Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos was formally admonished by his own Rules Committee on Thursday for failing to accurately disclose his finances on state ethics forms

The committee’s decision was instantly bashed by Democrats as a “whitewash” because the Republican leader, a candidate for U.S. Senate wasn’t fined for failing to properly detail his investments, a $400,000 home and a consulting job that earned him $120,000 from 2004 through 2008.

But the committee -- whose members were all tapped by Haridopolos – said he didn’t deserve to be fined because the errors weren’t intentional and he owned up to the mistakes.

"In view of the inadvertent nature of these violations, Senator Haridopolos’ admission of error and his subsequent submission of required corrections, the Rules Committee recommends to the Senate that a letter of admonishment from the Rules Chair is an appropriate level of penalty," said the consent decree that the committee approved unanimously.

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Here's his apology:

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