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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :








Thursday, September 30, 2021

How Did This All Start, Anyway? Part II: Agendas and Retribution

How did Escambia's EMS go from a 100% rating 
from the State of Florida in late July, 2018, to
being flat on it's "back" just 8 months later?

How did this all start?  The dysfunction, the tribalism, and eventually--the indictments?

Escambia County EMS is emerging from about a 3 1/2 year period of great turmoil--as multiple former employees are having charges dropped and deals cut for them to clear their names and resume their careers.  And for these folks---it has been absolutely devastating--even as they look to emerge from out of the clouds of suspicion.

 Others have resigned and left.  Previous leadership has been feckless and weak.  Employees were left twisting in the wind, and complaints of harassment were buried and those who complained were subsequently targeted.  It was a toxic, disgusting mess.

 Thankfully, this is changing now.

 Because we now have new leadership, a new medical director contract, a new public safety director, a new EMS chief and a new County Administrator--- and things are looking up.  But none of this will erase what has happened--so we have to go back a few years to get the answer to this big question:

 How did this all start, anyway? 


In Part I we discussed the genesis of the problem:  a tragic death, some inappropriate conduct in the field, and the push for some changes.  I've now spoken at length with multiple former employees who have related the information to me, on condition of anonymity, which I am using to write these posts.  This information is also augmented with public records that have been released regarding these incidents.

Background--the Fallout

After the horrific treatment of patients on the side of the road by two now former employees of the county (I'm told one transferred over to the Pensacola Fire Department, one attempted to stay with Escambia County in part time status but was not permitted to do so and he subsequently left)--changes were implemented within EMS by the leadership that was there at the time.

However-the jail had sustained additional deaths--not the fault of the then County Medical Director--but pressure was mounting to make a switch in that position.  Dr. Henning was eventually fired by then Administrator Jack Brown, and the subsequent applicants for the position of Medical Director were fielded.  Interestingly, one of the candidates on the final short list was a very close, personal friend and co-worker of the mom who lost her son in the tragic incident on Pine Forest road.  Along with this doctor, Rayme Edler, there was also a very well qualified applicant who at the time was serving in the military as a reservist overseas.  The selection committee wrestled over these two applicants.  Astonishingly--the military reservists' service appears to have been used against him--and this was openly discussed by the selection committee---who at one point even considered calling this individual's wife to see if she wanted her husband to retire?  At least one panelist showed open concern about Edler--mentioning his belief there were issues with her and medics who dealt with her at the Baptist Hospital ER.  This individual, along with at least one other, also mentioned USERRA and cautioned that the military reservist doctor's service COULD NOT, under law, be counted against him.

According to those with whom I have spoken--it certainly appears as if that might have happened, as that doctor was not selected.  Dr. Edler, a local, was.

After this, a high-level manager in EMS looked into filing a complaint about the military reservist's service being used against him in not being selected for the position.  I've been told this employee was unable to loge a complaint as only the person who was denied employment could make a complaint.

Meanwhile--word trickeled back up the upper echelon of Escambia's then leadership positions that this attempt at a complaint was made.   From that point on--this senior manager at EMS was a target.  I'm told he angered members of the selection committee by not supporting Edler and by expressing continued respect/support for the former director, Dr. Henning.  Also, leaders were infuriated about the attempted USERRA complaint.  So from that point on---the EMS leader's days were numbered, literally.   And I am told by witnesses to the conversation that upon her entry as medical director--the newly hired doctor gave the EMS leader who did not support her but nonetheless was working with her the following bitter message:  "I'm here for one reason, retribution.  And your days are numbered here..."  And subsequently, within about a year or so, that statement proved true.  And this EMS manager was fired and charged with criminal offenses.  Serious ones.  But not until after July of 2018---when the Escambia County EMS department received a stellar assessment from the Florida Department of Health--under this very manager's stewardship and leadership.

So what happened, what changed?

Many, myself included, have wondered what in the world happened between this stellar assessment in July of 2018----and the wheels apparently coming off the tracks just 8 months later?

More than one insider has told me it was deliberate and it was all about score-settling, vindictiveness, and retaliation.  Absolutely disgusting and gut wrenching if it is all true.

More on that in Part III.  

56 comments:

Melissa Pino said...

Janice Kilgore certainly didn't do the County, Public Safety, or the taxpayers any favor with her lopsided presentation to the Board that for the most part was simply a litany of Fire grievances. (While in my opinion some were justifiable, we didn't need a huge consultancy fee to hear all that again.)

It was jaw-dropping that she glossed over EMS and, if memory serves, that nobody pressed her on Dr. Edler refusing to speak with her.

But at least she included some important documents in her report--which of course got promptly ignored at the time. And she also included in her timeline the following synopsis of the July 2018 DOH assessment:

"No deficiencies found--Noted as Outstanding Inspection--Reviewed 22 of 150 employee files--noted Excellent employee and service records. Good QA/QI."

(The document can be viewed through William Reynolds's reporting here:

http://www.northescambia.com/2019/05/ombudsman-delivers-written-report-on-escambia-public-safety-department )

GUESS WHAT KILGORE CUT OUT FROM THE DOH'S ASSESSMENT IN HER REPORT?

** "EMS Section Chief Kate Kenny [sic] I thank you and your staff for your help and cooperation during this inspection." **

--Date the toxic workplace complaints were filed on Edler: June 2018
--Date of glowing DOH report naming Kate Kenney's professionalism: July 31, 2018.
--Date the DOH complaints went in on Kate and the others: March 18, 2019.

Why March? Because the State extended the recertification period until March of 2019 due to Hurricane Michael, and Edler had to wait for the people she was targeting to renew their licenses in order to get them good and railroaded.

Kilgore's timeline in that report reveals a LOT about what was going on, if people had only stayed objective and really let the information sink in. It's all there: the chaos Edler engendered with protocols, training coming to a grinding halt while she pursued the sole source procurement and found a workaround for the illegality, etc. That timeline is the Cliff's notes to the department unravelling from the moment she set foot in the door.

Jacqueline Rogers is trying to save some small shred of face (good luck with that) over on ECW by screeding on Karen Stewart Wood that she doesn't have any evidence Edler filed the complaint on her.

Jacqueline, we all know what happened. It's still on the WEAR site, for cripe's sake. While the County submitted the complaint,

DR. EDLER PROVIDED THE ROAD MAP WITH A COVER LETTER ON TOP OF THE COMPLAINTS:

https://weartv.com/news/local/department-of-health-investigating-escambia-county-ems-after-internal-complaint

"Channel 3 News obtained a letter written by Dr. Edler to the Department of Health last month."

The official county statement from then CMR director Joy Tsubooka makes this clear:

"We began an internal investigation in January 2019 and then turned it over to the Florida Department of Health with a cover letter from our medical director outlining our concerns."

Know what else she said?

"A challenge has been documentable evidence to bring forward for review."

