Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger Responds to Library Hire

Rick Outzen

17 hours ago

Hofberger Goes on Offense: Defends Aide’s Presence, Blasts Candidate She Blocked, and Fires Back at the Blog

Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger appeared Thursday morning on Jeff Bergosh’s WPNN program to respond to my reporting on the controversial hire of Christal Bell-Rivera as Escambia County Library Services Director. It was Hofberger’s first public response to the allegations. She opened: “You are the only person who has reached out to me. So I appreciate the opportunity to be heard and set the record straight.”

Response: Since winning the GOP primary in August 2024, Hofberger has refused to talk with any Inweekly reporters.

I regularly talk with politicians, business leaders, educators and community leaders from all sides of the political spectrum. If they disagree with my reporting, they call me.
When I reported a rumor about Congressman Jimmy Patronis considering running for District 2, Jimmy called me.
Commissioner Hofberger has my phone number.

Candidate Interviews

Why did Hofberger’s aide Melanie Luna sit in on the library director interviews?

No Knowledge

“I did not know Melanie was attending the interviews. I knew after the fact that she had attended those, she did not interact with staff. I did ask that. I said, ‘What was the conversations?’ I didn’t have any conversations. And I said, ‘Okay.’ I said, ‘Why did you go?’ She goes, ‘I just wanted to know what was going on.’ I said, ‘Okay, that makes sense.’”

She argued that most county meetings are open to the public and that broader citizen attendance would improve government accountability: “I wish the general public would attend more of these meetings and more of these interviews because then you would actually have the entire story.”

Response: The board Blackout policy passed in October 2011 states: “No Commissioner or Aide can contact Human Resources or the Selection Committee about the recruitment, hiring process or salary until an offer has been accepted.”

No other commissioner’s aide attended the interviews, and I don’t think anyone ever has until Luna.
In texting Councilmember Jennifer Brahier, Hofberger uses the fact that Luna attended meetings to defend her support of Bell-Rivera.

On Reviewing Resumes and Contacting HR Before the Vote

Hofberger acknowledged that she and her office reviewed candidate resumes and contacted HR before the board’s vote—but defended it as due diligence.

“I know that one of the things that Rick pointed out was the resumes, and we talked to HR and absolutely we did. Those resumes were public record. We talked to HR on the day of the vote. I think it would be irresponsible of a county commissioner to vote on something without asking for the background, just like I don’t vote on infrastructure projects or anything else without studying up on it.”

She described the kinds of questions she was asking: “Let’s figure out what’s going on. Let’s ask the questions. Why did we go with Crystal? Why did we not go with Bradley?”

Response: Hofberger’s questions should have been asked directly to County Administrator Wes Moreno, who selected Bell-Rivera. That is the chain-of-command set-up by the Blackout policy. Read Oct 20 2011 Agenda Add-on

The text exchange between Luna and Hofberger does not show the date, so we don’t know when HR Director Nikki Powell visited Luna. Luna did send out Hofberger’s official statement in emails as early as March 4.

Attacking Bradley Vinson

Hofberger said hiring decisions involve intangible factors: “their decision-making skills, their discernment. Are they pushing an agenda or an ideology?”

Response: But the commissioner previously said she only went by the resumes. How can they be determined by reading the resumes?

Appalled at the Library Board’s choice, Bradley Vinson: Hofberger said, “I will say, after this vote, I’m doubling down on my stance. Not only am I thankful she didn’t get the job with the county, but I’m a bit appalled that she’s still employed with the school system.”

She continued, “There’s ongoing litigation there. There’s her definition of what’s acceptable in our school system raises a lot of red flags. And as someone who is responsible for county dollars, I don’t want to hire someone else’s problems.”

Response: Hofberger is referring to the School Board’s ongoing lawsuit over books removed from public schools and is somehow blaming Vinson for it.

Response: But Hofberger has repeatedly said Vinson had no managerial experience and chided her for being only a coordinator. How could a lowly coordinator be held responsible for a lawsuit against the school board?

The commissioner added, “The fact is Bradley Vinson interviewed in an unprofessional manner, and her resume didn’t reflect the skillsets we were looking for.”

Response: She is referring to Moreno’s text alleging Vinson took off her shoes during the interview.

A statement that others have disputed.
Some ask why that was the decider in selecting Bell-Rivera.
Others want to know what type of shoes Vinson wore because they want to buy a pair.
Jennifer Brahier disputes the allegations of unprofessionalism in her texts.

Text Messages and the Public Records Disclosure

Hofberger had no regrets about her text exchanges.

