FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): The President of the Fort Wayne City Council is denying there’s any conflict of interests in his vote to rezone some property on West Jefferson Blvd.

Tom Didier tells the Journal Gazette two Facebook posts he wrote that seemed to endorse Peter Franklin Jewelers, the same jeweler that will be anchoring a shopping center on West Jefferson Blvd that the council approved despite opposition from the city’s Plan Commission, were in support of a friend who works for the chain, and not the business itself.

He says he voted for the rezoning based on the whole project’s merits, and adds that he will be abstaining from an upcoming vote on a restaurant’s liquor license request due to a business conflict.

WOWO News contacted Didier this morning for comment, and he tells us he doesn’t understand the controversy.

“My friend Todd and I sing together… it was Valentine’s Day, and I decided to encourage people to go buy some jewelry from him. That’s all it was. I don’t see the purpose to what this whole thing (the article) was.”

Didier adds that he would’ve voted for the project regardless of what jewelry store was in it, pointing out that Councilman Jason Arp, whose district the project is in, also voted for it.

“That’s a major artery that goes through Fort Wayne,” Didier adds. “I looked at it from an analytical perspective, not an emotional one… this whole thing is, to me, kind of blown out of proportion.”