Floridians take their Sunshine Law seriously.

At least that’s what I thought after seeing a news article describing the recent indictments of a former state representative and several transportation officials for sunshine law violations (“Expressway investigation finds 4 Sunshine Law violations“).

Yup. Indictments returned by a grand jury.

The alleged sunshine law violations involved secret communications between members of the Orlando Expressway Authority Board, who are believed to have used the former state rep and his girlfriend as go-betweens to carry the improper messages.

But the alleged sunshine violations appear to have been related to a separate issue, a $32 million land deal. According to the article, the expressway authority was looking to buy property owned by the former state rep’s business partner at a price nearly three times its appraised value. In order to push the deal through, the board members were trying to coordinate the removal of the agency’s executive director, and his replacement by another former state rep who would apparently be friendly to the purchase.

What a tangled tale to hinge on these sunshine law indictments.

But then I stumbled onto a column from the Seminole County Post taking a different viewpoint (“Sunshine Law Indictments: A Primer“). The tag line captures the tone: “State Attorney Jeff Ashton grasping at straws & overcharging AGAIN?”

The column points out that despite the grand jury indictments, the alleged offenses are range from minor to insignificant.

Florida’s Sunshine Law isn’t very long, and it is pretty descriptive. It leaves little to the imagination, and as it contemplates punishments for violations of these crimes, it leaves no discretion to the prosecutor. Here is a basic summary of it:

If you are a public official, like Rebekah Hammond was, or like FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad, the only punishment that can be handed down to you for violating the Sunshine Law is a non-criminal civil citation. This is the legal equivalent of receiving a citation for littering. If you are a member of a board or authority, you can be charged with a misdemeanor and you can serve up to 60 days in jail and be fined up to $500.

Then an article from the Florida Society of News Editors filling in some of the pieces I had missed. Turned out the first former rep was also lobbyist for the one who owned the land. And they were conspiring to get their guy named to the board, and then their choice named as director.

Anyway, check this out: “New court records reveal fmr. OOCEA board member Marco Pena has flipped on Chris Dorworth, Scott Batterson.”

Whew.

The sunshine law charges, while relatively minor in legal terms, appear to be part of the prosecutorial strategy to pick apart the allegedly broader pattern of illegal dealings by the board members.

Hawaii law also provides for criminal prosecutions of sunshine law violations. Here’s the provision in Hawaii’s sunshine law.

§92-13 Penalties. Any person who wilfully violates any provisions of this part shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, may be summarily removed from the board unless otherwise provided by law.

But I can’t recall anyone facing criminal charges, or even facing a criminal investigation for sunshine law violations.

Perhaps a few such investigations would get our public officials to take their responsibilities under the law more seriously?