TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Ethics Commission on Friday found probable cause to prosecute Norman, R-Tampa, for failing to disclose a $500,000 gift made to his wife by a prominent Hillsborough County businessman. The ruling came a few months after the U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped a criminal case against Norman.

Norman’s lawyer had hoped the closed-door ethics hearing, sparked by a handful of complaints from Hillsborough County citizens, would be the “final nail in the coffin” in the controversy that has dogged Norman for more than a year. But now Mark Levine says he and his client will continue working to clear the former county commissioner’s name.

“If we have to try this case,” Levine said, “that’s what we’ll do.”

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Kim Wilmath, Times/Herald Times Tallahassee Bureau