Two Carrollwood residents filed an ethics complaint on August 8, 2012, alleging that Tom Lee omitted assets from his personal financial disclosure form. Lee said that the complaint was wrong, saying that he reported all his assets properly on the form and that the complaint was "retaliation" against him by supporters of his opponent. In July 2012 a Valrico lawyer said that Lee's competitor, Burgin, directed donations to a political committee responsible for an attack mailer aimed at Lee. Burgin denied the allegations.