State Attorney Jeff Ashton concluded Wednesday, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and four other commissioners broke the law when they deleted text messages containing Orange County business.
Ashton’s conclusions come after an investigation was launched into the ‘textgate’ scandal, which caught Jacobs, Commissioners Scott Boyd, Fred Brummer, Jennifer Thompson and former Commissioner John Martinez texting back and forth with powerful lobbyists on a sick-time initiative, prior to or on September 11, the date on which the County Commission meeting was held. The Board of County Commissioners would go on to vote to delay putting the measure on the ballot, based on advice received from special interests via text messages.
Commissioners who deleted their text messages and couldn’t retrieve them said they were “transient electronic text messages,” while another who couldn’t produce his texts said, he was “under the belief they were not public records.” Jacobs, who also deleted her messages, told investigators, she was “under the mistaken belief they would be obtainable from the provider.”
“My conclusion is that these text messages were public records and could only lawfully be disposed of pursuant to statute,” Ashton wrote. “The statutory procedures in this case were not followed and, therefore, all of the officials who deleted text messages related to this issue violated Florida law.”
Despite violating the law, Ashton concluded that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that the deletion of the text messages was willful or “these officials [who] deleted the text messages knew they were public records.”
Because Jacobs and commissioners violated the lowest-possible threshold for sanctions, Ashton wrote, he has requested that they pay a $500 civil fine. If the fine is not paid the issue would be resolved through the courts, he wrote.
“I am hopeful that will not prove necessary,” Ashton concluded.
Who won’t pay $500 to make this go away?
See State Attorney Jeff Ashton’s Report and Conclusions here.
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