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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 : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1








Friday, December 8, 2023

Jonathan Owens wants County Taxpayers to Fund his Legal Defense

Owens sent the County Administrator and the County Attorney the request yesterday.  I'll print it below.

I personally do not feel he is entitled to any taxpayer funded legal representation because what he did is potentially criminal, fell outside the normal course of his job, and he remains in possession of stolen county records that he is not authorized to possess and that are in fact illegal for him to possess under Fl. Stat. 817.5685.  Furthermore, Owens admitted to reading the entire file  (In a radio interview with Andrew Tallman on AM 1620),  he knew it contained private, confidential records, yet he not only never told any county employee he had the file while he was working at the county--he also kept the file upon leaving employment and he also provided it, unredacted, to others---including opposing counsel in an ongoing court case against his former employer---------knowing it contained attorney client privileged conversations about that case in particular.

As Ricky Ricardo from "I love Lucy" might have exclaimed:  "Someone has some 'splainin to do!"

When he "acquired" this file and knew exactly what it was, he should have immediately returned the property the owner and promptly notified the county attorney's office.  He didn't.  He read it, kept it, and gave it to others instead.  He didn't need no stinkin' attorneys then!

But now he wants an attorney??

Nope, I don't believe he'll have three votes for this if it even comes to the board for our action--because he clearly DOES NOT qualify, under our policy, to be able to receive this coverage.  Period. This was not a job related function he was performing, and no, he ain't no whistleblower--there are specific statuatory definitions of what a whistleblower is--and he is not one.  Good luck with that.

Looks here like Jonathan Owens is following in the footsteps of his best friend, soul mate, and former boss,  Disgraced Former Commissioner Doug Underhill.
And like his mentor, partner and former commissioner Underhill----Owens now is also requesting you, the taxpayer to fund a legal defense to his reprehensible, potentially criminal conduct.

I can't make this stuff up!

What D2 resident and former Underhill Secretary Jonathan Owens sent the county yesterday:





13 comments:

Paying attention said...

The psychopath --- the gift that keeps on giving....

Ridiculous..

So Owens think the county should pay his legal defense when the county is the one taking action. LOL. NO.

He should ask himself who drew him in and encouraged him to publish that and who himself is not on the suit and is throwing him under the bus. Narc discard.

D2 dummies full on display. The aide should be fired for that bit of unprofessionalism.

If Kohler wanted to pick up the phone and call Ginger and learn a little bit, he could have done that... privately.

Instead he Grandstanded with an irritating whimpering voice.

Hell, he could have even asked Ginger why they didn't prosecute the paramedics.

Instead he listened to the Jerry Springer crowd.

The DOH complaint way back should never have been published prior to the investigation. Way back. You know who did that.

You did not have a functioning merit protection board.

Glad you are cleaning up on six.


You're the man.

However Brawling Bergosh, as Grover said, "Enemies accumulate".. Must be a given.

I'm sure ole DD is sitting back laughing at the chaos he orchestrates.


So yes, Bonoyer, faking a cert is not a Wink Wink. And trainers do need to keep good records.

Anyone with common sense knows those CEU are redundant and the same thing over and over and over for 20 years. But the law. You paid the penalty and addressed the issue.



Janice didn't need to call in law enforcement to arrest them. WTF.

Just how many careers were destroyed because of the midas touch of psychopath Doug.

Even the last one Siders was probably asked to resign because Doug went to and intimidated him to give the files away.

Of course Commissioners are not walking around with a microphone on.

They do talk to people. Duh.


Honestly I know the recommendations by psychologists is to cut toxic people out of your life or either you are the next episode. I'm hesitant to even type a comment.

However this is spinning once again out of control. Seeking balance.

This is all my opinion based on public records and observations on the internet over time.


You thanked staff publicly, and they were in wait... Evil stalks around seeking whom they may devour.

No doubt Bear does have a role in politics, so what.

After Doug was reelected he did push back via the legal and ethics commission, you were involved also.

If one gets in the mud with pigs, you get dirty.

You did great with Beach Access and other things.

Also yes, glad for the vote to reimburse Kenny. And others.

Saw it on the agenda and figured the board would do the right thing considering all the circumstances.










Paying Attention said...

Conrad needs a lesson on Robert's rules of Order. His calling out should have had him ejected from chambers.

Anonymous said...

Oh how is this any different than us tax payers paying for the counties ridiculous suit to keep these emails private. You still have not admitted any wrong doing, Jeff. When will you ever stop living in the past. I have said it before and will say it again - if I had an employee that constantly blamed prior employees instead of doing the job at hand and pushing forward with their current job, they would be fired. YOU NEED TO BE FIRED! When was the last time you were in your district? Driving it, looking at code enforcement issues, infrastructure, signage, community needs? Instead you want to be relevant with the Bears of Pensacola - no one gives a crap about Doug or Jonathon - we just want to get what we deserve in our communities - services and infrastructure without outside influence that’s lining your pockets to get what they want. A 5th grader could do better and not be bought and sold by all your cronies.

Anonymous said...

Yes the public, if signed up can speak from the podium. Chairman recognizes a commissioner. The can't interrupt each other. That's the way Robert's Rule works.

JAR is trying to instigate an uprising. Psychopath.
Losing it. Bombarding States Attn.

What an absolute weirdo.

Anonymous said...

