Ethics complaint heats up Walton County District 5 race

With just a few weeks to go before the Republican primary that will for all intents and purposes decide Walton County’s District 5 county commission race, resident Randy Gardner has filed an ethics complaint against incumbent Cindy Meadows.

Gardner filed the complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics in mid-July, and presented it to multiple media outlets Aug. 5.


Meadows said the filing is politically motivated at best and possibly personally vindictive in nature.

“He tried to date me and other things. He is seeking revenge because I rejected his advances,” Meadows said.

Gardner called Meadows’ allegations of personal impropriety “outrageous, inaccurate and inappropriate.”
“Just another example of how she intimidates, harasses or impugns everyday citizens,” he said. “Instead of providing factual answers to the very real concerns stated.”

In the complaint, Meadows is accused of slandering Gardner by telling a reporter and others that he had “polled” Walton County Planning Commission members to get their position on a matter to come before the board.

“This resulted in me being falsely accused publicly of having violated the Sunshine Law,” Gardner wrote in a release that accompanied his complaint document.

Three planning commission members did confirm last year receiving phone calls from Gardner prior to the board’s Oct. 8 meeting.

The complaint also alleges Meadows “improperly interfered with the hiring and firing of county employees” by involving herself in action taken against former Planning Department employee Hal Laird.

A grand jury investigating the Walton County Planning Department found last September that “Meadows should be reprimanded for their failure to follow proper procedures in the hiring, firing and direction of county employees.”

The ethics complaint also accuses Meadows of improperly involving herself in county code enforcement activities.

Meadows called the complaint “politics as usual” in Walton County.

Gardner arrived at the Daily News office to deliver the complaint in an SUV with a large magnetic “Tony Anderson” campaign sign attached to a passenger-side door.

Meadows will face off against Anderson in the Aug. 30 Republican primary.

“It’s sad he filed this three weeks before the election,” Meadows said. “He is a huge supporter of my opponent.”

NWFL Daily News Article by Tom McLaughlin (Sunday)