State ethics board finds East Lake fire commissioner likely broke law

EAST LAKE — When East Lake Tarpon Special Fire Control District Chief Tom Jamison was looking for development tools for his employees in 2017, Commissioner Tom McQueen had an offer.

McQueen's nonprofit American Family Foundation could buy 35 behavioral assessment tests wholesale, saving the district hundreds of dollars, he said.

McQueen bought the tests from TTI Success Insights for $731 and then billed the district in two phases. By April 2018 the district paid McQueen $1,225 for the program.

The Florida Commission on Ethics on March 13 found probable cause McQueen violated two state laws by doing business with the agency where he serves as an elected official.

McQueen said he always intended to donate the product but that his foundation's protocol is to bill clients, accept payment and then reimburse them. He dated a $1,225 check to the district for April 23, but Jamison told a state investigator he didn't receive McQueen's check until late May, according to the commission's investigative report.

That check came weeks after the state received an April 30 complaint about the transaction from resident Tom McKone, who unsuccessfully challenged McQueen for his commission seat in November.

Regardless of when McQueen returned the $1,225, "the reimbursement does not negate the violation" of doing business with his own agency, Melody Hadley, advocate for the ethics commission, wrote in her analysis.

"If that's accurate and the law states that, then I'm going to pay whatever fine or take whatever punishment there is but we didn't have a contract with the district," McQueen, 71, told the Tampa Bay Times. "I responded to a request from the chief to help his staff… I lost money on that venture for the time I invested and the days I spent going over profiles for him and his people."

McQueen can now either take the case to a hearing or settle with the ethics commission, which could include a civil penalty, public censure or reprimand.

This isn't the first time McQueen has been accused of misconduct on the commission. During his campaign for a second four-year term last fall, McQueen used the International Association of Fire Fighters seal on his political ads without the organization's endorsement. The association's legal counsel Douglas Steele sent McQueen a cease and desist letter on Sept. 19, stating his actions "have generated confusion among our members."

"He utilized our logo on his campaign literature to give the false sense that he was endorsed by our local when he was not," said Sean Becker, president of Clearwater Firefighters Association, which represents East Lake fire employees.

McQueen said he used the seal to display his support of firefighters with "no intent to imply endorsement or anything like that." He said he never received Steele's letter.

But on Sept. 25, Becker emailed McQueen's attorney Brad Tobin stating "the cease and desist has been ignored as his signs are still up within the district."

The district, with 43 employees and three fire stations, serves 33,000 residents in the unincorporated East Lake area. Commissioners are paid $6,000 annually and this year manage a $7.3 million budget.

McQueen has worked as director of spiritual care and bereavement for Gulfside Hospice since 2016. He said his expertise to help the district with its training comes from his career in organizational development going back to the 1990s. He served as a Catholic priest in Buffalo from 1977 to 1979, when he resigned so he could marry, a diocese spokesperson confirmed.

On his biography page for Catholic Speakers Organization, a company that connects paid speakers to events, McQueen stated he is "a licensed marriage and family therapist."

But according to the Florida Department of Health, McQueen's marriage and family therapy license expired in 2003.

McQueen called that "an oversight." Two days after being questioned about the claim by the Times, McQueen's biography on the website was edited to call him "a retired licensed marriage and family therapist."

He founded his American Family Foundation in 2009, which supports homeless veterans, the poor and elderly, according to its website.

Records show the foundation has been registered with the IRS as a nonprofit since 2009, but until this year, it was not registered as a charitable organization with the Florida Department of Agriculture.

A charitable organization must be registered with the agriculture department to solicit donations from the public, but McQueen's foundation did not apply until Jan. 4.

"I was not aware of that," McQueen said. "We are registered now. I am a chaplain not an attorney."

All business entities in Florida, including nonprofits, are also required to register with the Division of Corporations, according to spokesperson Sarah Revell.

McQueen acknowledged he never registered in Florida because he originally registered in Missouri. But the Missouri Secretary of State dissolved the corporation Jan. 3, 2017 for failure to file a registration. McQueen said "that discrepancy is in the process of being remedied."

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office also investigated a complaint McKone made about the transaction in August but closed the case concluding "there is no indication or evidence that a crime has occurred."

Jamison, the fire chief, declined to comment on the ethics commission's findings because "it is still an active investigation."

According to the commission's investigation, Jamison told a state investigator McQueen's rate for the training was lower than "several other vendors" he checked with.

Although McQueen told the state he always intended to donate the product and his services, Jamison told the investigator McQueen never discussed plans to return the $1,225.

McQueen said he intended for Karl Horst, who serves on his foundation's board, to present a check to the district at the April 24 district meeting. Horst initially told the investigator McQueen never asked him to attend but later revised his response after reviewing an email McQueen forwarded to him months earlier.

In the April 6 email, McQueen sent Jamison a presentation on the training tools he planned to present at the meeting. The email mentions nothing about Horst attending or a check.

McQueen said if the commission upholds the violation, he'll take the punishment "and move on."

"I'm a chaplain, I always try to do the right thing," McQueen said. "My intention is to serve the residents of the East Lake Fire District."

Times senior researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Tracey McManus at tmcmanus@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4151. Follow @TroMcManus.