Thursday morning, former Jacksonville Public Defender Matt Shirk agreed to admit he violated three laws in exchange for paying a $6,000 fine, but a state ethics commission still has to sign off on the deal.
This isn’t the first time Shirk has tried to settle his case, and it’s still possible the settlement is thrown out by the state ethics commission. Shirk could face up to $30,000 in fines. He also still faces Florida Bar complaints, and on Wednesday, Florida’s governor assigned Gainesville State Attorney Bill Cervone to review Shirk’s conduct.
In 2017, when he agreed to pay a $2,500 fine in exchange for admitting guilt, the Florida Commission on Ethics rejected that fine as “weak,” and called for harsher penalties against the scandal-laden former public official. At the time, the commission demanded he pay at least $7,500 and unequivocally admit guilt. It’s unclear if the commission would accept this softer deal Shirk negotiated.
He was scheduled to have a hearing Friday to determine if he violated attorney-client privilege. He had already admitted guilt to the other two charges. Shirk signed the deal Wednesday, but the commission’s advocate, Elizabeth Miller, didn’t sign and accept it until Thursday.
Though Miller represents the ethics commission, the commission’s eight appointed members must meet and vote for themselves on whether to accept or reject the deal.
Shirk’s deal means he admits he drank and offered alcohol on the job, that he illegally hired and fired women based on their physical attractiveness and that he violated attorney-client privilege.
Though Shirk has faced a grand jury in 2014 that found he likely broke the law and he was voted out of office by a three-to-one margin, he has not faced any discipline. In part, he’s avoided consequences by delay. He is currently the subject of multiple Florida Bar investigations, though none of them have yet found probable cause, and since 2016 he has been subject to the three ethics complaints.
Shirk also faces a potential criminal investigation from Gainesville State Attorney Bill Cervone who was assigned to look into Shirk after a scathing Florida Auditor General report found numerous ways Shirk misused office funds and staff for personal gain, including by having employees work for his personal nonprofit.
Cervone was assigned the case on Wednesday. That assignment says the auditor report “outlines alleged conduct that may warrant further review and investigation.”