No kidding. Because there wasn't any documentable evidence in some, and perhaps all, of the cases. As is bearing out in a court of law.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking over some of the past news articles;

It seems that the nurse tried to speak/meet numerous times with Weaver, White Kenney Salter and is even in a quote that "She was angry and went to social media"

After her and Edler did have a meeting it seems Jack Brown basically offered her a position, if "It became available" because of her "passion"

Then low and behold he fires Henning and sets up a preconceived job interview with several candidates but already had an outcome in mind.

He tried to implement a policy where EMS passes out cards with their phone numbers on it to the public and maybe Steve White didn't like that much, So Jack fired him for "insubordination", when really maybe Brown didn't like that Steve knew he hired Edler illegally and fired Henning because he wanted to.
1) down
2) down
3) down
4) down

etc

when maybe they should have done remedial specific training for the first EMTs.. instead of fire them to feed the grief/anger/emotion/passion/outrage.

and assured the public, parents they were addressing their concerns.

So that seem like a set up for tribalism and not very good leadership on Brown's part. Don't govern and keytow to passion and anger, disguised as "change".

Anonymous said...

Most of your information is correct as well as Mrs. Pino's, but let me correct or add a few points.

Everything you said about the EMS Chief at the time was correct, except he wasn't fired, he resigned. I know the details of this well. Most people don't know this, but he offered his resignation willingly at the time he delivered his complaint against Rayme Edler. He wanted it to be clear that this was not a power struggle but about what was right and was in the best interest of the department and employees. Mike Weaver handed back to him and basically assured him this would be taken seriously. He didn't buy into that though, having seen Mike step out of the way whenever something serious came down and started applying for jobs. At some point after that White and Weaver had another meeting where White told him he would not be a placeholder manager. If his ability to lead, his council was disregarded because of his attention to multiple ethics issues (more than even Bergosh knows above). The day before he resigned he spent the day with another county EMS agency where he was offered the Director position. He resigned the next day. He had previously been told by Mike when he told him his resignation was imminent that he would be allowed to work out his 90 days. Once the day came he was told he would work it from home. I know he wasn't fired because he spent the entire day in the office (his resignation was immediately after his morning command meeting). He met with company officers that day, popped in and spoke to a training class, met with his entire leadership team, finished writing evaluations and actually stated late working. Also his resignation letter was for greater than 90 days. Not exactly how a firing would go down.

One thing that Melissa Pino missed from her post was that besides the State of Florida raving on the department that had been built of the previous few years, the American Heart Association also did an inspection in early 2018. They not only gave a glowing review, but the auditor turned around and wrote a letter recommending Jim Bonoyer (the Public Safety AHA Training Center Coordinator and EMS Captain Training Officer- two different positions) for Regional Faculty. This is the highest you can go in AHA outside the national office. Why would the Chief or anyone else think there was a problem? If there was a problem why not let it get fixed? Simple. They needed time behind closed doors with multiple enemies of administration to work the evidence just right.

Also, Kilgore said in her report that EMS lacked a training program for their leaders. This was absolutely not true. Under the leadership of the Chief and Chief Kate Kenney a leadership academy was started and required of all the captains and above and would have included Lt's and above had White stayed to continue it. The leadership academy included EMS, communications and Beach Lifeguards and was highly praised.

Who was behind close doors? Rayme Edler who made her intentions clear early on. Bill Hopkins who begged for a job at EMS and was denied by White and Salter, an admin person who had been given a last resort talk and whos position was targeted for elimination by the previous administration (along with other personal issues that will not be covered here) and another employee who had been terminated previously. Star team right? Anyone connect the dots yet?? Bad evidence? Understatement of the year.

Let's not get into the destruction of the rank structure that was put in place to increase accountability and communication and was driven by the employees on some type of engagement committee that White had started to solve problems from the bottom up. You can thank Nail and Edler for that.

Also the training reforms that had been put into place were eliminated. Commish Bergosh, you should speak to your sources about the amazing training reforms that had been put in place to make sure that training was comprehensive, targeted and tracked for improvement.

Anonymous said...

Protocols had been written by a Medical Director (interim) who had far more experience that Rayme. Were there typos? Probably. Rayme made numerous changes and became so combative that the administration required her to initial changes she had made. She then went on to sign those protocols authorizing their release, sent an e-mail department wide that they were her protocols, and approved the training for the protocols. Then filed multiple complaints over this, mailed those complaints through the US post office, and perjured herself under oath on this issue. My understanding is that this information has been made available. Perhaps some people behind those closed doors may be behind some other closed doors in the future.

Its a crazy story. Its sad that the county had so many weak points to allow it to happen. Why wouldn't you listen to career employees over a brand new employee?

Also, the mother, as everyone rightfully sympathizes with her and her situation, straight up lied about certain things. She spoke to the Chief of EMS who reported the conversation to the PS Director and the County Attorneys office. She then called the PS Director and said the Chief wouldn't return her phone calls. Then she called a commissioner and said the PS Director wound't return her phone calls (that is the info I have heard anyway). Instead of asking Jack Brown came in like he usually did and was the smartest person in the room and here we are today.

Anonymous said...

I did see in the news article that Steve White resigned under pressure, so yes he was not fired. So thanks for making that clear. 6:46

There is still the issue of the 6 million that had to be written off. Was that a billing problem or a purchasing problem, or an oversite problem. It was certainly fodder at the time.

I also think Weaver was a short timer, I think I read somewhere he had given Nail free reign but Nail kept calling him, so was he somewhat absent in this? Maybe the no confidence vote was earned, I don't know. What happened with the sexual harassment complaint about Nail?

I'm an observer and reader of news articles and watch meetings, but have been curious about the entire ordeal and appreciate the above comments.

I do remember the news article about apparent dysfunction because of "paramilitary structure" in EMS, yet I just found an article Steve White wrote about this type of problem solving -- empowering employees at the lowest level to manage themselves.
I have worked with that type of structure and it works well. I suspect that was a ruse to get Edler to the top of the org chart (Remember Underhill wanted people to recognize the SUPREMACY of the medical director) and remove the entire current structure under the guise of "reform". Might as well relabel that "destruction"

I remember Amy Lavoy saying "You will appreciate that I didn't accept Nail's last pull back of his several resignations" (paraphrased). Underhill definitely supported Nail and said Nail could work from his office.

Underhill ordered the internal investigation into the writing off of the 6 million dollars from the enterprise fund and seemed to have hung that on White. I saw someone else said that was not his fault but the billing dept's, who is still employed there . Weaver went to the board immediately when that was discovered.


There are depositions that indicate Bonoyer put certifications on a past employees' (analyst's) desk and said "sshh" but she is also the one caught up with the sexual relationships and her position was eliminated, which is an easy way to fire someone. Was she lying?

As a citizen, to me the abuse of power and vexatious litigation is the medical director suing a citizen (Pino) with screenshots collected most likely by Underhill Rogers and cohorts. That is really unfair yet trademark and legacy.

