Escambia County Commissioner Steve Stroberger is on a mission to end Florida’s Sunshine Law’s public meeting requirement, but he found little support among Florida legislators.
Speaking near the end of his marathon town hall, which lasted over 2.5 hours, the commissioner detailed his recent trip to the state legislature, seeking support for private conversations with fellow commissioners about issues that may come before the board. He seems to have forgotten his 2024 campaign promise of complete transparency and full public access in county decision-making.
“A Political Loser”
Stroberger said he met with state legislators to find someone to champion his reform effort, but found most unwilling to touch the issue.
- “I’ve talked to some legislators and a state senator, and they think it’s a losing thing. They said it’s a political loser, is what they’ve told me,” Stroberger said. “One guy said, ‘Steve, I’d like to see you ascend a higher office. I said, I’m 63. If I do another term, I’ll be 70. I don’t know if I can do this again. It’s too late for me to ascend anymore. I’m flat now. So I’m not looking to ascend. I’m looking to improve government.”
Despite the lukewarm reception, Stroberger said he found one sophomore legislator willing to work with him on reform: “There’s one guy that will. So I’m hoping that he’ll champion this with me, and together we can reform this law.”
The Current Restrictions
Under Florida’s Sunshine Law, elected officials serving on the same board cannot discuss matters that may come before that board outside of publicly noticed meetings. Most community advocates, political watchdogs and reporters see it as a key tool for government transparency and holding elected officials accountable.
Stroberger stressed he doesn’t want to eliminate the law’s protections. “There’s lots of good aspects of the Sunshine Law. Some of those things are that we have to publicly advertise the meetings. We have to have a public forum for folks to speak, and there’s the public records request. We have to do those. There’s a lot of good things about that.”
But he argued the restriction on commissioner-to-commissioner communication is “unnatural.”
“What’s not good is I can’t talk to another commissioner, and I can’t reason with him the way you normally would. It’s just unnatural to make decisions this way that I can’t talk to you and say, ‘Hey, why do you feel this way about customary use or whatever the subject might be for the day? Why do you feel this way? I want to know. I want to know. Convince me, otherwise, convince me, and I’ll try to convince you.’ Why can’t we have regular discussions like that?”
- With 377 commissioners across Florida, Stroberger said he finds it hard to believe others aren’t discussing their positions somehow: “I can’t believe that there are no commissioners talking about their votes. I can’t believe that.”
Pushback
Beulah resident Theresa Blackwell pushed back on Stroberger’s reform ideas, expressing concern about transparency in decision-making.
- “I’ll just say as a constituent, as a resident, I want to know how decisions are made. I don’t want alliances or deals between people where, I don’t know what the thought was that went into that decision where you just get on the, we suspect this was done before, but you all just go, okay, we’ve winked each other, and you’ve already made your mind up on that one.”
Blackwell continued, “There’s a reason we have this in the Sunshine. The people should see where you’re.”
- Stroberger responded by somehow tying his desire for behind-the-scenes discussions on county issues with his Navy career: “I had top secret clearance, and nobody asked me if I was telling secrets to the Egyptians when I lived in Egypt… I’ve been trusted with secrets my whole life, and I’m open. I will tell you, man, I’m way too open.”
The commissioner argued the current law hampers effective governance: “I feel it hampers the business of government and that slows us down, and I don’t want to be slowed down by anybody. So that’s why I want to reform this law so that I’m able to speak openly without prosecution.”
- Background: When Stroberger campaigned for the District 1 county commission seat in August 2024, he pledged on his website: “Transparent & Open Government—Accountability requires complete transparency regarding decisions. Citizens should have full access at every step.”
Here are Commissioner Stroberger’s Comments
-The video begins at about the 2:20 mark.
Government officials are not the only ones abiding by Sunshine Laws. Many HOA (homeowner associations) do so by choice as it is viewed as a “safety net” to prevent back door discussions / decisions being made without the knowledge of the home owners.
Escambia County’s Board of County Commissioners has scheduled just two regular meetings and one workshop meeting in February 2026. If the BCC has “more” to discuss, it can hold “more” workshops and regular or special meetings. The BCC should accelerate the pace of county government by scheduling at least one workshop and one regular meeting each week. That’s not too much to ask for commissioners being paid an annual salary of about $105,000 plus benefits plus a full-time county employee helper.
I oppose it. Simply put.
If he doesn’t like the parameters of the job, then he needs to find another job.
Cleary this Commissioner’s tyrannical ways are going to sink his ship before the keel is even laid. He is considering only himself and others might or have used private conversations against the public’s best wishes from their representatives, like shutting down and derailing the 4 laning of Blue Angel Pkwy or trying sell beach access 4 in the shadows. The sunshine laws are there not just for him but those like him after he’s gone.
The primary take away from this article I got is that Comm. Stroeberger wants to take us back to the W. D. Childers style of governance. I say No Thanks. I agree with Ms. Blackwell on this one.
Also, maybe the State Attorney needs to look into that phone call to Comm. Hofberger that Ms. Pino mentioned in her reply. Obviously he fails to understand that the time for his discussions on matters is the C.O.W meetings and the scheduled Commissioners meetings, where his words are open to all citizens scrutiny. That is what he is wanting to hide, WD style.
You forgot the best parts Rick! You know, where he riffed on the City of Milton fiasco, said the public records law wasn’t really prosecuted anyway, and admitted that he didn’t want to get to the point where he was throwing away his phone.
Context: if memory serves, he was sworn in by the state’s attorney.
I guess in a roundabout way, he’s saying that she doesn’t care about the Sunshine and public record laws? I wonder how she feels about that, and having so publicly supported his ascent to achieving a state of flat.
He already admitted, on the dais, to being out of the Sunshine on an affordable housing phone call with Chairwoman Hofberger (who then thought to clarify she didn’t speak but just listened). I wonder what else he has been up to?
Pretty bold, considering he wasted a bunch of taxpayer dollars launching a frivolous complaint against a previous sitting commissioner for being out of the sunshine in his text messages, when anyone who read them could see he clearly wasn’t–including the grand jury the State’s Attorney convened, one would assume to provide maximum clarity on the issue. His fellow commissioners would be very wise to avoid any calls coming in from that bat phone, for sure.