Naples City Council member fires back against complaints

NAPLES, Fla. Naples City Council member Sam Saad maintains he did nothing wrong despite high-profile complaints accusing him of allowing business relationships to influence a vote.

At issue is his connection to Jonathan Shechtman, a portfolio manager for a New York-based investment firm, and Matt Pikus, the firm’s Collier County property manager and broker.

Vice Mayor Linda Penniman filed a complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics and the NAACP of Collier County took a complaint of its own to the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Saad cast the deciding vote last year to allow the firm to sell property to 7-Eleven for a store in River Park, the city’s only predominantly black neighborhood.

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