Hofberger/Luna Text Saga Continues

Back Story: Text messages obtained by Inweekly reveal Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger and her aide, Melanie Luna, mocked the West Florida Public Library Board of Governance’s top choice for library director while coordinating with County Administrator Wes Moreno to install their preferred candidate.

• In one exchange, Luna relayed that Vinson “took OFF her shoes during the interview” and “bombed it completely.” Hofberger replied, “Shoeless librarian….I can see the memes.”

The Board of County Commissioners voted 4–1 in March to uphold Bell-Rivera’s appointment. Human Resources Director Nikki Powell also reportedly disparaged Vinson, telling Luna that she had “ZERO managerial experience.”

Follow-up

Inweekly also discovered that the text messages did not include a lengthy exchange with Councilmember Jennifer Brahier, which violates Florida’s public records law unless the county can provide a written explanation of the exemption.

• I requested the records or the written explanation by 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 28.

This is how it unfolded.

The Email Chain

On Apr 28, 2026, at 12:01 p.m., Elizabeth Kissel, the county’s Governmental Liaison,  wrote:

Rick,

You were correct! When Commissioners Hofberger texts got sent to us they would not load so they ended up inadvertently being missed. Attached are her text messages as requested.

I apologize for the oversite!

Thank you,
Liz

Elizabeth Kissel
Governmental Liaison
Escambia County

To Support Her Statement, Kissel Shared:

Timeline Mysteries

Mystery 1: Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger’s aide, Melanie Luna, sent the text messages to Pardue on March 16 —eight days before I made my record request. 

Mystery 2: The records I received on April 27 (42 days after Luna sent them to Pardue) were the files that Pardue opened on March 16. Why wasn’t I given at least those records on March 24 when I made my request?

Mystery 3: Pardue states Luna “was going to work on it on her end.” If I hadn’t known records were missing and wrote about them, would Luna and Hofberger have ever followed up?

Mystery 4:  Are Hofberger and Luna hiding other records? The county below says the District 4 Office is committed to transparency in government.

Brahier Text Exchange

The records that I finally received on Tuesday afternoon agree with what I reported. The files were jumbled in the PDF but I got them in the correct order  (click on to enlarge):

Further Clarification from Escambia County

From: Kaycee M. Lagarde
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL]Re: PRR 2026-793 and PRR 2026-74
Date: April 28, 2026 at 4:04:55 PM CDT
To: Elizabeth Kissel, Rick Outzen
Cc: Alison A. Rogers

Rick,

I wanted to provide some additional clarification about your public records request.

All responsive records were provided to staff by the District 4 Commissioner’s Office as requested, including the text messages between Commissioner Hofberger and Councilwoman Brahier.

At some point in the process, staff inadvertently omitted some of the text messages in error. As soon as this error was brought to our attention, the records were promptly provided to you.

The District 4 Office is committed to transparency in government, as is all of Escambia County. Again, I’d like to emphasize that all responsive records were readily provided to staff by the District 4 Commissioner’s Office, in compliance with Florida’s Public Records Act, Chapter 119.

Please let me know if I can further assist.

Thank you,
Kaycee Lagarde
Director of Communications and Public Information
Escambia County Board of County Commissioners

The lesson to learn: When I ask for a public record, don’t assume I don’t already have it.