Public Service Commissioner Argenziano dismisses questions about land dealings with former lobbyist

TALLAHASSEE — Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano, who has criticized state regulators for being too close to the utilities they regulate, owns and works from a second home in North Carolina purchased with the help of a legislative lobbyist while she was a state senator.

Argenziano said she paid $10,000 for part ownership of seven riverfront lots in 2003 and solicited the help of former Florida Medical Association lobbyist Rockie Pennington to buy the rest. Pennington wrote a check for $150,000 for the remainder of the property, and sent it to her without seeing the land.

Argenziano, a former real estate agent and state senator from Dunnellon, and Pennington, a lobbyist in 2003 and Argenziano's campaign consultant for years, disclosed their financial dealings on public reports required for legislators and lobbyists. Both said there is nothing illegal or unethical about their financial relationship.

"If you find that I'm lying, you slam me. But there's nothing there," Argenziano said.

Between 1996 and 2004, Argenziano paid Pennington nearly $132,000 for campaign consulting and direct mail work. Argenziano said he was also her friend.

Pennington said Argenziano found the property, and provided material and labor to rebuild the house on the land, increasing its value significantly.

"I'm not sure I would trust Nancy with a lot of things, but I do trust her sense of a deal," he said.

Argenziano, the maverick commissioner appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist, has been in the public eye lately for her criticism of the PSC. She's also been at the center of a debate over who will be the next chairman of the commission, as Crist decides whom to choose for two open seats.

If Crist fails to keep incumbent Commissioners Matthew Carter or Katrina McMurrian on the commission, Argenziano would have seniority and likely become chairwoman.

Information aimed at discrediting Argenziano has been offered anonymously to reporters for weeks.

Pennington blames Florida Power & Light, the Juno Beach company that has been in the middle of recent controversies involving PSC staffers and is asking the PSC for a 30 percent rate increase. FPL officials declined to comment Wednesday.

Pennington said that after he and his wife purchased an adjoining lot, he, his wife and Argenziano now own a total of 1,000 feet of riverfront. The property — in Swain County, near Bryson City — is worth more than $1 million, Pennington estimates.

A review of Argenziano's financial disclosure records show some discrepancies:

• The 2003 warranty deed filed with Swain County shows Argenziano and Pennington listed as each owning a half-interest in the seven lots. Argenziano's financial disclosure reports repeatedly list her interest as 35 percent of all the lots, for a total value in 2007 of $83,500.

Argenziano blamed the tax assessor and their North Carolina attorney for getting the details wrong.

• Swain County records show Argenziano and Pennington formed a real estate company to develop one of the lots in 2003. In 2004, they — along with Pennington's wife, Jeannette — obtained a $200,000 line of credit to finance construction of a log cabin.

Argenziano never reported the liability on her financial disclosure form. Both she and Pennington said they abandoned that effort and never drew on the loan because the bids for the log cabin came in too high.

• On Sept. 6, 2007, five months after Argenziano was appointed to the PSC, she added Pennington's name to the deed for one lot purchased separately. The transaction was not disclosed on her financial reports. Argenziano and Pennington said they didn't think they had to disclose it because the original deed mistakenly failed to list both of their names.

For the past several months, Argenziano has been sidelined by complications from a broken leg that occurred while vacationing in North Carolina. She said she has been getting medical treatment there, and listening to PSC hearings via conference call.

St. Petersburg Times reporter Lucy Morgan contributed to this report. Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com.