An election complaint filed by former Bradenton Beach Mayor Jack Clarke against then-Mayor Bill Shearon following the 2015 municipal election, was deemed “insufficient” by the Florida Elections Commission.
Clarke took the mayor’s seat in May 2015 in a recall election, then lost to Shearon in a card draw after a tied vote of the electorate in November 2015.
According to the April 23 response from FEC executive director Amy McKeever Toman, Clarke alleged that Shearon failed to report an expenditure for a joint mailing with then-commission candidate Janie Robertson.
Additionally, the complaint alleged that by sending the joint mailing, Shearon was helping further Robertson’s candidacy.
The letter stated that Shearon provided a campaign finance report showing an expenditure for the mailing supplies and an in-kind contribution for the stamps after the September 2015 delivery of the mailing.
“For these reasons I find the complaint to be legally insufficient,” Toman wrote April 23.
The companion complaint filed by Clarke against Robertson, for which investigations showed she shared the expense for the joint mailing with Shearon, was settled about 18 months ago. Robertson said April 29 she was fined $75 for the same mailing.
Shearon provided the FEC letter to the city clerk, asking to have it read during public comment at the next city commission meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 3, at Bradenton Beach City Hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.