Making Sausage, Part III

Most people don't want to know what goes into the sausage dog they are enjoying at the BBQ--because making sausage is messy, it's a lot like politics.

The Escambia Board of County Commissioners recently settled the sheriff's budget appeal for 2018, and now that this is behind us, all of the transcripts of our 7 shade meetings related to this matter are a public record.  

Yesterday afternoon, board members received the following email from attorney Alison Rogers:

"Commissioners,

Just a note to let you know that Jim Little of the PNJ requested and has now received copies of all seven of the Sheriff’s budget appeal shade meetings.

 Please do not email back, but do get with me if you have questions.

Alison"

So this means within the next couple of days, one or more news articles will appear, and more than likely some of the more choice exchanges from these transcripts will be published void of the context that generated the exchanges.  In an effort to get ahead of this, I will be publishing all of these transcripts, in their entirety, so citizens can read them for themselves if they so choose--.

It is like the old saying, these deals are like "making sausage"--it's messy, stuff goes in, stuff comes out, and most people "don't want to know" how the sausage was made.  The internal deliberations of the sheriff's staff will never come out--so in some respects this is not fair.  But oh well, at least we got the deal done and we have a 4-year deal. Case Closed.

But because we are a public body, subject to open meeting laws, all of our private deliberations are now fair game for those who want to look.   So I'm releasing the final three transcripts from March and April of this year.  They are here, here, and here.  Bon Appetit!  (and full disclosure--I wouldn't publish these if they weren't going to be coming out in dribs and drabs void of context in the media in the days and weeks ahead...)

Making Sausage, Part II

Grinding Meat to Make Sausage is a messy process--that's why most people don't want to look at how it is made from the slaughterhouse to the Publix meat case; people just want to enjoy eating the delicious finished product.  Politics, and especially heated debate, is sometimes compared to grinding meat to make sausage---for good reason...

The Escambia Board of County Commissioners recently settled the sheriff's budget appeal, and now that this is behind us, all of the transcripts of our 7 shade meetings are a public record.  Yesterday afternoon, board members received the following email from attorney Alison Rogers:

"Commissioners,

Just a note to let you know that Jim Little of the PNJ requested and has now received copies of all seven of the Sheriff’s budget appeal shade meetings.

 Please do not email back, but do get with me if you have questions.

Alison"

So this means within the next couple of days, one or more news articles will appear, and more than likely some of the more choice exchanges from these transcripts will be published void of the context that generated the exchanges.  In an effort to get ahead of this, I will be publishing all of them, in their entirety, so citizens can read them for themselves if they so choose--in their entirety.

It is like the old saying, these deals are like making sausage--it's messy, stuff goes in, stuff comes out, and most people "don't want to know" how the sausage was made.  The internal deliberations of the sheriff's staff will never come out--so in some respects this is not fair.  But oh well, at least we got the deal done and we have a 4-year deal.

But because we are a public body, subject to open meeting laws, all of our private deliberations are now fair game for those who want to look.   So I'm releasing three more of these transcripts from February and March of this year  here, here, and here.  Lots of frank dialogue in here, lots of interesting conversations.... (and full disclosure--I wouldn't publish these if they weren't going to be coming out in dribs and drabs void of context in the media in the days and weeks ahead...)

Making Sausage, Part I

Most people that enjoy sausage don't really want to watch what goes in it...our recent budget fight was messy, a lot like making sausage, and now it is all going to be published (or at least the most messy parts)

The Escambia Board of County Commissioners recently settled the sheriff's budget appeal, and now that this is behind us, all of the transcripts of our 7 shade meetings are a public record.  Today, board members received the following email from attorney Alison Rogers:

"Commissioners,

Just a note to let you know that Jim Little of the PNJ requested and has now received copies of all seven of the Sheriff’s budget appeal shade meetings.

 Please do not email back, but do get with me if you have questions.

Alison"

So this means within the next couple of days, one or more news articles will appear, and more than likely some of the more choice exchanges from these transcripts will be published void of the context that generated the exchanges.  In an effort to get ahead of this, I will be publishing all of them, in their entirety, so citizens can read them for themselves if they so choose--in their entirety.

It is like the old saying, these deals are like making sausage--it's messy, stuff goes in, stuff comes out, and most people "don't want to know" how the sausage was made.  The internal deliberations of the sheriff's staff will never come out--so in some respects this is not fair.  But oh well, at least we got the deal done and we have a 4-year deal.

But because we are a public body, subject to open meeting laws, all of our private deliberations are now fair game for those who want to look.   So I'll start out with this one first, the Shade Meeting of the Board from October, when we were just starting to formulate a strategy.  Lots of frank dialogue in here, lots of interesting conversations.... (and full disclosure--I wouldn't publish these if they weren't going to be coming out in dribs and drabs void of context in the media....)