DeSantis appointee leaves Ethics Commission while revealing his own ethics violation

One of Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointees to the Disney "oversight" board just quit his other job on the Ethics Commission in a huff, reporter Marc Caputo posted on the site previously known as Twitter.

In a statement Tuesday, Glen Gilzean, Jr. said it was brought to his attention that his appointment to the Disney watchdog, known formally as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, could be seen as a conflict given he's on the Ethics Commission that would oversee such appointees. Gilzean was appointed to the Ethics Commission in 2019, again in 2020, and a third time in 2022.

Overseeing Disney, however, pulls in a $400,000 paycheck from Florida taxpayers. So, he stayed with that job, reported WDWNT.

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The resignation came after Gilzean confessed that he began working on the Disney oversight board while chairing "two meetings of the Commission [on Ethics] and the issue of incompatibility between the two positions was never raised by the Commission's Executive Director or General Counsel. Regrettably, if I had been aware of any issue presented by serving in the two positions I would have addressed it immediately. That's why, months after my acceptance of the [Disney] District position, upon seeing media reports and learning that an issue between the two positions may exist, I immediately requested a legal opinion from the General Counsel of the Commission on Ethics regarding the issue."

The media reports he referenced came from the Florida BullDog, a state watchdog blog.

Last week, Steven Zuilkowski, who serves as both general counsel and deputy executive director for the Ethics Commission agreed that it was a conflict, reported WESH News.

The Florida BullDog site then attacked Gilzean for refusing to resign despite being told by his counsel that his position was "inconsistent" with the Disney oversight work.

Gilzean seemed mostly annoyed that the Commission's General Counsel "simultaneously released" his opinion "to the media."

"The Commission General Counsel also decided in the memorandum, unnecessarily, to disclose and mischaracterize previous communications I had with him while seeking legal advice relating to my service on the Commission on Ethics," he said in the release. "The Executive Director of the Commission, I learned, took responsibility for immediately sending the Commission General Counsel's legal opinion and the communications in writing to the media that were then disseminated widely." He used that example to issue a "warning to any other Commissioners who may be put in a situation where they need to seek legal advice or guidance related to their Board service from Commission staff."

See his full letter here.