Escambia County Clerk Pam Childers has become known as a vengeful politician, and her latest attack on Commissioner Lumon May fits the pattern. On Monday, Aug. 5, Inweekly made two public requests of the clerk’s office, following the instructions on her website.
Public Record Requests
1) Pursuant to Article I, section 24 of the Florida Constitution, and Chapter 119, F.S., I am requesting copies of the invoices submitted by Edward P. Fleming and his law firm, McDonald Fleming, for his work on the 401a issue, from September 1, 2021, through July 31, 2024.
If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me before filling my request. I prefer receiving the public records digitally.
Should you deny my request, or any part of the request, please state in writing the basis for the denial, including the exact statutory citation authorizing the denial as required by s. 119.07(1)(d), F.S.
Thank you.
2) Pursuant to Article I, section 24 of the Florida Constitution, and Chapter 119, F.S., I am requesting records regarding an anonymous complaint filed against Commissioner Lumon May concerning lots on Yonge Street and work done on November 4, 2023, and on November 6, 2023, and the subsequent investigation conducted by the office of the Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller.
I also request any and all communications with the office of State Attorney Ginger Madden regarding the complaint.
If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me before filling my request. I prefer receiving the public records digitally.
Should you deny my request, or any part of the request, please state in writing the basis for the denial, including the exact statutory citation authorizing the denial as required by s. 119.07(1)(d), F.S.
Thank you.
Both are straightforward requests that should have been fulfilled by now, or at the very least, we should have received a notice of the fees she will charge me or a request for clarification.
1) Ed Fleming’s invoices can be quickly located, downloaded to a file, and emailed to us in a matter of minutes.
2) All her records of the anonymous complaint against Commissioner Lumon May, the investigation, and communications to the state attorney’s office should also be readily available since you sent the commissioner a final invoice and demanded payment.
History Repeats
Childers appears to be playing the same games Sheriff Ron McNesby and County Administrator George Touart played 18 years ago. We then published our list of record requests in the newspaper and tracked how many days they had been outstanding.
- In the summer of 2006, Touart played so many games with our record request – sending them to my investors and the Pensacola News Journal – that we wrote this email to him:
To save Escambia County time and money, the Independent News will start faxing copies of our Public Records Request for information – to which state law mandates that we are entitled – to those you’ve been sharing them with. Is there anyone else we need to fax copies of our requests before the records are released?
Today, the Independent News made three records requests of Escambia County. Copies of the requests were faxed to a stockholder in the paper within hours. We thought we would speed up the process by cutting out the middleman.
Cycle of Retaliation
Whenever I write anything opposing Pam, she takes it out on someone in county government, sending out voluminous record requests, challenging routine check requests, ordering her staff to stop communicating, etc.
Attorney Eric Stevenson, who represents Commissioner May, called yesterday to say Pam has made new records of the commissioner, county attorney, county administrator, and others for their communications regarding the November 2023 yard debris incident, including communications with Stevenson.
- But wait. A grand jury has determined no crime was committed, and Pam has already sent her final invoice. Why does she continue to persecute Commissioner May? Could it be our two public record requests?
Who Does Pam Work For?
In our newspaper’s 25 years and my four decades in local politics, I have interviewed dozens of constitutional officers. Pam is the first who doesn’t say she works for the voters. She repeatedly says she works for Gov. Ron DeSantis.
- In her husband’s emergency hearing to force his way on the August primary ballot, Pam, under oath, was asked about her employer:
FLEMING: And, Ms. Childers, where are you employed?
PAM: I’m employed by the State, by the Governor, for the elected Clerk and Comptroller for Escambia County.
Inweekly will continue to work to investigate Pam’s odd behavior and what it is costing her actual employers – the people of Escambia County.
#notreadbypamchilders
Be careful Melissa, if you pay close-enough attention, you may lose your mind.
Thanks to Mrs. Childers for keeping our tax dollars safe. So let’s waste $20000 to collect $7000. It’s worth it for her to embarrass the Board of County Commissioners. Employees end up offered up as sacrificial lambs in the petty soap opera. And to think some citizens in Century, Fl look to the county for help!
As a legal matter, Pamela Lynn Childers is not “employed by the Governor” because the office of Circuit Clerk is a state constitutional office, elected by the people every four years, and Pam was not appointed to the office, she was certified as elected by the Escambia County Canvassing Board in 2020, where I received 4,605 votes as a qualified write-in while she received over 100,000 votes, at least this is what was counted, only votes for qualified write-ins are to be counted in Florida, you can find the results on the Supervisor of Elections website.
I want to be clear, the Governor does not oversee in and of itself, Circuit Clerk’s offices, the State Comptroller does have an oversight function, pursuant to state law, the State Comptroller is generally a function of the Chief Financial Office, once was a separate office of the Florida Cabinet.
I wanted to clarify this as a legal matter and point out that middle class mothers, who raise their kids to get an education, work hard, be productive, don’t turn to crime are horrified at recent events in Escambia County. The middle class mothers of Escambia County, my district not excepted, are horrified at the idea that if their college educated son had some bumps in the road, bumps in the road are what they are, it only reflects on bumps in the road rather than any personal deficiency and this the middle class mothers of Escambia County understand, they would not want people trying to steer their babies into crime, especially their sons, and that people would even think their sons would be more inclined to crime over gender, when their sons were raised right, got educated, never would consider crime, they would resent efforts to try and bring their middle class sons into crime, when they are college educated, smart as a whip, hard working, and keep doing it right to overcome what others would do wrong over.
The reason why no one has sympathy for the school shooter, is because they choose the wrong way, no one wants to hear they were bullied, even though almost all, if choosing not violence but instead a lawsuit, would win a hostile environment suit among others and again think of the workplace shooter, they choose the wrong way, they harm people, no one wants to hear what their grievances were, when you look at workplace shootings, essentially every single one would win a lawsuit for hostile environment, if they knew to sue, knew to get the evidence before hand, rather than choosing the wrong way, but choose wrong, and so no one wants to hear them.
Middle class mothers know that crime is becoming a problem, and that the excuses are non-sensical, as they raise their sons right, and that their sons won’t do it the wrong way, and they would not want those who made wrong choices in life to drag down their sons just because their sons had a little bit of hard luck and some bumps in the road, and so middle class mothers are becoming horrified in Escambia County as they realize what could happen to their sons and that a lot of people want it to happen to their sons, even when their sons stick to the right path, if they just encounter some hard luck.
Middle class mothers will defend their sons and make this clear at the polls on August 20th, that it is not alright to try and drag down their sons who were raised right and keep doing it right no matter obstacle just for some hard luck, and will do this by electing me Andy Romagnano to ECUA District 3
Well the good news is that
(a) the commissioners have an excellent County Attorney who is willing to really roll up her sleeves and protect the BCC and the taxpayers they represent from this sort of harassment;
(b) we’ve got a no-nonsense State’s Attorney who doesn’t brook constitutionals or anyone else using her office for political retribution, and who is not afraid to pursue criminal charges on local elected officials and their attaches who have actually committed clear crimes per Florida statutes, and
(c) there aren’t any area judges content to make political hits from the bench for their mentors and patrons with their overtly inept and shamelessly sloppy rulings.
I just typed that as a thought experiment to see how it would feel to imagine for one moment it were true, and our rule of law was intact and properly functioning.
It was really a very satisfying fantasy, however fleeting. I enjoyed it immensely, and encourage others to imagine the same whenever they’re needing a wee break from the absurdity and frustrations of the local political moment.