Pam's Mad.......Too Bad

Clerk Pam Childers fired off an angry round of emails this afternoon, directed at me.

She is angry that I told the truth in this blog and dang-it---she doesn't like that.

After I was completely exonerated of the ridiculous "crimes" the D2 commissioner and his secretary had baselessly and inaccurately accused me of, I requested the proof of the vindication so I could publish it.

The clerk could have (and should have) sent it immediately.  

It was the right thing to do.  

Nope--she instead wanted me to twist in the wind and wait through the long holiday weekend to get it the following Tuesday.

Thankfully------The State Attorney's Office provided the document that same Friday afternoon (just like Pam could have and should have done) so I could publish it that Friday Afternoon.

Pam didn't like the fact that I published the truth.  The truth is she and her attorney would not release it Friday--telling our attorney they "couldn't" release it.  Which is/was a garbage, BS Lie.  They didn't want me to have a win going into the weekend so they withheld this one document they could have easily released.

When they lie, I tell the truth.   

Pam didn't like that........so she dumped this garbage email into my inbox late this afternoon:

"Commissioner Bergosh,

It was brought to my attention last week that you have made some false, defamatory and damaging statements on your blog about abut me as the Clerk and my General Counsel Codey Leigh as it relates to the Grand Jury and your request for information.  I thought about asking you about this while at our most recent Board of County Commission meetings but thought I would give you the opportunity to address this via email.

 Your printed statement “… I have requested this public record from the clerk and she and her attorney have refused to send a signed copy of it to me”.

 Sir, I have not heard from you in many months if not years.  I have not received a request from you in writing, via text or a phone call to me or my general counsel regarding a record of the Grand Jury.  I have also asked my Public Records Center to look for such a request but there was none.  To write a blatant lie is disrespectful of a sitting county commissioner that should act in the most upstanding behavior both verbally and in writing.  It is my request that you remove this statement from your blog. 

PAM CHILDERS

Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller

First Judicial Circuit, Escambia County"

To which I simply replied:

"I made the request through our attorney, Alison Rogers, and she informed me that your office on that Friday afternoon refused to provide it.  So we got an unsigned copy directly from Greg Marcile.

 That’s what happened"

To which She came back and said.....

"To state “YOU requested and I refused” is a blatant lie and you know it.  So the County Attorney requested it on your behalf, an email sent and received Friday afternoon of Memorial Day.  Proper procedures were followed and the document was released Tuesday morning following the Monday holiday…. this is within 8 business hours.  This is a typical turnaround time for a court document due to statutes/court rules that must be followed, not to mention this type of document is not electronic but is a lock and key situation.  The request made had information appended to it that was not consistent with the document that we had in our files.    Once protocols were followed as to grand juror names, County Attorney Rogers was given the document…and she thanked us for it.  There was no emergency nor a request on your behalf. 

 Remove the language in your blog.  I’m sure you can spin up something else to write.  This is why I do not read blogs or free newspapers.  It’s a spin of the facts.

 Pam"

To which I replied (and recieved NO RESPONSE.....)

"I requested it through the attorney, not a lie.  It is a fact of reality.

 You don’t make demands of me, and you are not my editor.  The language is accurate as of when I wrote it that Friday.  Thankfully, Greg stepped up and did what you should have done on the spot because he knew it was the right thing to do.  I was exonerated and I wanted to publish the no true bill.

 I’ll tell you what Pam, return the unredacted backup of my iPhone you possess illegally, the one you bragged about having to staff at the SAO, and then we can move forward with a mature conversation about how your feathers are somehow ruffled over semantics.

 You might be the clerk, but you do not have permission nor do you have authorization to have the personal identification information on my children and other citizens  in those unredacted files you possess illegally.  Who all did you give them to, anyway?

 We requested you return them (through an email Alison sent some time ago) and you blew the request off…….." 

I'll be the 7:00AM Leadoff Guest Tomorrow Morning on Real News with Rick Outzen on AM 1370 WCOA

I'll be on the area's best morning drive news program, Real News with Rick Outzen, tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM.

Once again I have been asked to be the leadoff guest on the area's best, most listened to, most influential, and most trusted morning drive news talk program, "Real News with Rick Outzen" on 1370 WCOA.

I'll be on tomorrow discussing the "No True Bill" finding by the Grand Jury that concludes any investigation into me for the alleged Sunshine Law violation my political opponents have inappropriately lodged against me  to further their own political ambitions.  