What did the grieving mother (nurse) expect EMS to do? They talked with her several times, did she want a meeting? Yes, to what -- excoriate them? Is that standard practice? I think you hire a PIO and attorney to handle that. She wanted "Change".

Organizations don't need to bend to mob rule, emotion, passion. Our government is set up in a way to function correctly if people will recognize that.

Social media seems to have had it's heyday but things need to settle out and use the structure and processes in place.

Even hiring Gilley was not done correctly really -- And bringing in Maygarden?? C'mon man.

As usual you, Commiss Bergosh knew who would have been the best for that job at the time.

Please keep the info coming.

I know hindsite is 2020 and it's easy to be an armchair quarterback but I think it's also important to know people are paying attention and I am glad you are straightening this out.

I hope Underhill is off the board soon also. He has really been a destructive force in the county.

Above commenter hit it on the nail.

The "smartest person in the room syndrome" is usually not.

I see JB trial is still forthcoming, so did he fudge a bit, I don't know but all this certainly didn't bring back a deceased pedestrian nor help strengthen the organization.

Perhaps you can resurrect the department. One more, hands on training wouldn't be a bad thing just don't destroy a department, people's livlihoods and reputations to try to get it.

That's Edler's trademark and legacy. Blow the whistle on that.

Anonymous said...

Questions:

1)What is Edler's employment status with the county?

Underhill posted a link on facebook about Family Medical Leave when someone asked, plus he said there is a current lawsuit. Cryptic and vague without answering a question, then calls the person who asked immoral or something stupid like that like he usually does, Rogers called the person inquiring a troll or some other way to shut down discourse not of their opinion and agenda as usual.

Will you give a straight answer Com. Bergosh?

2)What is the status of the lawsuit,if there is one? Did she also file a lawsuit against the county? Someone wrote Edler did for the county not having a medical director immediately after she went on leave, and also that she is claiming she is a whistleblower.

3) Does that mean she is on leave without pay, is she being paid, or is she terminated?

4) I see you all announced other medical direction, is that temporary or permanent?

I would think the recent dismissal of these two cases would weigh on that favorably in our favor at the county, if a lawsuit is pending. One of the targeted five seems willing to tell their side of events.

Also to get these 3 other paramedics to testify would probably be a plus for doing the right thing. We want the truth to come out.

Maybe Edler will go back to New Orleans or somewhere else and destroy something else and get out of here. Things can grow back after scorched earth once the fire is extinguished.

Bring on the Rain.

Anonymous said...

EMS has no oversight over the billing. They call it EMS billing, but that falls under a business operations division who is ran by Tamika Williams and reports directly to the PS Director. It is very common to write off huge sums of money. EMS only collects around 60% of what they bill and the rest stacks up as bad debt. There was an issue with billing software that did get blamed, but that was again a billing decision to purchase that software without properly testing it o guess. Somehow Tamika was able to pull a magic trick on that one and blame it all on people who no longer were there. The investigator only talked to 4 people. Who he didn’t talk to: the PS director who authorized all of that, the purchasing department or management and budget. Strange don’t you think unless you want to cut it off so you can place the blame elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

You could title this

"We Put The Fox in The Hen House"

Anonymous said...

Where did your find the article that was written about empowering employees?

Anonymous said...

People need to join an organization or board to add to it, not destroy it.

Anonymous said...

I can tell you there was no dysfunction because of the paramilitary style. Many EMS organizations, most EMS organizations, operate like this. Fire operates like this. This was a made up problem/term to run off the Chief. The truth is the organizational structure was laid out by a diverse group of employees from new EMTs and Medics to senior members, to logistics members and training staff and part-timers, to officers and chiefs. Everyone’s opinion was respected and lots of great ideas flowed out to the organization from this group. The ranks were added to give employees a career road map, a chance for increased responsibility and to improve accountability and communication in the department. What civilians don’t understand is that the chiefs cannot communicate with 200 employees in a 24/7 operation on a regular basis face to face. That doesn’t mean they didn’t try. It wasn’t anything to see the Chief out at 1am visiting a night crew to see how they were doing and answer questions. But the chiefs could talk to a handful of Lts who saw their companies every single day and who could rapidly relay issues, concerns and ideas to the appropriate person in the organization. It wasn't stifling, quite the opposite. Information flowed like never before and it didn’t preclude you at all for stopping by any of the chiefs almost always open doors. The report of dysfunction came from the HR director after the complaints were filed, after the violations of ethics in the hiring committee and was concluded by an HR director who spoke to no EMS employees, there were no active complaints and who wasn’t that experienced in county level HR or EMS/public safety issues. I suspect the HR directors resignation came because he got tired of doing bad deeds. It’s to bad it took him that long to say enough.

Anonymous said...

All of this is so beyond what I’d like to say.
Jeff, you’re a good man and I appreciate your service. Ignore the fever swamps, go with the truth.
Thanks for being who you are. The people on the ground know where your heart is. You’re a damn good man

Anonymous said...

In response to Where did your find the article that was written about empowering employees?

October 1, 2021 at 7:35 PM

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-white-867874a8

Articles by Steve White Leadership and Performance Improvement Advocate
Walking the Tightrope: Decision Making and Leadership

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/walking-tightrope-decision-making-leadership-steve-white?trk=public_profile_article_view

"New leaders, or leaders in dysfunctional leadership systems, will often feel the need to escalate decision making to the person who needs to be informed about the decision, or even beyond that point. Even worse, are those systems that require even routine decisions to be elevated to multiple levels. That is a broken system. These leaders aren’t really leaders, but merely supervisors who are responsible for collecting information, and presenting it to a decision maker who will then give an order that the supervisor is to carry out. The only leader in this scenario is the person making the final decision. As you grow in your leadership, your job is to grow leaders by breaking this cycle. Effective leaders learn to push decision making down to the point of contact. By that, we mean that the people closest to the problem should, in most cases, be empowered to make the decision. Even in highly complex systems, like the military, fire, law enforcement and EMS where the chain of command in regimented, the decision making apparatus should be biased to the unit of function level. To put that in plain language, the lower ranking professionals should be making the most decisions in an organization. That type of system takes engineering, culture guidance, and leadership development. It also takes leadership. It takes leaders at the higher level refusing to make decisions that should have been made at the lower level. You read that correctly- refusing to make the decision is leadership. How can that be? If you simply solve every problem that is brought to you, you are simultaneously encouraging the culture of elevating decision making, and missing the opportunity to develop that leader. A leader has to weigh this carefully. If the problem should be handled at the lower level, then coach the leader to solve the problem, or inform them that they are the leader responsible, and you look forward to being informed later about the decision. This is the tricky part of this scenario. You can’t simply refuse to solve problems, but you can refuse to solve the problems that should be handled at the lower level. That takes discipline on your part, a positive coaching relationship with your subordinates, and clear lines of authority. You must take clear that you subordinates have the authority to solve problems, coach them on the problems that need you need to be consulted with, or informed about, after the decision has been made. This practice doesn’t occur over night, and if your subordinates do not believe that you will fully support their decisions if something goes wrong, then the system will fail every time. That is worth repeating: if your subordinates do not believe that you will fully support their decisions if something goes wrong, then the system will fail every time.

