Attorney To BCC: "We are more than 10% in population deviation between our least populated district and most populated district."

 Nevermind the sour grapes, gobldygook gibberish, and the misinformation and lies from last week's "Clown" hall meetings by D2 (and I say "clown" to describe the D2 office staff--Doug, his secretary, and his intern---- that put these sparsely attended events on--not the concerned citizens that attended or EMR staff that professionally supported these "events")----Nevermind any of that noise.  This, below, is the important factual information citizens and constituents need to know regarding the "why" we are redistricting now instead of waiting and also why McMillan and the Voting Rights Act  REQUIRE that we maintain a minority-majority district.  

Forget about the lies

Get the FACTs in this email that just arrived in our inboxes this morning:

Inside the Sausage Grinder--Part I

 

Documents that will be imminently released pertaining to a recent legal settlement with a former employee illustrate how contentious some personnel issues can become when board policy is not followed with fidelity

 

A large batch of documents became public late this afternoon.

They are related to a recent settlement that the county made with a former employee, a former paramedic in our EMS department.

I took an interest in this individual's circumstance when he reached out to me in frustration after his due process was violated an he was not treated fairly by staff.  He was left in limbo for months and months on end---before he ever even contacted me.

It was horrific, how badly this employee was treated.  I was disgusted when I peeled the onion and figured out just how badly this individual was treated.  So I took up his cause---and tried desperately to help him get resolution and salvage his career here in Escambia County.

But nobody in administration did the right thing.  One administrator that was leaving didn't have time to close the loop.  The incoming administrator did not fix the issue, saying she was unaware of it.  Once I spoke to her and brought it to her attention--she failed to fix it.  Instead, she doubled down on the bad and incorrect advice of her newly hired HR director and her "mentor" a former state representative who she brought in to "consult."  The new county leadership group failed to fix the issue, and allowed this employee to twist in the wind.  To the point he made a tough decision in absolute anger and frustration.

 He left the county and rebuilt his career in another location.  

But he never wanted it to come to this, and he certainly didn't want to be treated the way he was treated.  The county dropped the ball, staff turnovers exacerbated this situation, and NOBODY wanted to step up and fix the issue.  It was infuriating.

This employee suffered economic losses, and an attorney took the case on contingency.  It was an open and shut case--no wonder the attorney took the case.  Opinions have varied, and some don't see the issues as they unfolded.  But we have now gone through a couple of years and lots of facts and shade meetings since that happened.

Fast forward a couple of years, and we have now settled.  $200K and we're LUCKY it was not more--that's how bad our position was--thanks to staff inattention and feckless handling of the issue.  

I heard, just  today,  that the case is now officially closed.

So several documents will be coming out.  There will be the transcripts of three BCC "shade" litigation

How Did Escambia County Get to Single Member Elected Districts for County Commissioners?

This subject came up the other night at the County Commission Meeting.  Several speakers asked the following question:

How come individual commissioners are only voted in by citizens that live within their individual commissioners' districts?  How come the entire county can't vote for every district commissioner, like it is done in Santa Rosa County (and all the other counties in America)?

As was discussed in the meeting, this is because of a 1970's era lawsuit that was successful and that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

This screenshot of an article from the 1984 Pensacola Journal lays out the chronology of how this practice came to be locally...Interesting......