Election Ugliness Begins

 

People that play stupid games will win stupid prizes....

This August 20^th, the date of the Republican Primary election, will be my 7^th contested election in Escambia County for local office.

And each cycle that I have been through, the nastiness and ugliness intensifies. 

Whether in the school board races or more recently for county commission—it never ceases to amaze me the depths of cowardly depravity folks will go to in order to smear their opposition or artificially manipulate an election outcome.

It’s nasty, it is ugly, and frankly it is the reason lots of folks never run for office.

This election season is off with a bang, and the Election Ugliness has officially begun.

DYSFUNCTION JUNCTION

You know folks are desperate when they bring in surrogates to do their dirty work.

Clerk of the Court Pam Childers actively encouraged at least two existing county employees to run against me.  One has, and I am told the other is considering it. She’s mad we are suing her to compel her to do her job.  Ho hum.

Sitting commissioner Mike Kohler’s recently departed secretary, Steve Stroberger, is one of these that was encouraged to run by Childers, and he is running.  Good for him.  But is it really helpful to have a sitting commissioner get his secretary to run against another sitting commissioner on the same board?  (Check with disgraced former commissioner Doug Underhill and his former secretary Jonathan Owens on that).  Worse, this commissioner, Kohler, on a recent trip to Tallahassee pulled aside a friend of mine and started trashing and slandering me and making false statements about the contents of my stolen data files. (Oh yeah—someone stole those from the county and guess who ended up with them?  Answer, the guy I beat by 17 points in the last nasty election I was in, Jonathan Owens).    As soon as he, Kohler, was done shooting off his mouth, of course my friend called and told me everything Kohler said.  Wow, what a desperado.

Interestingly—these comments made by Kohler in Tallahassee were made before the county released the redacted version of the stolen county records.….Although the files do not contain what he lies and says they do—there are some things he mentioned that he would not have known had he not seen a copy.  So that will be looked at and questions will be asked during depositions.  This information will also be passed along to the investigators looking into the criminal conduct surrounding this theft of county files.  Did Pam Childers, who has and does possess at least one copy of my unredacted stolen data file—did she give Mike Kohler a copy?  Did she give it to the candidate she encouraged to run, Steve Stroberger?  Did Doug Underhill give it to Mike Kohler?  Too many questions.  But we will get to the bottom of it all as we commence depositions here in the next few months as the county's replevin case moves forward.  The Old Bull is walking down the hill, not running.  And all of these individuals must know by now that mere possession of these files, unredacted and without authorization, is a Felony under state law, right?  Yeah, that’s right.

Meanwhile, I have conducted polling for this race. 

And the numbers are about what I expected them to be.  This scientific polling indicates there is one heck of a battle for the bronze medal between Stroberger and Owens, and I’m comfortably ahead of both of these individuals by double digits.  But those two, each more than 20 points behind me, are within 6-8 points of each other for the Silver Medal…..

Interestingly, though, another creepy, sleazy thing happened during the time this poll was recently in the field.  Apparently, according to another friend I have that contacted me, Johathan Owens and Alex Arduini attempted to get people on the internet to “stuff the ballot box” and send bogus responses in on my poll for my opponents and against me.  My friends forwarded this to me, below.

 

How desperate do these desperados have to get?  Stealing my files, slandering me, and trying to disrupt elections communications and polling??  Sitting elected officials attempting to unseat incumbents on the boards upon which they sit?  The clerk of the court actively encouraging sitting county employees to run against us??  It’s weird, surreal, and dysfunctional.  Why can’t these folks just compete, straight up, on the issues?  Why the sleaziness and sliminess and anger and vitriol and weirdness? These guys are almost as bad as our local newspaper, the PNJ, who argue they have absolute, complete immunity to have my son’s stolen tax forms and my daughter’s stolen bank account information—even though neither of these items is a public record nor a matter of public interest and the possession of this data unauthorized is criminal under Florida Law. 