So how do you build this culture?

Anonymous said...

Part 2 of Steve White Leadership article

"You empower people below your level to make decisions by giving them clear lines of authority and responsibility to make the decision. You understand and communicate that you trust them to make these decisions, and while you are delegating the authority to make the decision you personally will maintain the ultimate responsibility for the decisions that are made under your leadership. You also remove ambiguity about authority. The people in the organization must know who has authority to carry out the mission of your organization. As you look around your organization, is yours one that is designed with systems thinking that aligns functional units into clear lines of authority? Most leaders dismiss this because they think lines of authority means creating new positions. It doesn’t always have to, what it means is that you are formally giving members of your organization responsibility to carry out the mission. This also means that the leaders under your authority know whom to speak with in the organization to coordinate decision making. Your operations people should not have to go through burdensome processes just to be able to coordinate with logistics or finance. A well functioning organization keeps action learning teams in place, and clear lines of authority coupled with health communication to allow problem solving at lower levels.

You refuse to solve every problem that is brought to you. As a leader your job is to grow leaders and you do not accomplish that by solving every problem that is brought to you. It bogs you down, which slows the entire organization. Large complex organizations have to learn to be agile, and organizations that require escalated decision making are slow in response to real problems. While some see chain of command as burdensome, they should be anything but burdensome. Chains of Command should simply empower leaders to make decisions at their functional level, and to know to whom to brief that the decision was made, or to quickly gain maneuver speed through escalation. If the system is working properly, most decisions never need to reach high in the chain of command. Information and resource requests should be flowing up the chain of command to support decisions.

You build trust with your subordinates. Your subordinates have to trust that if they make a sound, and ethical decision, that you will ultimately take responsibility for that decision. That is leadership, and if you are not willing to take this responsibility, then you shouldn’t be accepting the title of leader. If a subordinate makes a decision that wasn’t well thought out, or in line with the vision of the organization, then that becomes a teachable moment. What if the decision was a poor one that jeopardizes the organization, its people, or was not an ethical decision? You hold that person accountable, and you stand to be held accountable to your bosses. Here is the key lesson about leadership that you need to accept, before accepting any official titles: you can delegate authority, but you never delegate responsibility.

Anonymous said...

Part 3
"To summarize: create clear lines of authority, push decision making down, refuse to answer questions that should be handled at a lower level, or coach the leader in making the decision. You are on your way to developing strong leaders, and becoming a better leader in the process. That is the primary reason for pushing decision making down, to create stronger leaders, and make your organization more nimble and able to make decisions more quickly. The second reason to push decision making down is that the higher you go in leadership the more time you need to spend on big picture projects. You can’t steer the organization into a year from now, if you are handling minor issues every day. You need time to focus on relationships, visioning, finding resources, and developing long term projects. Empowering your leaders to assist you in running the organization only helps the senior leadership in helping the organization even more. Now, this method isn’t meant to make lazy senior leaders, far from it! This method is hard work, but it does free leaders up to perform the sorts of strategic thinking, leadership development and people advocacy that should be occurring in a dynamic organization."

There is a little more but there you have it..

By Steve White, the one Edler and Underhill and Brown apparently wanted to run off ..

I think that's the same person. I don't know him.

Melissa Pino said...

PER MEDICAL BILLING.

Anon 4:54 PM, here's your issue along with all of the other bad actors who set this all up and helped railroad these innocent people:

The disinformation, misinformation, and insufficient information just won't cut it any more.

Because there are too many people who know *exactly* what was going on, and apparently now that Kate Kenney and Leon Salter's charges have been resolved, along with Steve White's, people are less afraid to start putting down what they know and making it public. And those voices are going to continue to grow, and they will be unified because here's what we have always had on our side:

The truth.

People have asked me, "How can you possibly keep this whole mess straight in your head?"

My answer to that is, it's easy to keep straight if you and the people you are talking to are honest about everything. The stories don't change when many people are telling the truth. It's the disinformationists and liars who can't keep track of the corrupt score cards they are now desperately clinging to with sweaty hands, as their larger house of cards is falling down around them.

Apart from the procurement issue--which should not have happened the way it did, for sure, but which had the person responsible for it clearly identified by Champion's investigation--we will never know whether that new software might have been properly integrated. And even if it had turned out to be incompatible, the County would have known during the grace period in time to cancel the contract.

Why didn't this happen?

(1) Because Edler put Lindsay Ritter under her protection by co-opting her for "tech support," which basically meant jawing with her in her office all day while neither of them were attending to their real duties;

and

(2) One of the people who was eventually arrested had alerted the County to the situation of the QA not being done on that software, because of this scenario, in one of the toxic workplace complaints on Edler that got swept under the rug, never received due process, and was never brought to the attention of the Board.

In addition, a friend I was working closely with at the time of the medical billing, who was a retired army vet who had worked in medical billing for decades, was in the process of piecing together what exactly had happened with the software. It was that person's determination that Tamika had actually saved Escambia from a far worse scenario than could have been visited on it, working against all odds with an EMS administration that was hell-bent on obstruction of every variety. And that it was possible that in addition to incompatibility, that there were some indications that there *was* a glitch in the software, to boot. Sadly, she passed away while she was compiling the documentation and before she could make it available to the Board. :(

Finally, Tamika was later targeted by one of the infamous fake investigations with accusations that she was doing something unethical with the medical billing THAT WASN'T EVEN IN HER CAPACITY TO DO, within the closed system of how the billing works.

When I heard through indirect channels that the Ethics and Compliance office had set to work on it on a Fire Me Friday, I put out an SOS through various channels over the weekend, and by Monday morning the powers that be at the County had magically figured out that they had been mistaken in their information.

Is there any other ploy you'd like me to neutralize? Please do continue to lay them down. It's very helpful for getting the truth of what happened out there to the public.

Anonymous said...

So this is the resume of Steve White publicly posted on Linkin(I wonder if his ears are burning :) )

This is one of whom these people wanted to step on, crush, libel, arrest, gag, ruin their reputation, and livlihood and retirement for their own selfish power, agenda and retribution.

Steve White

Pensacola, Florida Area

"As the Chief of Department served as the senior uniformed emergency services officer responsible for the organization, training, equipping and leadership of 200 active-duty, relief, and civilian members of a county based emergency medical services department with 69,000 annual emergencies and a $26 million budget. Assumed command of this organization at a time of great distress with a new labor union organized, and with critical staffing with over 25% of positions unfilled. Served as the Emergency Services Director during Emergency Operations Center activation's overseeing all EMS, fire, law enforcement, military and health response to county or region wide disasters. Selected to serve as the regional State EMS Coordinator for disaster response to state wide and national disasters.

