Ethics Commission drops McClure complaint

State ethics officials in June decided not to pursue a complaint against former Santa Rosa County Tax Collector Robert McClure.

According to a news release from the Florida Commission on Ethics,  “no probable cause was found to believe that (McClure) asked a subordinate to delay an office bank deposit containing his personal check for overdue taxes, in order to hide the fact that his personal taxes were delinquent or that he had insufficient funds in his account to cover the check.”

A commission news release from the June 7 meeting didn’t identify who filed the complaint against McClure, but Dana Adkison, a former tax office employee convicted of grand theft and unlawful financial transactions for embezzling more than $100,000, said at her 2008 trial that McClure had asked her to delay making a deposit. She was sentenced to 56 months in prison, to be followed by 20 years on probation. Adkison also must pay more than $60,000 for investigative expenses and to reimburse the county’s insurer.

McClure, 56, of Milton, was elected tax collector in 2000 and re-elected in 2004, but questions raised during the Adkison trial plagued his campaign last year. Stan Nichols beat McClure and three other candidates in the Republican primary and defeated Democrat Danny Holt in the general election.