The Florida Supreme Court disapproved on Thursday the 90-day suspension that a disciplinary referee recommended for former city commissioner for Miami Beach and mayoral candidate Michael Grieco, and increased his suspension from the practice of law to one year.

“A feature of this decision that will send shockwaves among elected officials who are also lawyers is that absent political speech, they will be held to their statements made to the press and hence the public,” said Andrew Berman, an ethics expert at Young, Berman, Karpf & Karpf not involved in the case the Florida Bar brought against Grieco of the Grieco Law Center.

Michael Grieco, former Miami Beach Commissioner. Michael Grieco, former Miami Beach Commissioner.