Key accomplishments:

Led action learning teams that were made up of employees from all levels of the organization. Drafted the first strategic plan that led to strategic changes in the organizations effectiveness

Erased critical staffing deficits and achieved 100% full-time staffing while also increasing total number of personnel and ambulances by 17 positions

Developed the organizations first zero based budget that saw cost savings across the department

Initiated data driven performance metrics that were communicated to the entire department monthly

Successfully coordinated a change in state licensing of ambulances to allow for dual licensing at the Basic and Advanced Life Support level

Implemented a tiered response system that provided operational flexibility to the departments ambulance deployment model that increased the number of ambulances available for emergencies by 50%

With the medical director, led the development of a new, objectives driven employee orientation training program, implementation of service excellence training, and a comprehensive modular training program to ensure proficiency in the organizations mission, and to achieve clinical excellence."

*********** Note that Medical Director was NOT Edler*************

Anonymous said...

To
October 1, 2021 at 10:49 PM

I think Janice Gilley and Jana Still HR came in continuing to fire people, thinking that would clean it up and give control to Underhill and Edler and Facebook.

Good thing someone (the board) finally had enough.

You have to put the breaks on a runaway freight train.

Anonymous said...

To
October 2, 2021 at 1:58 AM

Of course Jeff is a good man, even a little puppy on the beach can recognize that.

Some people/animals have a sense about things..


Some are clueless and fall prey to their own imaginings and false sense of importance and self.

Some just want to shine a light into the darkness.

Anonymous said...

Mel- I am not sure if you are saying I am spreading misinformation? I assure you I am not. The billing software was approved by the business division, not EMS. The investigator blamed it all on EMS management when they had nothing to do with the review or purchase of that software. That was all the billing manager and his boss, Tamika. I didn’t say she was stealing money as was alleged but she clearly threw someone under the bus who wasn’t there to defend themselves. Furthermore it is her job to make sure that procurements are done correctly. You can’t go over the threshold without her a) her making a mistake or b) her allowing it. It’s also true that the investigation did not speak to anyone else. Tamika said don’t look here look over there and they quickly concluded everything. Now the write off drama was just blown up to take out Weaver, which it did. If you look at that write off the clear majority was under Kostic and Weaver before him. But if you look at the history of these, these large write offs happened from time to time. The write off wasn’t necessarily Tamikas fault (her division though) and it certainly wasn’t Weavers. The procurement though is a different story.

Anonymous said...

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/07/01/investigation-into-ems-billing-debunks-software-glitch-cause-6-million-write-off/1619373001/

Anonymous said...

Get your stories straight, the IA says they interviewed 8 people and it was Keith Morris who did the investigation. ^^^

Either way, that's water under the bridge.

They wrote if off and have new software now.

The they didn't have money in the fund for ambulances but LOST$ got them some ambulances and firetrucks anyway/ Matt C. did that before he decided to get the hell out of there.

Dummies (Underhill's liars) blame it on other commissioners, like he wasn't there also-- what's new?

Doug lied--Amy cried

What next?

Anonymous said...

In a quick glance over that IA on the 6 mill write off it basically looks like it was old accounts that would have been written off over time but it just came up to one lump sum all at once, so really it wasn't a big deal just fodder for Underhill to get his picture in the paper and ordered Matt to do the investigation.

Note Steve White couldn't be reached, Of course Tamika was nervous to have to get to the podium, note Weaver said we have to go to the board complete transparency and did.

So yes it's the same people targeted, same names but they really didn't find much there, but the dummies listening to Underhill about reform, don't dig very deep and just take his word for it, especially if JAR backs that up. It simple groupthink. TOKYO ROSE

But yes Ritter had her say in the IA she doesn't seem trustworthy, noticed after she was let go at the county she suddenly changed her tune on ECW for a little while then dropped off the radar. Especially after the NAKKIIIDD photos come out..

"If you don't want to make the news..don't do it" Carl Grey Radio Host


Anonymous said...

U R A POS

Anonymous said...

oh hey look a flying monkey turd..lol

Anonymous said...

Making a big deal out of the billing was so Underhill could bully Weaver and get him out of the way. He also managed to get Lavoy out of the way. Most people if they have another option then to endure abuse will take it. Weaver retired, Lavoy went to the City.
Why do you think employees keep leaving? You got it, A rogue abusive commissioner. Even Studer has an article about the importance of retention.

I hope these people are being deposed if necessary and will tell the truth.

I'm not sure if your shade meeting Tuesday is about this but if it is, this malignancy and its tentacles needs to be excised.

As far as a 50K threshold for a PO, then so what, there is a 50K threshold.

I know some politicians are afraid of the media and cartoons and social media but we didn't elect you to be more worried about that than you are about good governance. You have a policy that employees aren't to be political so take care of them please,

Anonymous said...

Why does Ritter's name keep showing up to try to hang the Chiefs?

Did you notice that? It is in the published IA and also in depositions on file at the clerks site. Public record on file.
Was she disgruntled because she wasn't involved with supervisory decisions, did she lie under oath.

Much hinges on her yet under closer scrutiny I doubt she is a credible witness.

Mel Pino said...

1.

Anon October 1, 2021 at 4:54 PM/ October 2, 2021 at 4:02 PM, I'm sorry if I misinterpreted you as skewing the story in favor of the These People Bad narrative.

Part of the challenge is that while I may look like I'm flinging things out with reckless abandon, I'm trying to say as little as necessary to get the point across, hoping there's no reason to get more specific. My advocacy on this has been a cycle of "Okay I'm not going to go there and get more specific," and then constantly having to, because what should be obvious are batted away, disinformationed, or honestly misunderstood. I kept trying not to name names, hoping somebody, anybody, in a position of power would take the baton and run.

With a result nobody did (other than Commissioner Bergosh), and so the powers at the time used my measured disclosures against the truth to throw things into turmoil, and utilize the unbelievable (yet true) information I was putting public (and stupidly disclosing behind the scenes to people who were the primary agents on the final railroading) to plug holes and solidify/continue the coverup.

There's nothing new about these tactics when bad people get up preying on innocents for their own political advantage. It's a time out of mind playbook bad people in power use to do bad things.

I kept hoping and believing that "just enough information" would turn the tide. Which kept backfiring, badly. It played right into their hands.

So let me respond to your comments in a more careful, thorough, and candid fashion. Jeep in mind there are still people to protect for various reasons.

Some who perpetrated this are hardly out of positions of power; in fact, key players have graduated to more powerful positions. I[ve already been informed by multiple people in a position to know that I'll always be a target, and when I'm least expecting it they will come at me in a manner I least expect.

I'm not stupid enough not to care abou¬-t that, and realize how serious the implications are. But I also recognized how they roll going in. Escambia is no place for the faint of heart when powerful people are trying to get bad things done to people who are powerless, and some of these people are ruthless and will stop at nothing.

All of them have done opposition research on me til the cows come home. No doubt it continues to frustrate the hell out of them that the record is clean as a whistle. And not just that, but we have Secret Service, FBI, State Police, State crime lab, and higher ups at IRS in our family circle. I have gone through every manner of national and global background search and independence review known, as my husband's career requires that level of scrutiny.

