BRUCE A. MAGUIRE Among Five Candidates Applying for Two St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board Seats -- Is BRUCE MAGUIRE Disqualified Under Florida Law?

UPDATE September 24, 2018:
BRUCE A. MAGUIRE withdrew his application after my September 21, 2018 e-mail analysis re: Florida Chapter  2002-347, sec. 3(3), which states that "No member of the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Authority board shall be an officer or employee of the City of St. Augustine, St. Johns County, or the State of Florida, except members of the militia or notaries public.".
Commissioners elected: 
Ms. Christina Opsahl: Plaintiff's lawyer in tobacco cases, criminal defense lawyer, former managing prosecutor
Mr. Maurice Morrisette: Business owner; C.P.A 
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original article:

The City of St. Augustine City Commission will appoint two (2) new members of the Planning and Zoning Board (PZB) on Monday, September 24 at 5 PM, to replace two ethical, savvy PZB members, Susan Agresta and Matthew Shaffer.  

With great critical thinking skills -- often questioning dodgy developers --  Ms. Agresta and Mr. Shaffer both served with disctinction for six years on PZB, since 2012.  

Neither is currently eligible for reappointment under the City's term limits, which curiously apply to board members but not City Commissioners. 

Hopefully, they won't be replaced by BRUCE A. MAGUIRE.

Former St. Johns County Commissioner BRUCE A. MAGUIRE, 70, 

has applied for a seat on the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board.  

IF appointed, BRUCE A. MAGUIRE, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret.), would likely have to resign from the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Rick Scott, and for which he is seeking election to a four year term in the November 6, 2018 election.  

BRUCE MAGUIRE evidently believes his appointment would not violate Florida Constitution Article II, Sec. 5(a) prohibitions on dual office-holding. Article II, Section 5(a) states in pertinent part: "No person shall hold at the same time more than one office under the government of the state and the counties and municipalities therein...."    

Perhaps. As a special taxing district created by state legislation, the Airport Authority may not be covered, or maybe it is.  It matters not. 

IF Commissioners appointed MAGUIRE, he WOULD likely violate the specific state law that authorizes the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Authority.  

Florida Chapter  2002-347, sec. 3(3), states that "No member of the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Authority board shall be an officer or employee of the City of St. Augustine, St. Johns County, or the State of Florida, except members of the militia or notaries public."

Thus, it strongly appears that IF BRUCE A. MAGUIRE were to become a member of the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board he would have to resign from the Airport Authority, for which he is currently campaigning and is on the ballot for the November 6, 2018 election. 

Who is BRUCE A. MAGUIRE?

• Member of longtime St. Johns County landowning family that sold some of forest and turpentine camp acreage to developers.
• Preceded as a County Commissioner by his twin brother, CRAIG MAGUIRE.
• Controversial ex-County Commissioner, 2002-2006.
• Defeated for re-election by Tom Manuel in 2006, with MAGUIRE spending more than $16/vote to lose.  
• Defeated by Roxanne Horvath in 2012 City Commission election race
• Elected in 2014 (after being appointed to a vacancy by Governor Rick Scott) as a member of the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Authority Board, a "special taxing district" created by a state law that forbids dual-officeholding with city or county or state employment (like Planning and Zoning Board membership). 
• Married to controversial Virginia Whetstone, a member of another large landowning family, which has been for decades an irritating frequent litigant against the City of St. Augustine, most recently in a groundless lawsuit claiming City bottomlands.  Of the Whetstone family, then-Mayor Joe Boles once told they had done "the least" for the betterment City of St. Augustine of any family in town.
• Right-wing advocate for supremacy of "property rights," who was one of the double-minded County Commissioners repeatedly voting for zoning variances and planned unit developments allowing dodgy undisclosed developers to destroy wetlands and forests in St. Johns County.
• In 2002, BRUCE MAGUIRE ran as a "conservative," but was a prodigal satrap, promiscuously voting to allow frequent zoning variances and Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), which former PZB member Cathy Brown calls "a sneaky way to get around zoning."  The majority of the land in St. Johns County is in PUDs, thanks to developer power and influence.
• BRUCE A. MAGUIRE was the developers' cat's paw as County Commission.  
• In 2006, MAGUIRE was subject of a Folio Weekly cover story about his scheme to redirect the route of SR A1A on the unnamed island between Vilano Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach, to allow a developer to build another beach front property like Serenata Beach Club.  It would have redirected the road into a parking lot, allowing the developer to build beach front.
• BRUCE A. MAGUIRE was among the misguided County Commissioners chosen by THE ISSUES GROUP, a secretive group of Jacksonville-based foreign-funded developers, represented by Ms. SYD PERRY, wife of the late corrupt Sheriff NEIL PERRY.  Commissioners MAGUIRE, CYNDI STEVENSON, MARC JACALONE JAMES EDWARD BRYANT, et al. helped clear the way for clearcutting, wetland-destroying "developments."  We rue the day any of these unjust stewards were elected. 
• In his PZB application, MAGUIRE states:    

I have always been intimately involved in those community issues which define the true character ofthe community. While living in Europe, I developed a strong passion for history and its preservation. I f we lose our history, we lose our community.
IhavestrongfeelingsfortheStAugustineIgrewupin. Ourhistorydefinesourcityandour historic buildings define our attitudes toward our preservation efforts.
During my tenure as a County Commissioner, I chaired the County Historical Resources Board. In fact, I was the sponsor for Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline to be placed on the County Board. ThisBoardeventuallyevolvedintotheCulturalResourceReviewBoard.
I was also one of the founding persons who created the St Johns County Cultural Council.
In Ponte Vedra Beach, I was the Commissioner:
Who pushed thru (sic) the creation of the Senior Center.
Responsible for the County's acquisition ofthe church site, and its transformation
into the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
Responsible for for the development of the Bird Island Park behind
the Ponte Vedra Library.
I was one o f the founding persons who established the Center at Ponte V edra Beach.
Recently, I took on the successful task of preserving our City's miniature golf course, the oldest remaining such course in Florida.
I researched and preserved one ofthe oldest, and still existing, buildings on Vilano Beach.

In his PZB application, BRUCE A. MAGUIRE dropped the name of St. Augustine City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline, bragging that he put her on the Cultural Resources Board when he was a county commissioner.   Ms. Sikes-Kline is a friend of MAGUIRE's wife, Virginia Whetstone and part of their wedding.

Commissioners will not want to appoint MAGUIRE, which would be like putting Dracula in charge of the Blood Bank.

The other four PZB applicants are:

Ms. Susan W. Rathbone: President, Save St. Augustine, Inc.; President, Saint Augustine North Davis Shores (SANDS) Neighborhood Association; Town and Gown Advisory Committee; former teacher and school administrator; current business owner.  

Ms. Christina Opsahl: Plaintiff's lawyer in tobacco cases, criminal defense lawyer, former managing prosecutor who lists State's Attorney RALPH JOSEPH LARIZZA and Commissioner Leanna Freeman as references  

Ms. Janet Ponton Lewis: Realtor, former PZB member. 

Mr. Maurice Morrisette: Business owner; C.P.A.