Ambler claims activist Hughes loaned Norman $435,000 for house

Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman has refused to discuss who helped his wife buy a $435,000 lakefront home in Arkansas, but a lawsuit by his political nemesis claims conservative activist Ralph Hughes was the source of the money.

The lawsuit, filed by state Rep. Kevin Ambler, charges that Hughes loaned Norman $435,000, which Norman never disclosed nor paid back.

Ambler, defeated by Norman in last week's Republican primary for state Senate District 12, wants the results of the election voided and election officials to declare him the nominee. Ambler argues that Norman was not a legally qualified candidate because he didn't disclose the loan from Hughes or ownership of two boats purchased in conjunction with the Arkansas home.

The Tampa Tribune has also learned from sources at two government agencies that the FBI has begun investigating Norman's finances in relation to the Arkansas house purchased by his wife, Mearline, in 2006. The sources requested anonymity.

Spokesmen for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office said they could not confirm or deny an ongoing investigation.

"We're aware of the allegations," said FBI special agent Dave Couvertier. "At this point we can't really confirm anything else."

Hughes, who died in 2008, was a small-government, anti-tax, crusader who donated generously to Norman and other commissioners, mostly Republicans.

Norman supported naming the county's Moral Courage Award after Hughes died, saying that
there was nothing wrong with the Cast-Crete Corp. founder giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to commissioners. Commissioners voted to rename the award for Hughes but dropped the honorarium at his family's request.

The reversal occurred after the Tribune reported the Internal Revenue Service claim that Hughes died owing more than $69 million in taxes. Hughes' family has disputed the IRS charges.

Hughes' wife, Betty, and their son Shea said they knew nothing about a loan to Norman.

"The truth is I don't know, and even if I did I could care less," Betty Hughes said. "What he did in his business was his business."

Norman did not return phone calls seeking comment. But in e-mails released through a campaign consultant, he called Ambler's charges "hogwash" made by a sore loser.

"Kevin fought a vicious campaign," Norman said, "but the citizens voted overwhelmingly in my favor. Mr. Ambler should lay down his sword and honor the community's choice."

In a separate e-mail on Wednesday, Norman said he had not been questioned by law enforcement agents.

Ambler would not comment on the lawsuit, saying it speaks for itself. He said he would not give up because Norman was not a legally qualified candidate.

"To those that would say he won fair and square, the exact answer to that is that he didn't because he deviated from the (state) constitution and was not qualified to be voted on in the first place," Ambler said.

Asked whether he had been questioned by federal law enforcement agents, Ambler said he was not at liberty to say. He would not comment on what proof he has, if any, that Hughes loaned Norman money.

Norman has said he did not disclose his 28-foot pontoon boat and 16-foot ski boat because he thought they were worth less than the $1,000 minimum reporting limit on state disclosure forms. The Sharp County, Ark., assessor's office lists the pontoon boat as worth $2,675. The value would probably be reassessed at below $1,000, the assessor said, because the boat is more than 10 years old.

Norman has maintained the boats were purchased separately from the house and that his wife added his name to the registrations for liability and tax purposes.

The lawsuit's allegations about Hughes and the boats mirrored those made in an ethics complaint filed Aug. 19 by Republican lawyer Paul Phillips. Asked how he knew that Hughes had loaned money to Norman, Phillips replied that he had been told by "people who did research on that."

Phillips, a former treasurer for the county Republican Party, said he knows Ambler but that the ethics complaint and lawsuit are not connected.

"All I want is for the truth to come out," Phillips said.

Phillips said he got a letter from the state Commission on Ethics last week saying the agency could not investigate his complaint because he made it within five days of the primary election. Phillips said he will re-file the complaint.

Both the lawsuit and the ethics complaint mention that Mearline Norman bought the Arkansas home from a company controlled by Ed Roleson Jr., a Miller Beer distributor. Phillips goes on to say in the complaint that in 2006, the same year Mearline Norman bought the house, Raymond James Stadium added a Miller Beer patio deck. Norman is a member of the Tampa Sports Authority, which manages Raymond James Stadium.

However, a spokeswoman for the sports authority said the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team made the decision to build the Miller patio deck. Neither Norman nor other authority members were involved in the decision, she said.