If there was anything--anything--in my past record, they'd have me chased out or under criminal charges by now--what they do best. They couldn't (yet), so they set it up for me in civil court. When that backfired on them, they then had to start their disinformation that somebody else was paying our legal fees.

My personal attorney, my criminal attorney, and my land use attorneys know better.

Melissa Pino said...

2.

But here's the real problem: some of the people I am still trying to protect don't have family in federal law enforcement and the means to protect themselves legally in the fashion I do.

That's all to say, just because Steve White, Kate Kenney, and Leon Salter have gotten their cases resolved, that doesn't mean the most powerful people who were in on this are going to forget. They won't. And some of them have made a lifelong career of this kind of dirty dealing, and are disappointed they couldn't flick their wrists to make powerless people will go down for their political whims. The worst part about this is that they really, truly Do. Not. Give. An. F.

Those of us who fought them tooth and nail on this set-up gave them some medicine they weren't expecting. But nobody should think they are off in a corner licking their wounds. They've already re-networked and, in some cases, solidified their protection from ever being held accountable.

Sadly, the mentality you have to have in this town to advocate for innocent people who powerful people have in their sites is that they will find any way they can to crush you. So I'm not going to lose perspective of protecting people who still need it in order to provide public information that the BOCC, the DOH, the FDLE, and the SAO had every means of obtaining themselves.

To put it in perspective, I would literally take a bullet for these people. Let me repeat that: I would take a bullet for any of the people that Doug Underhill and Jacqueline Rogers and her flying monkeys have tried to destroy in their reign of terror. There just comes a point where, if you are a person of means and ability, and you care, but yet you let this shit go on, you're going to be lying on your death bed someday knowing you didn't do anything about it.
Hoping that context explained some things. Will respond in line to your comments tomorrow, when I’m not too pissed to be analytical.

Anonymous said...

Mel- I apologize if I upset you. That was not my intent, I just didn’t want you to think I was spreading misinformation to hurt someone innocent. What you have done has been heroic and I mean it. The people who did these things never saw you coming. I was just trying to be clear that the 6 million was just another of some very coordinated tactics to take everyone out. Weaver was in the way of Nail and Edler consolidating power and so people made it out to be more than it was. When Tamika took them on she became a target. My point is she did throw people under the bus to survive scrutiny of the procurement issues. She is the procurement person!! Just like she stopped Edler and Nail from stepping out of line, that was her job. I want you to know no offense was meant. You have much respect from this poster.

Anonymous said...

3 folks responsible for the scambia downfall. Duggy, assistant person living in dist 1 along with large girl JR.

others were played...rainme, rusty, jenkins even nick too. u dont think so? funny

guess who leaked Doh Complaint to choris starting the storm setting up lumon to answer on ch3 live after a nice lunch? answer is there and available today

there was evidence showing who was in pub safety bldg that day prior to leak. you be amayzzed who in the building day of leak at same time with no reason. its out there

just the start

reason people left suddenly.....smart, in the midst of evil...they appear do well now.

so much good stuff still out there. just wait for the drop dug. its coming











Anonymous said...

United States of America ex rel Edler v. Escambia County, Case No.: 3:20-cv-05503-RV/HTC, U.S. District Court,

Anybody following this on PACER

Anonymous said...

"guess who leaked Doh Complaint to choris starting the storm setting up lumon to answer on ch3 live after a nice lunch? answer is there and available today"

Yes just who sent that over to Nylander?

Anonymous said...

Nothing had moved at the DOH complaint by March 2020 so there was nothing on record there which may have meant it wasn't worth investigating so it was still confidential. wink wink (Except people published it to the news anyway, then of course Doug got on camera again.) Remember when he left the room at the BOCC meeting because it was confidential-wink wink..give him an Oscar. (about May 2019)

You had the COW on March 12, 2020 then that Friday the 13 the Country went on Lockdown because of COVID. Also about that time Jan/Feb they "leaked" (gave) the other memo to Little at the PNJ. I think it was determined your PIO did that and should not have.

Somehow they escalated things and had these people arrested a few days later on or March 24, 2020 and as far as I know the DOH had not paid any attention to it.

Did the states attn jack up the charges under pressure? Can he be deposed..himself? Why not?

After that all we could really do is wait, as far as the public wanting to know what was going on.

Will this case be dropped yet again, like she did on Edler vs Pino as the public closes in knowing what they did?

Wheels turn slow sometimes.

I think the case can be watched on RECAP which is backward for PACER for free.



Anonymous said...

October 2, 2021 at 10:17 PM

There's our hook and cliffhanger.

Waiting for the drop.

I don't know where the info is to number 3 person in D1.

Was it Captain Mustard in the Public Safety building with the Keyboard? (Game of Clue -- Reference)

I suspect the PM's of ECW may tell the tale.

Waiting on Part III

Anonymous said...

I think it was April 9, 2019 that story came out about the wink wink confidential report

Was it Own'd in the conservatory with the knife?
Trying to embarrass the brother of the other brother after lunch.

What happened to Chorus anyway?
Sheriff probably didn't like him causing a sweaty brow press conference about the sex shop case.
Most news just cover arrest reports and mug shot..No No No to the investigative reporting in Scambia.

Anonymous said...

1017
where is that info available?

The 10-17 police code meaning for the police forces is Pick Up Papers / En Route.

Mel Pino said...

1.

Anon 9:51, thank you--it wasn't your comments that upset me.

Now that this is coming to a resolution, my own anger and frustration over what happened, which I had to keep in check while focused on the matter at hand, boiled to the surface last night. I had started on a factual, non-opiniated, point by point response, which your reasoned comments deserved, and read through the new comments as well. But I couldn't keep focus on it, because my mind kept going to the last two years of hell for all of the people targeted.

As it sounds like you would know, the number has been far greater than the people who got slapped with bogus administrative complaints and criminal charges that some bad actors in the County set DOH, FDLE, and the SAO up by cherry picking the stories, the documents, and people lying under oath during the interviews. It's not even apparent to anybody on the outside whether all of the complaints that might have been filed have public awareness. Although at one point I was speaking with dozens of people in Public Safety about this, I certainly wasn't privy to everybody's situation.

And here's the thing--public advocacy on this *wasn't* heroic. It's just what anybody with the means and the wherewithal, who honestly knew what was going on, should have been doing. It only looks heroic because apparently there were so few people willing to do it. Trust me, if I had any idea how far out on a dead limb I was going to be when it started, or knew from the get-go that literally nobody who was in a position to really help was going to lift a finger until Commissioner Bergosh became involved--or, worse yet, that some of them were going to actively assist in the cover-up, for various reasons--who knows, maybe I wouldn't have had the courage to take it on.

