Two "releases" were emailed to Escambia Commissioners today--purportedly newsworthy.
One was a ridiculous piece of garbage, more suited to a publication like "The Onion" or the "Babylon Bee" than anything newsworthy. It was authored by Commissioner Doug Underhill and sent out as a press release "From the Desk of Doug Underhill" (as if that carries any weight or means anything...)
Essentially, it was a rant about how "mean" Commissioner Bergosh was at the previous day's meeting. Boo hoo.
The fact of the matter is Commissioner Underhill knows not what he's talking about, and his ideal redistricting process and vision would pull a sitting elected official out of her district against her wishes, and would also pull 3 schools out of School Board District 1 to the chagrin of the current School Board Member for D1, Kevin Adams, who does not want that. In short, Doug's blabbering about mice in his pocket and his ill-informed, ignorant, and disjointed vision of what he hopes his district will look like post redistricting was embarrassing. It was ill-advised, uninformed and out of the gate will be a non-starter. I totally debunked his idea this morning in a blog post that's getting crushed with hits and also on Rick Outzen's podcast. Here's the way this works: Doug's ideas about what he wants carry no weight whatsoever with the three elected representatives from District 1. And after his stinging, public rebuke via censure by his peers a few weeks back, Doug looks to be just about fresh out of friends on the board of county commissioners as well. So there was his release. Anyone who got it, after they were done with a good belly laugh if they actually read it, were probably a.) tripping over themselves to slam dunk it into the nearest trash can they could find as quickly as they could or b.) dislocating their index finger by too-quickly hitting the "delete" button on their computer to "86" this written heap of rancid, gibberish-laden, opinionated nothingness.
The second release, however, was no laughing matter. Nope, for Doug Underhill, this second release signals big problems ahead--as it is/was a legitimate, bonafide press release from the Florida Commission on Ethics--and it's newsworthy because it points to some alleged conduct by Underhill for which the ethics commission has now made findings of probable cause. In fact, it is so significant--it has already been covered by multiple Pensacola news outlets already --- here and here. No doubt it will probably be on the 6:00 news tonight as well. Your can read this actual news release here. Unlike Doug's feeble, failed attempt at creating a "press release" about me----this real press release about him was cutting. And Legitimate. And Serious. From the release:
"The Commission considered a complaint filed against Escambia
County
Commissioner DOUGLAS UNDERHILL. The Commission found
probable cause to
believe that Mr. Underhill misused his position by publicly
sharing or publishing
confidential transcripts, including minutes from Escambia
County Commission
meetings. Probable cause also was found to believe the
information he disclosed was
only available to him as a public officer and gained by
reason of his official position.
Probable cause was found on three allegations that related
to Mr. Underhill soliciting donations through a GoFundMe page including
soliciting donations from a vendor,
lobbyist or principal of a lobbyist of the County, accepting
prohibited donations to his
personal legal defense fund from a vendor, lobbyist or the
principal lobbyist of the
County, and failing to disclose reportable gifts in excess
of $100 on a From 9, Quarterly
Gift Disclosure. Regarding two additional allegations
relating to the reporting of gifts,
probable cause was found to believe Mr. Underhill failed to
report on a Form 9,
Quarterly Gift Disclosure, free personal legal services,
provided by a law firm, as well as
travel and shipping expenses provided to him by a non-profit
organization."
