Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Former commissioner files lawsuit against city hall over his legal bills
MARGATE — The city is being sued by a former city commissioner who said Margate City Hall should pay his legal bills.
Attorneys for former Margate commissioner David McLean filed the suit last week. McLean’s attorney said he first tried submitting a $323,000 invoice to City Hall but was ignored for weeks.
His lawyer argues Florida law entitles McLean to be reimbursed because he was charged with misconduct while acting in his official capacity, and the federal charges were eventually dismissed.
Other cities, most notably Tamarac and Deerfield Beach, have paid thousands of dollars to reimburse commissioners accused of criminal misconduct.
“The law is clear,” said McLean’s attorney, C. Edward McGee.
He said he has since revised his request to ask for $311,000: “We tried to be fair with them.”
“It is not discretionary,” he said. “It is a duty [that] is owed to a person who undertakes” public office.
The city declined to comment.
“We will not discuss legal strategy,” said Margate spokeswoman Alison Saffold.
McLean was convicted in September 2013 in federal court of using his influence as a commissioner to secure political favors for the landlord of a tiki bar he ran in a State Road 7 strip mall. In exchange, the landlord gave McLean cash payments, a jury determined.
But a judge tossed the conviction three months later, saying federal courts
did not have jurisdiction because prosecutors didn’t prove money from federal programs was involved.
The decision was upheld by an appeals court.
The city has already paid McLean $50,000 in back pay from when he was suspended from office by the governor because of the bribery-related charges.
Still, McLean’s legal case isn’t over. It is scheduled to be heard in court on the same corruption charges — but on a state level — in January. McGee said he’ll defend that, too. “We said all along David McLean never did a doggone thing wrong. Nothing he did was illegal,” he said.