The thing that bothers me about it is this: What would have happened if Kevin Wade hadn't seen Rusty Nail headed up to the Fourth Floor while Underhill was skipping Public Forum because he had to go to the restroom during forum? What if a friend hadn't made a random comment to me while we were getting off the phone on a completely different topic, "Hey, what's with all these fire trucks showing up to fender benders and stomach aches?" What if the emails about Rescue 1 hadn't fallen under my PRRs trying to figure out what Nail and Underhill were up to? What if some good people at one of Nail's last locations hadn't been willing to talk with me about his track record? What if a brave person in EMS hadn't had the courage to reach out to me and let me know I had it from the wrong end of the stick with assuming Nail and Underhill were playing Edler? What if Matt's name hadn't come out during the second hearing in Edler's suit against me, so I had to get him some real protection or he was going to be in a whole heap of trouble? What if Commissioner Bergosh had said, "Sorry, I'm not going to get into the weeds on all this--this is Administration's job to figure out?" What if JJ wasn't a brilliant workforce attorney willing to take on constitutional with a heart of gold who hates seeing this stuff happen to innocent people?

To put it another way, it's not that the slim number of people willing to help were "heroes." My emphasis is more on, why weren't more people who could have helped willing to do so? That's the larger cultural problem at the County and in the community that needs emphasis.

Melissa Pino said...

2.

So truly, my comments last night had so little to do with what you had said about medical billing. I'm still processing the enormity of what could have happened to these people if a bunch of random coincidences hadn't happened and a handful of people hadn't said "enough is enough."

Your medical billing comments in their entirety are really important. What seems most important to respond about it, from where I sit, per anyone's particular involvement, and what he or she might or might not have done to save their own skins is this:

Look what happened to the people who weren't able to accomplish that.

I'm not sure people recognize the *tremendous* pressure that was coming from the highest levels of administration to tow the line on this horrible game-plan. Put simply, if you weren't the actual administrator or one of their right hand people, good fricking luck on doing the right thing. People were so boxed in and so under fire that there simply were not a lot of moves for people who didn't have any real power to make. So when I'm talking about people who didn't help, I don't include people in middle and upper middle management, and in some cases I'm not including some directorships that were under so much fire from Underhill et al that there was literally nothing they could do. Please trust me when I say that I was more than well aware of what was going on from a procurement standpoint, and just what influence was being exerted from multiple directions at the top towards certain outcomes. And while I've been a firm advocate for getting procurement on the straight and narrow at the County (we went backwards about 20 years on that with the last administration), I also have empathy for people who might have had the best interests of Public Safety in mind, but did not want to put that discussion in front of Doug to do his worst. And in hindsight, I'd just hope that people at least consider it through that lens, because we all can see now exactly what a lot of people were justifiably afraid of. Do you know who put everything on the line to do the right thing, against all odds? Steve White. And look what happened to him. :(

Anonymous said...

Was the driver who took the video cited in the accident or were the pedestrians in the road at night at fault?

Anonymous said...

http://www.northescambia.com/2017/05/pedestrian-killed-on-nine-mile-road-2
This preventable accident was politicized.
It looks like they crossed in a dark place and not at the crosswalk.
The driver must have taken the video for his own defense.

Why was it given to the mother? Or is that out of the topic of this discussion.

It a real mess that video caused.
Ask yourself what did it accomplish to go to the county and show the video?
Now four years later. How much anquish has it caused. Making decisions and policy based on emotion, reaction and politics doesn't work well.
Brown made a poor decision firing Henning and hiring Edler because people crossed the road and endangered themselves.
Personal Responsibility is important.

Anonymous said...

Is Edler trying to make money from vexatious litigation.

Melissa Pino said...

Anon 7:51, Edler lives in the court room. If she's not on a docket, she's not breathing.

The mistaken part of the medical community who has no idea what she has been up to, because they don't pay attention to politics, should think on this. So many still think she just went into the County to fix it and the bad old GOB kept her from doing it blah blah.

EVERYBODY and EVERY AGENCY touching on her needs to take a good look at her track record and why she might be in Florida to begin with.

Woe to any individual or any agency that falls prey to her twisted abilities. She's far out ahead of the game on all the people who think they had the tiger by the tail. Anybody with official relationships with her should wake the hell up and recognize the extreme liability she visits on everything she touches. That has been her game for her entire adult life. That's not my opinion. It's public knowledge, from the record of her court dockets.

Perhaps people should go straight to the top and start writing and calling Senator Broxson on what happened under the County's past administration.

There have been rumors circulating for a long time that he will be hiring the past county administrator into his office, and even worse to handle the budget.

Maybe that's all talk. But man, if that's for real? He needs to hear from people who know better what a really, really bad idea that is.

Anonymous said...

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59721578/united-states-v-escambia-county/

Some documents can be viewed her..Public Record

Anonymous said...

I read over the docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59721578/united-states-v-escambia-county/

Here Edler is talking to an ER nurse about protocols in the comment section.
http://www.northescambia.com/2021/04/escambia-county-names-new-ems-manager

After reading the available pdfs on the False Claims court file, it's minor but there she says the protocol is to transport, not provide care. Is it county policy to discuss protocols over social media. Perhaps starting an IV or intubation in the back of an ambulance isn't best practice, because low and behold, an error might occur..

Really all this getting blown out of proportion is, on a psychological level is what you said Comm Bergosh, immature leadership. Triangulation, drama, conflict.

Does it violate HIPAA for her to put the cases on a public docket like that?

I didn't read every pdf behind the PACER paywall but the available answer many questions that I, as a member of public have and will continue to read there.

Also preventing medical errors is not to be done in a punitive environment.

I had a sense about her from watching the meetings in May 2019 and my sense was "prima donna".Smartest person in the room syndrome. Apparently she thinks other people are retaliating when they disagree with her. She has a problem with this blog. She took the job and is in the arena of public figure. Even more so, by all the lawsuits on file.

Of course the grieving mothers of adult sons would have preferred a BLS or ALS tech transport to save their child but the fact, that is public is they were probably on death's door. Reality

If any one likes numbers they can go to that case and see how much money she is trying to get from the county budget for herself.

I hope she is shown the door,

If she had gone into the county to make improvements and implemented them properly then we wouldn't be here.

It was a battle of wills. During war we all lose.

The current employees need to know you have their backs and are expected to works as a team.

MOMMA Bear didn't do that, but perhaps she had decided to fire and/or have arrested everybody Edler told her to and that would solve a problem.

I do also see the docket for JB, sometimes the truth is somewhere in the middle, Let the judge make the call now, If it's thrown out also like the rest of them, then Edler is not on firm ground imo. Regular common sense tell us if paramedics/EMTs have been in the field for years and went to school then they are qualified. THE CEU are law and important yet reality and common sense inform us also.

Dot the I's cross the T's, don't be sloppy in any capacity or it opens the door for all this. Make it a firm policy if a member of public is inquiring about their EMS case, who handles that? because most likely they are out for blood money also. Reality.

Lawyers swimming around like sharks trying to get a paycheck also.

Anonymous said...

https://www.careercliff.com/internal-strengths-and-weaknesses-in-swot-of-organization/

I know you are out to hire another Administrator.