I look forward to discussing that---- and the other very concerning development which will likely result in investigations by the Florida Division of Ethics on the improper/illegal discussion of Grand Jury schedules, testimony, and topics.  This confidential, statutorily secret information was put out, publicly, by folks who ought to know better than that but who are using information gained by way of their position to benefit themselves and othersand to damage me politically.

It will be an interesting conversation--tune in live at 7:00AM or catch the podcast here once Rick publishes it.

No True Bill: Exoneration and Vindication Part I

Tuesday of this past week I was fully and completely exonerated of doing anything illegal associated with the news articles and allegations surrounding the stolen and improperly released county files and text messages that had been used as some sort of "evidence" I violated the Florida Sunshine Law.  

I was investigated for months and months over allegations I did things I did not do--- and accusations that I committed crimes I did not commit. 

Of course I knew I was innocent.  I follow the law.

This past Tuesday an 18 member Grand Jury looked over all of this and declined to prosecute due to the fact there was no evidence I committed a crime.  They issued a "No True Bill."  I have requested this public record from the clerk and she and her attorney have refused to send a signed copy of it to me.  Instead, I have obtained the above copy in the interim from the office of the State Attorney.

So how did this happen? 

Back in December several false accusations were made about me very publicly in an orchestrated "hit"  designed to effectively ruin my reputation and destroy me politically.  Reckless, Irresponsible, and reprehensible.   

Making matters worse--these histrionics were perpetuated by a then employee of the county, Steve Stroberger, and his boss, sitting county commissioner Mike Kohler.  

Sure, everyone saw it for what it was.....It was a set up job from the get go, played to maximum effect at what was supposed to be our jovial and festive Christmas meeting, the last meeting of the year somewhere before Santa Clause Spoke and then again after the Grinch gave the BCC cookies and a proclamation.  Stroberger's cringe-worthy antics can be viewed in minute 13:53 of this video. Then his boss, Mike Kohler, piled on with this garbage at minute 12:40 of this video.

These two, the commissioner and the secretary, took their best shot at me, writing letters and emails to the Governor demanding I be removed from office and simultaneously demanding an investigation of me by the State's Attorney over what these two geniuses decided unilaterally was a "Sunshine Law Violation" and a "clear case of Gerrymandering!" (of course they were dead wrong, but I digress...)

This was the conclusion these brainiacs reached after they read a PNJ hatchet job and some stolen county text messages that had been manipulated.

"You should resign!"  Said the commissioner's secretary. (He was hoping I would to make his run for my seat all the easier.  Not going to happen)

The real reason this happened was that Steve Stroberger wants to win my seat so He and his boss together can run the west side of Pensacola--and like Doug Underhill and Jonathan Owens in 2020--they want D2 to run D1.  So they took a kill shot at me with baseless allegations I committed a sunshine violation based on stolen messages that were manipulated.  Truth?  Who cares about that!  They just want to win an election!

Ain't going to happen.

So, within a week of that ugly spectacle of a meeting  right before Christmas-- the Office of the State Attorney committed to looking into the matter and issued a press release stating this.  Multiple news articles covered their announcement.  And they did investigate.  And they subpoenaed my unadulterated copy of my iPhone backup. And they referred the issue to the Grand Jury.

Meanwhile, I cooperated every step of the way and understood that everything on my iphone's backup that had been stolen (60,000 + text messages and more than 1,600 color photographs) was subject to inspection for evidence of any crime.  

I had actually already signed an unconditional writen release allowing for this unfettered search of these files six months earlier (nearly a full year ago now) when Law Enforcement met me and the County Administrator in my office on June 11th of last year.  They were there with the FBI confiscating county servers and files after it was learned that someone at the county stole confidential, privileged and personal identification information from the county's IT office and disseminated it inappropriately and unlawfully, unredacted, to multiple persons over state lines and to multiple lawyers at multiple firms actively involved in litigation against the county.  And yes--you guessed it--some of the data in the stolen files was protected attorney-client privileged information related to that particular litigation.  (That is the reason former D2 Secretary Jonathan Owens is now facing a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge and as much as a $20,000.00 sanction at the Florida Division of Ethics because in their opinion probable cause exists that he violated Florida Statute 112.213(8).)

 Much more interesting and current information on this weird and surreal situation in part II.