PNJ Columnist Mark O’Brien missed 75% of the story of the legal battle between Touart-Whitehead and Clerk of Courts Ernie Lee Magaha – Escambia officials in court.
Whitehead – gets butt beat in 2002 election by Magaha and has to wait 2 years to get back in office as county commissioner.
Magaha blocks the county paying Touart’s legal bills for his ethics defense (Touart had refused to earlier discuss with commissioner because he said it was a personal matter).
Touart-Whitehead – object to Magaha paying his employees a bonus for work after Hurricane Dennis. They cut his budget to reflect the bonuses.
Touart – refuses to move three of Magaha’s departments into the new offices. Has to be ordered by judge to do so.
Magaha is a duly elected constitutional officer who has the full confidence of the public.
Touart is an appointed administrator who has never stood for election. Whitehead was barely elected – he couldn’t win a majority in his district. In some high schools, the homecoming queens get more votes than Whitehead did in 2004.
Magaha has the right to decide what computer system he will use. If Magaha objected to the Oracle system, then Touart needed to find another solution – not bully his way into making Magaha do it.