“Oh, no. And get a pen, write this down. I am in no way embarrassed or ashamed of the text message I legally and willingly provided in response to a public records request. There’s this whole idea that they were leaked. They were not.”

Response: I never reported that any texts were leaked. BTW, they weren’t. It’s surprising she is proud of texts mocking a job candidate.

She also pushed back on any suggestion that her office tried to limit what was released to me. Hofberger explained that a comprehensive public records request had already been fulfilled for Joe Vinson before I filed my request and said the gap in what I initially received was a county staff error, not deliberate withholding.

“There was a public records request that came through on March 3^rd (Note: That would be two days before the BCC vote). I went through and anything that had anything to do with the library system or this hiring process or this interview process or conversations, I screenshotted. Not only did Melanie email those, she also uploaded those into the portal..”

Hofberger continued, “There was over 300 documents in this. We had hundreds of emails. We had all the text messages that you’re looking at, and we willingly gave those.”

She said she directed staff to be even more expansive with my request (over 300 documents) than was technically required: “I said, ‘I don’t care. Give him everything. I don’t want to be wrapped up in this, well, she didn’t send this.’”

Response: I did not receive over 300 documents. I received 15 pages of text messages.

Blackout Policy

Hofberger said that director-level hires are exempt from the Blackout Policy.

She drew a distinction between director-level hires, which require board approval, and regular staff hires, where commissioners have no role: “I believe that what the case that you’re referring to wasn’t something that the board voted on, that was just a regular hire.”

She also argued that her vote against Bell-Rivera was, ultimately, inconsequential: “This passed with a super majority (4-1), but even if I would’ve voted against this, it still would’ve passed… I’m the only one coming under fire. No one has asked any of the other commissioners about this.”

Response: The District 4 office was my focus because I had heard rumors that the commissioner and aide were pushing for Bell-Rivera to get the job. Our request for texts was for a very narrow time period—March 1, 2026, to March 7, 2026. You can decide if those texts proved the rumors.

She emphasized the legal limits of commissioner authority in hiring: “The BCC cannot legally replace a candidate for a director position with another candidate. We can only vote yes or no.”

Response: I agree with that statement. Her due diligence should have focused on why Moreno made the decision. Her conversations should have been with him, not HR.

On Commissioner Mike Kohler

The commissioner didn’t hide her disdain for District 2 Commissioner Mike Kohler.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that I don’t enjoy working with Mike Kohler. He’s brought a lot of drama.”

According to Hofberger, during the period after her primary win but before the general election, Kohler allegedly told her to remove certain staffers, including a specific aide she named. “When I went to act on some of the information that he had given me, he acted like, ‘Oh, we’re not doing that. I don’t even know where that came from.’ And so, I don’t enjoy working alongside him. That’s not a secret.”

Closing Shot

Asked if there was anything else she wanted to tell listeners, Hofberger closed with a direct broadside at me—which is fair and expected.

“I heard on the show yesterday that Rick called me a liar. I would like to know what he thinks I’m lying about,” she said. “He continuously attempts to intimidate me. And when I prove him wrong with the facts, he resorts to calling me a liar.”

Response: Read the text exchange with Councilmember Jennifer Brahier and compare it to the texts between Hofberger and Luna. Do you think Hofberger answered Brahier truthfully?

Hofberger has never sent me any documents to counter my reporting. I add so many documents and links to my reporting so readers can understand the basis for it.

Background: Hofberger was extremely upset about my reporting on the “black-faced” mailer sent out during the August 2024 GOP primary, attacking her opponent, Walker Wilson and Commissioner Lumon May.

The mailer was created by the Committee to Protect Florida, a PAC affiliated with Rep. Michelle Salzman. Hofberger denied any knowledge of the mailer.

Salzman texted me: “I had no knowledge of the mailer and was not consulted about any negative mail. I adore Lumon and am very saddened that he has been affected by a race he has nothing to do with. Lumon has been a great partner and friend to me; politics could never change that. He and I have spoken several times since the incident occurred, each time I have told him I have no idea who was behind it, paid for it, or designed/approved it.”

Salzman had told supporters that ECUA board member Lois Benson told Ashlee Hofberger to go negative, not that Benson advised the specific race-baiting mailer sent.

The state lawmaker also showed her supporters an email where Hofberger approved the mailer.

I am grateful that Bergosh had Hofberger on his morning show. It’s important that we hear her views on the controversy. We will make more public record requests to verify her claims.

Commissioner Hofberger has my phone number and can call me.