Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger is running a paid ad siding with County Clerk Pam Childers over whether the clerk has the authority to withhold payment of discretionary funds approved by the Board of County Commissioners. Read the post.
- Hofberger wrote: “I agree 100%. As I told the Board: ‘I do agree with that because everybody has a favorite charity, and then where do you draw the line? The next thing you know, somebody’s brother, sister, husband, wife is president of that charity, and that’s funding part of their salary. It’s a slippery slope.’”
She added, “Our job is to be responsible stewards of YOUR tax dollars — investing in roads, public safety, infrastructure, and services that benefit all of Escambia County, not picking favorites with charitable giving. Fiscal responsibility isn’t complicated. It’s the right thing to do.”
FACT CHECK
I watched the March 26 BCC meeting. Hofberger didn’t make the statement she posted on Facebook:
- “I feel like there’s a lot of things that when we have more information and we have more examples, when we know better, we do better. 10 years ago, we all gave our kids red dye 40, and we ate the Cheetos, and we drank all the Kool-Aid with all the dyes in it. All that’s coming out,” she said.
Hofberger sought out Larry Downs, an anti-vax proponent. “Where’s Larry Downs? Where’s Larry Downs? At some point, we all vaccinated our kids, and now we’re getting away from that. The more information we have and the more data that we have, it is no longer mandated. It is no longer mandated.”
- She continued, “So you have the right to do whatever you want to do, and I agree with that. But as we have better information, we take better action.”
Analogy Pushback
Commissioner Barry also pushed back on the analogy.
- “I don’t think the example of things that were done with dyes or eating Cheetos is the same as what we’re discussing,” Barry said. “Those probably have to do with scientific discoveries or things that have changed over the years. I don’t know that the law has changed over the years up here.”
Barry argued that discretionary payments to school programs have long been among the most common—and most defensible—uses of those funds.
- “If you talk to people in leadership at schools and in the administration, they don’t have the ability to fund all these things,” he said. “Schools are funded with public money, and it was never an issue. It was never an issue until it was.”
Watch Hofberger’s Comments
CLARIFICATION
County Attorney Alison Rogers has pointed out that the issue is that the Board of County Commissioners is the legislative body that determines public purpose, not the Clerk of Court. Hofberger should have voted against the $1,000 check to the Washington High girls’ basketball team when the Board approved it in November. She voted for the payment.
Karen – I think you misunderstand what is happening and what has been reported. By refusing to make these payments, the clerk is trying to interfere in the legislative authority of the county commissioners. The commissioners have the constitutional and statutory authority to make legislative findings and appropriate funding that serves a public purpose, not the clerk of the court. The clerk has a ministerial duty to issue the payments for funds appropriated by the county commission that serve the legislative finding of a public purpose and comply with Florida’s Public Purpose Doctrine.
If the Clerk wants to have the authority to legislate what is or is not a public purpose, she should run for county commission.
The ECBOCC that are whining about accountability in their use of discretionary funds seem very prideful in their ability to gain favor with their special groups. I would think it suits them better to be a CC that acts with fiduciary responsibility to the tax paying public.