News

By Jane Smith
    
    Settling to save taxpayers’ money, state Rep. Al Jacquet agreed to pay $300 in fines and receive a letter of reprimand over a $35 parking ticket he received while serving as vice mayor of Delray Beach.
    His attorney, J.C. Planas, represented Jacquet at the Oct. 12 meeting of the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics.
    “It was the honorable thing to do,” Planas said about Jacquet’s settlement. “He admitted to the violations and wanted to save the taxpayers time and money of a public hearing.”
    Jacquet could not be reached for comment.
    At the ethics commission meeting, Planas argued for the word “unintentional” before the violation, saying the commission likely would get more settlements if elected officials could agree to accept letters of reprimand and pay fines for ethics code violations.
    Three ethics commissioners agreed. But the vice chair, Clevis Headley, did not.
Headley said elected officials receive ethics training and sign a form saying they know the rules.  
    The four commissioners unanimously agreed to accept the settlement.
    The ethics case against Jacquet, who represents parts of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, stems from a parking ticket he received in April 2016.
    Jacquet initially claimed he forgot to put his city-issued parking pass on the car’s dashboard when he was on commission business and was able to have the ticket voided. An internal Police Department review later revealed that city commissioners don’t receive parking passes.
    Jacquet had broached the parking-pass subject at least twice while he served on the Delray Beach City Commission.
    At a January 2014 workshop, Jacquet floated the idea of a parking pass for commissioners.
    “Wouldn’t that be unethical?” said then-Commissioner Adam Frankel.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the workshop he didn’t support the idea.
    “The Police Department doesn’t support it,” he said. “From the parking management perspective of what we are trying to do, the optics don’t look good.”