Read 817.5685

Well, the last data point I’ll share from my poll:  When respondents were asked if they believed the area’s only daily newspaper, the PNJ, was fair, balanced, and accurate---the response was 62% NO and 38% Yes among all parties and demographics.  It was worse among only Republicans.

People don’t like and don’t trust the PNJ. 

It’s not just me.

See you all on August 20^th  😊

Show Cause Hearing Held: Jonathan Owens takes the 5th--Refusing to Testify

Does the "press" have the right to possess personal identification information, in contravention to state statutes, when such information neither serves the public interest nor is a public record?

Escambia County's case against Gannett, Jonathan Owens, and Alex Arduini moved forward yesterday with a show cause hearing on Zoom that lasted about two hours.

The county presented its case and called a number of witnesses.  I was first, and I testified truthfully.  Jonathan Owens was called to testify and through his lawyer, he took the 5th amendment and did not testify.  Alex Arduini, initially advised by his own lawyer to also take the 5th amendment actually did answer questions and testified that he has never seen the text file nor has he ever possessed it.  That was his testimony under oath.  Not one (1) person from the PNJ bothered to show up to testify.  Their lawyer informed the court they would not testify and that they would be shielded from testifying about the identity of their anonymous source that gave them their files via a Florida law that protects the media.

The judge was very methodical and allowed all attorneys present to speak and present their cases.

I was allowed to testify to the fact that several of my family members have endured fraud on their accounts in the last 8 months, and I was given space to describe the circumstances under which I needed to have my phone's contents backed up to preserve county records.

At the end of the day where this case goes next is entirely up to Judge Schlechter.  I believe the county presented rational arguments for the return of the stolen files from those who possess it currently.  I believe the county presented rational arguments for the case to continue to discovery so that the county can depose individuals to learn more about who has the files, how such files were obtained, and to whom files have been shared.  This case is much larger than just me.  There are a lot of innocent, unaffiliated individuals who now have their private medical information out in the public--including current and former county employees---due to no fault of their own.  These files were in the care and custody of the county's IT department and we believe it is wholly appropriate for the county to work through the courts to retrieve these stolen county files.

And to the defense the attorney for Gannett put forward, at some point some court, somewhere, will need to rule on this to answer this very important question:  Where is the line for what the media can and cannot do because of the protections they enjoy under the 1st Amendment.  Where is the line?  And when I ask that, rhetorically speaking, I mean--does press freedom and legal precedents from last century allow the media to transcend and violate existing state law?  

The PNJ readily admit they possess the files at issue here, which files contain the personal identification information on more than a dozen local citizens.  The mere possession of data like this is a felony under state law 817.5685.  How does the media's possession of my daughter's bank account number, my son's tax form and my other son's social security number serve a public purpose or the public interest?  Answer: it doesn't.  So if the folks that possess stolen personal information are given leave by the courts to keep such data in contravention to state law---doesn't that serve to encourage more folks to engage in the nefarious conduct of stealing and possessing others' personal identification information?  

Really--where is the line for the "press's" immunity?  Could they have child porn on their computers if they were using such disgusting information for a story?  Could they protect a source if that source admitted committing murder?   Where is the line the press can't cross---and does state law trump the press's right to hold data unlawfully?

Maybe, just maybe, this little case might start to provide an answer to this question.  We will see.

New Judge in County's Replevin/Conversion Lawsuit is Moving Quickly

After the last minute recusal by the Escambia County Judge assigned in Escambia County's Replevin/Conversion Lawsuit against Jonathan Owens, Alex Arduini, and Gannett--the case was transferred to Okaloosa County.  Nobody knew how long a delay this inexplicable, last-minute recusal would cause.

Late yesterday afternoon we got the answer.

The newly appointed Judge in this case has immediately scheduled a show cause hearing.  And this new judge in the county's case is moving quickly.

The hearing is one week from tomorrow at 11:30.

See Judge Schlechter's order, below.

