Bill Mick

Community columnist

Andrew Gillum is up to his eyeballs in the FBI corruption investigation in Tallahassee.

The problem is that this news breaks as over 2 million Floridians have already voted and Gillum continues to deny wrongdoing at every turn. The evidence is clear, but will it matter?

The evidence is in emails released to the Florida Ethics Commission by Gillum associate Adam Corey. Corey sent invoices to the undercover FBI agent for a Gillum fundraiser that the supposed businessman seeking contracts with city of Tallahassee had agreed to fund. It was for over $4,000 in food and drinks for the April of 2016 event.

Whether paid or not, and it appears it was paid by the agent, there was no report of an “in-kind” contribution to the Gillum campaign. That is the ethics violation.

When the FBI’s evidence comes out we’ll see just what the money bought the investigation. Let’s hope it didn’t buy us a governor.

Florida’s constitution amendment process is bad

I have hated the process since I learned of its existence. Amending the Florida Constitution is done poorly and it’s bad for Florida. Why? Because it’s largely used to make law, not reform our guiding document.

The best example of the problems this can cause is the medical marijuana amendment. Florida courts have had to step in because the Legislature did a poor job crafting the law after the amendment was passed in 2016 and gave poor guidance to the Department of Health, which was directed in the amendment to regulate its implementation. It also sets the state on a path of conflict with federal drug laws.

The Legislature did not like the amendment; they tinkered with the law about it to make it more difficult to implement. The court came down hard.

We made this a part of the Florida Constitution and, like it or not, the judge is right. Lawmakers and the state must follow that guiding document.

Think long and hard before voting yes on any amendment.

Amendment 4 is unnecessary. Just look at the Cocoa mayoral race

Amendment 4 would restore voting rights automatically to most felons once their state supervision has been completed. Exempted are murderers and sex offenders.

What about exempting them makes sense when it comes to voting? I would much prefer exempting officials who have been found guilty of corruption or embezzlers who have shown they are not trustworthy with things of value, like a vote.

And the mayoral race is Cocoa is a perfect example of why the amendment is unnecessary. An admitted felon is in the race. He’s a felon from multiple states with a vast array of crimes he acknowledges and he got his rights back and decided to run.

While Florida’s system of restoring rights needs to be tweaked — and is under court order to do so — it is bent, not broken and this amendment would do far more harm than good.

Let’s leave it to the Legislature to do its job instead of wrecking the constitution.

Bill Mick is program director and host of “Bill Mick Live” on WMMB-AM. Read more at billmick.com.