Record should reconsider endorsements

Record should reconsider endorsements
DR. DWIGHT HINES
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/05/06
I was surprised to read the Record endorsed Mayor George Gardner for commissioner and Joseph Leroy Boles, Jr. for mayor because the Record has:
A) Done a fine job of publishing detailed information about financial contributors to county commissioners;
B) Written extensively about Florida's Public Records Act and tested local governments annually.
The Record's record and its political endorsements conflict. The endorsements should be reconsidered because:
1) Boles and Gardner voted with all other commissioners to hire outside counsel to fight my lawsuit seeking records of city vehicles used in illegal dumping. The city attorney earlier refused my offer of mediation through the office of the state Attorney General, which has a full-time staffer to mediate open-records requests.
Without allowing public comment -- and after I had left the room -- the commissioners adopted Boles' motion to try to force me to pay legal fees. The April 24, 2006 meeting videotape shows that attorney Boles wanted individuals who filed suit to obtain documents to "pay the piper," thus deterring citizens from filing such cases. St. Augustine City Commissioners' vote to seek legal fees -- without being provided a copy of my valid complaint -- possibly violated Florida's Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) Act.
To his credit, outside counsel (Mr. Sidney Ansbacher), at our first court hearing on Aug. 8, 2006, produced 45 pounds of documents that city officials had sworn, in affidavits filed in court, did not exist.
2) Commissioners have refused to answer questions from citizens about who was responsible for the illegal dumping, how much it is costing the city so far, and how much it will cost before cleanup is complete.It is not possible to know if compliance with the open records requests would have prevented the dumping of arsenic, and other toxic materials, where people swam and fished, but most people believe transparency deters illegal acts.
3) The city asserts it cannot not provide requested computer records because they are exempt for proprietary reasons. Its claim is facetious. It previously claimed its computer software did not 'memorialize' data. The city spends thousands of dollars leasing software that fails to comply with the requirements of the Florida Rules for Electronic Records, according to their sworn statements.
4) We need legislation to set penalties for municipalities that falsely certify annually to the Florida Department of state that they comply with records management rules. The city's court filings prove it does not comply with these rules.
5) Mayor Gardner and Commissioner Boles support resistance to open records requests, and they have not fulfilled their duty to correct repeated constitutional and statutory violations of the Florida Public Records Act by the City of St. Augustine.
I support Peter Romano for mayor and commissioner. He has an accounting background in investigating financial fraud, with experience in both corporate and governmental arenas. He stands for open government, empowering neighborhoods, electing commissioners by district and developing historic tourism in a way that will enhance our quality of life.

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