Important Factual Details Must Not Be Overlooked, Part I

As we saw in the last meeting of the Board of County Commissioners where one commissioner, his secretary (who wants to run against me for my seat with the blessing and support of his boss), and one citizen (an ally of the current D2 commissioner and his secretary--as well as the former D2 commissioner and his secretary) teamed up to create a ruckus, a political stunt aimed at damaging me and creating a splash in the press---some important details never made it into the subsequent reporting on this issue.  Not surprising.

But important details must never be overlooked. To do so by one's political opponents is to be expected; to do so by the press is disingenous at best, deliberate and intentional with actual malice and in a false light at worst.  

So here is what is important for folks to know, in granular, factual detail.

1.  County records were stolen, this was investigated by the county, and is being investigated by Law Enforcement Authorities currently as I write this.

2.  Some of the records stolen are indeed bonafide, releasable public records.  However, many (if not most) of the files stolen and inappropriately disseminated are not public records and would never be released or released unredacted under any public records request made of the county, ever.

3.  The records within the stolen file that are bonafide public records were not requested of me by the lawyers representing Dr. Rayme Edler--otherwise they would have been provided.  We learned subsequently these texts were not requested because these lawyers opposing the county had already been provided this file by Jonathan Owens, unredacted, and outside of the discovery process in that case.

4.  On June 5th  the county attorney proactively reported this theft of files directly to the state attorney once it was determined that records had been stolen, disseminated by former employee Jonathan Owens unredacted, and subsequently possessed unlawfully by multiple individuals and entities.  

5.  An investigation into potentially criminal misconduct associated with this episode was launched and both the county and I have cooperated every step of the way.

6.  Florida Statutes, specifically 817.5685, provide that mere possession of another's personal identification information, unauthorized, is a misdemeanor.  If the unlawful possession by a person includes personal identification information on five or more individuals, it is a Felony.  The information within the stolen files contains such information on more than 5 persons.  A total of 23 citizens' information is contained in the stolen files.  Cancer diagneses and prognosis, medical information, personal identification information, and reams of files that would be unlawful to release.

7.  There does not appear to be an exception to this possession of personal identification information law allowing for the media to possess such information. (e.g. what specifically within 817.5685  would allow for the PNJ to possess the Driver's Licenses and Passports of my wife and children who are not even public figures?  What exception in that law allows the PNJ to keep my daughter's bank account number?)

8.  On June 14th County Attorney Alison Rogers, County Administrator Wes Moreno, and I met in my office with law enforcement investigators assigned to look into the unlawful theft of the property from the county and any other associated crimes.  The County and I personally signed a release on the spot allowing unfettered access to these files to investigate ANY crimes associated with these files by law enforcement.   (I have asked for a releasable copy of this signed waiver and would have published it here, but I have been told by law enforcement this is not releasable yet, until the investigation has been formally completed)

9.  I also provided my copy of my complete, unadulterated iPhone Download contained on a stick drive I had in my safe to law enforcement investigators as well----months ago.  And I consented--- by voluntarily providing this file--- for them to search it for any evidence of ANY crime.  I have nothing to hide, there is no "there" there as I stated at the last meeting.  

10.  An analysis of my downloaded phone file that I provided to law enforcement, originally produced in  February 2022, is an exact match of the file that law enforcement retrieved from the county's computer systemf a year and a half later in June of 2023--the hash files are identical.  This has been verified to me by the principal investigator in this case.

11.  I have also been told by law enforcement investigators that my file that I provided to law enforcement is NOT  an exact match of the file that Jonathan Owens provided to lawyers for Dr. Rayme Edler.  The hash files DO NOT Match, the original file has been manipulated.  This has been verified to me by the principal investigator in this case.

12.  The County's replevin/conversion  civil lawsuit for return of stolen county property from other entities (Jonathan Owens, Alex Arduini, Gannett, and others potentially via follow on amended complaints as necessitated by facts obtained in the soon to commence depositions in this case), authorized by the BCC via a 4-1 vote, will enable a comparison by law enforcement of the unadulterated county file to these stolen files