Hopefully it will be a good one.

Anonymous said...

I notice the false claims case was filed under seal very soon after the paramedics were arrested and no movement was on file at the DOH apparently.

I bet the blood ran out of her face when she sees three of the cases are thrown out of court. But now she's probably doubling down with her pals to help her. JAR is going for the IP address of anonymous. Why? Can't anyone speak and not be targeted, kicked off sued, smeared and embarrassed by ECW? They run in packs.

so just on a nanny nanny boo boo level, it's ok to talk about Edler on facebook if you are "for" her but "retaliating" if you aren't for her. Got it.

Normally in life most start to try to avoid these people but when they invade the local government and try to control the discourse they have to be recognized and called on the carpet. Sadly, it takes one to know one they say.

https://psychopathsinlife.com/vulnerabilities-weaknesses-psychopaths-narcissists-exploit/

Anonymous said...

So Edler is trying to extract money from Escambia Taxpayers from 2014 that was collected by EMS, when they have trouble collecting anyway, times whatever.. is that what that means?

Maybe Rick Outzen needs to run the numbers and report on this just from the current lawsuit alone.

Regular citizens and employees probably need to stay away from the MAELSTROM and the BOCC hand her ass right back to her on a wood plate.

Sounds like a con artist, are her an Underhill planning to ride off in the sunset together like Bonnie and Clyde or what?

He as well as others.supports her politically.

What kind of scam are they running?

Mel Pino said...

Email I sent tonight, after Jacqueline's hysterical throw down trying to make up for being blocked for a few hours from using her hate page.
--------------------------

EMS--Stop Libeling Them
1 message
Melissa Pino Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 10:19 PM
To: Jacqueline Rogers
Cc: Robert Bender , District 5 Steven Barry , Lumon May , Doug Underhill , Jeff Bergosh , Alison Rogers , Wes Moreno , Eric Gilmore , JJ Talbott , Kim Anthony Skievaski Attorney , Melissa Pino
Jacqueline,

The multitudes of people in our community who are relieved that your hate and disinformation group has come unravelled are watching laughing as you desperately pump out all your old, tired talking points that you were thwarted for one single day from being able to promulgate while Facebook was down.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for you today for that brief window you didn't have an avenue to spread your toxin. What on earth did you do all day?

Let me make this clear, Jacqueline: I don't give a crap what you do, or say. Your involvement means nothing to County business now, as I made sure to accomplish, as you offer nothing but the boils of disinformation that sit atop Doug's runaway cancer.

All you have left is those who still engage on your site to gnash their teeth and howl at the moon on your instigation. Enjoy that.

There is, however, one exception to my nonconcern with your irrelevant bleating:

If you don't stop libelling good people on the EMS issue, I will personally advocate for a class action lawsuit to sue you, personally, and your forum and all its administrators and moderators into absolute oblivion. I will consider that my duty as an advocate for what you have intentionally visited on these people, with malice, through your continual screeding lies and your depthless hatred visited on innocents as you flail around like a snake full of parasites latching onto itself while you try to find a way to recover your lost political capital.

Your track record against me on this isn't great, Jacqueline, so you might be wise to not try me on this.

Perhaps you can consult your pro bono attorney on whether he would go to bat for you on libel suits coming from many people who have every legal justification to bring them.

And unlike the lies that you, Doug, and your flying monkeys have put out, my attorneys are now and will be paid in the future. So choose wisely.

--Mel Pino

Anonymous said...

You’re so funny! Do you honestly think you wield so much power and influence that you could persuade somebody to file a lawsuit against somebody for exercising their constitutional rights? Hysterical! I have no doubt that JAR, along with most people you tagged in your email blast, have flagged your email address as spam and it goes unread. I mean really who cares. Talk about a jealous, vindictive, and irrelevant person. I actually took the time to scan ECW earlier and saw absolutely nothing written yesterday that would warrant your mass email. Another one of your fabricated stories. Are you trying to get somebody to drag you back into court again? Your sun has set Mel. Nobody talks about you. It’s time for you to run along.

Anonymous said...

I looked over there also and didn't see anything either that bad about EMS

I do see this though on Escambia Votes:

Escambia County Candidate Workshop

The Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Office will be conducting a candidate workshop for anyone interested in running for office.

The workshop will be held on Monday, November 1, 2021, at 10 a.m. in the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners board chambers, 221 Palafox Place.

Some of the topics covered will be offices up for election in 2022, requirements to run for office, qualifying, the petition process, political advertising, campaign finances and reporting requirements.

For more information or questions, call the Candidate Qualifying Department at (850) 595-3900.

Anonymous said...

October 5, 2021 at 12:08 PM
Like Underhill and JAR did to Edler? to file a SLAPP on Mel?

but yes it WAS the tired old talking points

BCC bad, has meetings in the morning, FL West, Bear, It's raining..


The 1124 post did make me look, I wondered if JAR took down a thread or something.

Anonymous said...

LOL
"...your continual screeding lies and your depthless hatred visited on innocents as you flail around like a snake full of parasites latching onto itself while you try to find a way to recover your lost political capital. " MP

Pulitzer prize for the metaphor though...



Anonymous said...

It is a simile
not to be confused with a Smile.

Notice how she often turns everything around to be about her.

Had about enough of the Drama Queens.
True Dat

Anonymous said...

I looked over there too, I like when Underhill posted about county commissioners getting mileage that David Bear posted the invoices when Doug paid himself to travel to Canada on taxpayers dime. I do not think the Ethics committee went after that, I don't know why not.

This got off topic a little but yes ECW was a player in the EMS blow up.

Underhill was tagged on that video (that the county said they didn't know about in the whistle blower case)Or asked for evidence.

Has Edler dropped that yet since three cases were thrown out and she will most likely lose?
I hope you impose sanctions.

Let us know.

Rick O has that info now. He may have had it already and is awaiting the outcome.

I think Melissa stuck with this like a trooper really.

Doug must be out of town or busy and just governing by shit posting on ECW. and talking to an unsuspecting young reporter at WEAR last night waiting for facebook to come up so he could post it. Predictable.

Anonymous said...

DU may have attended this meeting.. before the joint one. Noticed in the PNJ
So the shade meeting wasn't about the Qui tam one, it seems.


"Escambia County Board of County Commissioners and Douglas Underhill, Case No.: 3:19-cv-04424-MCR/HTC, U.S. District Court, in accordance with Section 286.01(8), Florida Statutes. Such attorney/client session will be held at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, in the Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, Board Chambers, 221 Palafox Place, Pensacola, Florida. Commissioners Robert Bender, Jeff Bergosh, Douglas B. Underhill, Lumon J. May and Steven Barry, Interim County Administrator Wes Moreno, County Attorney Alison P. Rogers, and Joe Hammons with The Hammons Law Firm, attorney representing Escambia County in the foregoing litigation will attend. A certified court reporter will attend and report the attorney/client session. Legal No. 4923694 1T 9/25/2021"