What a effing joke. Can you believe five years later she is still litigating and this moron gives these illegall private public records to her. I see she is churning files asking for stuff the county can't even supply. Look at the court cases she wrought against a citizen too. Not to add up the destruction to the paramedics.
Why would anyone condone that madness.

Them he want the county to pay him to screw over the county. Is he insane.

Anonymous said...

357 but you don't realize, these were used and given to a vexatious litigant who is trying and has been trying to destroy the county since 2019 seemingly to be for their own personal gain and retribution and ego. Read the case and let it sink in.

A normal person wouldn't behave like that and would do well to sit back and evaluate her priorities. Of course they didn't want her kind of so called leadership. How many more lives does she have to destroy to understand that.

Bergosh prevented special interest selfish people from stealing beach access from the public.


That is infrastructure. You have lights, roads in the works.

Do you know how long it takes to get FDOT to do anything? Ages.



Anonymous said...

357 It's connected to the federal case with the past medical director. She is trying to claim whistleblower status and hang medicare and fraud on the county, now trying imply retaliation because a paramedic who is now gone gave a ceu cert to someone so,they could renew their license in time. I think some attendance logs were not filled out or someone forgot to sign in. Same person sued a citizen who tried to defend the paramedics, the innocent onces because Underhill starting using her as a political,football. She sued the citizen costing said citizen 250K. Underhill and ECW camp behind that. From a county employee. Do you think that is a good county employee?

The county already addresses the wrong doing and paid a fine.

Is it worth it to you to give this person millions of your tax money or don't you think she needs to hit the road.

Owens colluding on that?

What a quagmire.

Of course the county wanted her gone. Not retaliation just, not a good fit.

Perhaps there were some defienciences in the training depth, why didn't she figure out how to,improve it.

Seriously if she had learned her job and gone through the channels, it may have worked out.

She should ask who published that DOH complaint and why.

She was CYA ING herself. Maybe someone should have listened to her instead of worrying about retirement. Stich in time saves nine.

But it's time for this to end.


That is all.

Anyway that what it looks like to me, member of public, opion looking at things in the public domain published over time.

I don't use my name because they are vindictive and sue happy.

It's horrible.

This is the tip of the iceberg. They had no right to unredacted records mixed in with public.

Where Juliam Assage? Educate yourself before crying about a road.

In fact volunteer for the TPO and get educated about such.

https://app.ediscoveryassistant.com/case_law/52180-u-s-ex-rel-edler-v-escambia-cnty

Anonymous said...

Was she trying to get everyone fired in the training department, replace them with her buddies and boyfriend to pay herself. I think so. She wanted to sole source Rescue 1 because she liked their energy. Formed an LLC for training also.

Since 2018 or 2019 and still trying.

There is a link to the past. Dec 8 @ 3:57 PM.

You think a new person in D1 can do better. I don't

Plus you can't just fire an elected official. In CAPS.

You sound about as stupid and uninformed as Stroberger did in public forum last Thursday.



Anonymous said...

Oh make no doubt Underhill engineered this. He is commenting on the federal case in ECW right now.

Anonymous said...

Gannett has a pretty strong argument for anti slapp. I think you can't unring this bell.

Technically if Edler can demonstrate because someone fudged a cert, technically they didn't have a valid license. So technically, she may be right about a few things.
If she can prove it and link the claims. She probably wants the money after all this legal fights.

Best case would have been for this not to get politicized and HR and admin handle things.


I think arresting them or firing them was unnecessary. They needed to be reprimanded, and made right. I don't know now if Weaver actually abnegated his responsibility and would rather just turn a blind eye and retire. He may not have even been aware.


Hey JB. See what you started.

This is just a member of public trying to figure this out.

Technically all the higher ups in the chain didn't know or couldn't know what was going on, although they were supervisors.

Getting those cert, while redundant, usually can cause a lots of problems if not done by the book. Dot the I and cross the T. Does it make them less able to do a job they've been doing. Probably not. In the renewal of a license for the dept of health each cycle the licensee has to take them again. And again and again, the next cycle.

Trainers and providers of CEU for the department of health do need to do it properly.

I don't support her SLAPPing a citizen herself.

She has held on like a bulldog.





Anonymous said...

May need to separate the leakers from the press in 2 different lawsuits.

Anonymous said...

I read a little last night. I think perhaps the PNJ may have legal access to the text but should ask themselves if it's ethical to print thing simply to try to embarrass an elected official.

However case law like on Assange, Manning, and Snowden.. leaking government documents is illegal. How the public views this is whether they see them as leakers or whistleblowers.

I think the behavior of getting private messages is despicable. I have seen the records have been released over time that should not have been. For instance Edlers drivers license number, others disciplinary documents.

There are limits to free speech as well as limits to foia docs.

This is all from a member of the public just reading public case law, fb, blogs and news and meetings.

I wish you well on your endeavors.



I often put myself in the shoes of a public servant trying to understand what they are up against.



Anonymous said...

Edler should not have published that she filed a complaint to the DOH. She created a public record by making an inter office memo.

It seems to me she is a querulent.

Owens illegally contributed to this. As a past employee he deserves no help continuing and participating in the lawfare.

NO.

Stolen records are not protected.

She was an at will employee and didn't perform to the county's satisfaction. Apparently.

Simple as that.


Political Advertisement Paid For and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican for Escambia Commission D1