On WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” this morning, Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh said the hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. today on the lawsuit regarding his stolen text messages has been delayed.
“We had it scheduled, and the judge recused,” Bergosh said. “We filed our final brief. We thought we were good to go. I was ready to go testify under oath”
He continued, “We had turned over all the public records associated with that. You see more than half of that wasn’t a public record. We’ve spent about $25,000 worth of staff time – counting resources, going back and redacting all the sensitive information was in that file. We’ve submitted that to the court, and inexplicably the judge assigned locally recused. So it’s now been reassigned to a judge over in Okaloosa County. And so we are in a holding pattern now.”
The commissioner also discussed the revised offer for OLF 8.
CJ Lewis: You have a fundamental misunderstanding of this situation. Let me break it down for you so you will understand. Each elected official is the custodian of his/her own public records. Public records can be on personal devices, and personal correspondence can be on public devices. It’s all about what the content of the record is—not where the record is physically located. This is the 21st century now, not the 20th century CJ, so we have all kinds of ways to communicate with constituents–which is a good thing. And this includes texts on multiple devices, instant messages, direct messages on X, Facebook messages, and others. No county or city anywhere could be responsible for the public records contained within all these various password protected platforms for each individual public official subject to this law, that is why each of us as public officials is our own records custodian. Do you get this? With respect to my phone—it had a mixture of public and private messages—and when it had a major malfunction I worked with ATT&T, Apple Corporate, and County IT to salvage the data—a large portion of which was public records. I’ve been able to answer 5 different records requests since that time because I saved the records. Not a soap opera (your words). Also-you are incorrectly quoting Administrator Moreno– disingenuously and improperly— when you state he said, “he could have just deleted the records”. Go back and listen to what Wes said, it was somewhat sarcastic and terse in answer to a host on that other show (not Rick) that asked something ridiculous, outrageous, and glib. No, CJ–The serious issue is people stealing county files that contain personal identification information on multiple citizens and then possessing and distributing said files unlawfully, and unredacted, in direct violation of Florida Statutes (817.5685). That’s why there’s a State and Federal criminal investigation underway currently to find out who stole the files and who possesses these unredacted, stolen files unlawfully–And there’s separate, civil litigation underway to get these stolen files back. Now you know what is happening, CJ.
As a reminder, there is a matter of great public importance here that does not involve Bergosh or Owens. In August, County Administrator Wes Moreno said on the radio that the county had no protocol for the retention of public records maintained by county employees (and county contractors too?) on personal electronic devices. How was that even possible in 2023, or now in 2024? Asked about Bergosh’s crazy practice of using his personal iPhone for county, work and personal use – the root cause of this whole soap opera – Moreno flippantly said, “It is what it is.” Moreno went on to suggest how Bergosh could have solved the problem of county records on his private iPhone, “He could have just deleted them.” He said that, aloud, on the radio. It’s now on a podcast. So, knowing how the county’s chief executive feels about public records, no one should be surprised if other county employees are doing the same. If I were in County Attorney Alison Rogers’ shoes, I’d be furious. She has to defend the county. The “county” is her client. The state’s public records laws exist to provide transparency but they also exist to ensure accountability. If Escambia County has a public records culture of – “It is what it is.” – then what happens when a county employee destroys a public record that they don’t want found but the county needs to know about? What if the county gets sued and a destroyed public record would have helped the county’s case or at least identified a problem that needs fixing? Is Escambia County fixing this problem or should the new county motto be – “It is what it is.” This is a subject that every county commission candidate should be made to address.