admission against interest. An elected official does not need to be warned to know the law, or to follow it," the special prosecutor said in the report.

The other side:

According to the report, Mayor Espinosa told the special prosecutor that she did not contact the Commission on Ethics for an opinion. She also claimed that city staff cautioned her when she first took office that she could not accept CNA, but that her staff should have continued to warn her of potential violations.

"Her further defense is that city staff cautioned her, when she first took office, that as a public official she could not accept CRA monies. She treats that early caution as imposing on staff a continuing obligation to warn her, matter by matter, against accepting public funds. Her final defense is that the grants at issue were intended to ameliorate the impact of COVID on local businesses, that she was not a public official during the pandemic, and that her businesses, like others, suffered during that period, such that her current public office status is somehow not germane," the report stated.

"None of these defenses avail. She took, and has retained, public monies without disclosing her personal interests and in direct contravention of the City Attorney's advice, and her duties to her constituents."

What they're saying:

"We have received a copy of the findings. The City Commission will coordinate with the Special Prosecutor as they determine the next steps," read a statement from the City of Kissimmee.

"I’ve received the findings, and this gives me the opportunity to respond through the process. Out of respect for that process, I won’t comment further at this time. I remain confident that the process will allow all of the facts to be considered," Mayor Espinosa said in a statement via a city spokesperson

Special Prosecutor: Final thoughts

"Public trust is a trust, not a trough. The BOOST 2.0 program was created to help Kissimmee's small businesses survive a pandemic, not to enrich the official who controlled it. No warning should have been necessary; the oath of office is warning enough. The people of Kissimmee are entitled to a full and public accounting of where their money went, and the return of those monies," read the report's conclusion.

Kissimmee