Tommy Doyle, Lee County elections supervisor, admitted Friday that he had an affair with a subordinate several years ago while in office.

According to documents uploaded to the Miami Independent website, the woman filed and later withdrew a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, claiming the affair was consensual. This and other documents have been circulating in Lee County since at least Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, Terry Miller, a campaign adviser to Doyle, sent the following statement on behalf of his client: “I am deeply ashamed of a terrible decision I made five years ago that deeply hurt my wife. This was the worst decision of my life and something I deeply regret. My wife and I are working on this together and by the grace of God we are healing as a family.”

“I apologize to the wonderful staff of the Supervisor of Elections and my constituents in Lee County. I acted against my moral integrity. This was the worst decision of my life. I take full responsibility for my conduct and can only ask for your forgiveness. I want to assure voters that this will not affect the Supervisor of Elections’ ability to conduct safe and accurate elections in our upcoming primary and general elections.”

Doyle is seeking his third term as election supervisor. He is running against Michael “Mick” Peters. Both are running on the Republican ballot, so the decision will be made after Tuesday’s primary.

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