Well, it sure looks like everyone has hopped back into the saddle again with the 'good old boys' club to ride through downtown Brooksville. I didn't think I would ever agree with anything Brooksville City Councilman Joe Bernardini had to say but hiring Jake Varn as the city attorney does appear to be a case of the fox guarding the hen house. Apparently Mr. Varn included a letter with his job application to directly address any conflicts of interests that might arise with him as the city's attorney. In this letter, Mr. Varn indicated that if any conflict of interest were to occur that another member of his law firm in Tallahassee would represent the city.
Let's see if we have this correct about any conflict of interest that may arise by hiring Mr. Varn. If Mr. Varn needs to recuse himself from the position of city attorney for any conflict of interest, the question is, who will be watching over the public's interest? How will having a colleague from Tallahassee sit in as acting city attorney during a conflict be any different that having Mr. Varn, himself, sitting at the dais, or for that matter in a courtroom setting? Mr. Varn will be paid as a city attorney and also be paid as an attorney for this Tallahassee law firm. If you want to read in depth about the responsibility of public officials, public attorneys, and those directly related to them, I suggest checking out the website of the Florida Department of Ethics which is located at:
The quote by Joe Murphy, the chairman of the conservation committee for Hernando Audubon, in this morning's edition of the Hernando Times really sums it up. Mr. Murphy said, in part, "Hiring Mr. Varn does not pass the smell test". It will be interesting to see what comes out of this marriage between this newly hired city lawyer who is also tied to the Tallahassee law firm.
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