Sunday, March 31, 2019

SJR State College Faculty Votes UNION by 83-27 vote, St. Augustine Record reports it one month later








From United Faculty of Florida Facebook post, February 26, 2019:



BREAKING NEWS!
The faculty of St. Johns River State College (SJRSC) have spoken and by a vote of 83-27 establish the newest chapter of the United Faculty of Florida (UFF). The vote count followed a three-week period of secret balloting by mail and was certified today by the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission. In all, 77 percent of the faculty voted in the election.
Sandra Dotson-Kirn, SJRSC Nursing Instructor:
“This is a huge move in the right direction, improving communication between administrators and employees. I see positive things happening in the future for both!”
Clay Moore, SJRSC Faculty Senate President, Biological Sciences Professor:
“Having a chapter of United Faculty of Florida at SJR State is another important step forward for the faculty and their collaboration with the administration in the shared governance of the college.”
Dr. Bruce Fox, SJRSC Spanish Professor:
“I am very excited that we will now have a faculty union here at SJR State! This is not at all a repudiation of our administrators or an ‘us-versus-them’ movement. This unionization effort has been about developing and enhancing shared governance and establishing collective bargaining as legal equals under Florida’s Constitution.”
Dr. Karen Morian, President of UFF:
“I congratulate the St. Johns River State College faculty as it becomes our 31st chapter, as well as the 14th Florida college, to become part of United Faculty of Florida. Each of these faculty union drives were initiated by local faculty, not union staff or state union leaders. No one outside of their institutions collected any cards. They all filed with nearly double the required authorizations and majority membership. This is historic and a national example to the labor movement. We are thrilled to add their passion, expertise and professionalism to our efforts to improve higher education in the state of Florida." 
Background:
St. Johns River faculty join faculty at Pasco-Hernando State College, Lake Sumter State College, Tallahassee Community College, State College of Florida (Manatee-Sarasota) and Florida Polytechnic University in voting for union representation since 2016. In all, the United Faculty of Florida has grown from 25 to 31 chapters since 2016 as faculty and higher education professionals realize that higher education needs the collective voices of faculty to support high quality education and to promote adequate and fair funding for our public institutions.
SJRSC serves Putnam, Clay and St. Johns counties, which include Palatka, St. Augustine and Orange Park. It is known for being the location of the Florida School of the Arts (Floarts). Opened in 1976, Floarts is one of the premier public art colleges in Florida. SJR State awards its students technical certificates, A.A., A.S. and B.A. degrees. The college is also known for its excellent nursing program, and recently started an LPN certificate. Faculty have published articles in high-profile scholarly academic journals, books by academic and commercial presses, as well as presenting at conferences focused on teaching innovations.
Join me in Welcoming our new members!



From St. Augustine Record, March 29, 2019, page one, below fold

 SJR State faculty union forms
By Travis Gibson



There was one phrase that kept coming up when St. Johns River State College Organizing Committee Co-Chair and professor J. Maggio spoke to The Record about the recent formation of a faculty union at the school — shared governance.

“The No. 1 thing we wanted was shared governance,” Maggio said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Some felt rules coming down from the administration, which were not all bad, they came down from the administration with no consultation from the faculty.”

In a February vote, the faculty voted overwhelmingly (83-27) to form the newest chapter of the United Faculty of Florida. In all, about 77 percent of the 141-person faculty voted in the election. The union process from discussion to vote took about two years, said Maggio, a political science professor at the school. Maggio said that although the administration didn’t see a need for a union, they were also non-confrontational during the process, which isn’t always the case when workers attempt to form a union.

“They did not put up an anti-union fight, which was surprising,” Maggio said. “Compared to other places they behaved in a very congenial way. There were no complaints from the union committee on what they did.”

SJR State President Joe Pickens said that was a conscious decision.

“I didn’t think there was a need to try to oppose the union formation,” Pickens told The Record. “As the leader of the college the best way to lead the college it to respect the process and let the faculty decide.”

The union hopes to keep its positive working relationship going as it moves forward to address some of the main concerns of faculty members. One of those issues is pay and the fact that there is no rubric for getting raises, Maggio said.


“There is no way that faculty can get a raise outside of benevolence of the trustees,” Maggio said. “One way they would get around it is they would give one-time Christmas bonuses, but that doesn’t build on salary over time.”

He said the lack of structured raises has led to issues. For example, Maggio said a recent new hire who had been an adjunct professor for 11 years came in and made more money than a professor that had worked SJR State for the last 15 years.


Maggio said the union is exploring the possibility of merit or seniority based raises and plans to bring those ideas to the negotiating table in the future. The union also hopes to push for more academic autonomy and the formation of a more formal grievance process.

The formation of the union at SJR State follows a recent trend around the state. Pasco-Hernando State College, Lake Sumter State College, Tallahassee Community College, State College of Florida (Manatee-Sarasota) and Florida Polytechnic University have all voted to form a union since 2016, growing the number of United Faculty of Florida chapters to 31.

“They all filed with nearly double the required authorizations and majority membership. This is historic and a national example to the labor movement,” said Dr. Karen Morian, President of UFF. “We are thrilled to add their passion, expertise and professionalism to our efforts to improve higher education in the state of Florida.”





at No comments:

Friday, March 29, 2019

DOJ, FBI, Governor DeSANTIS, FDLE must investigate possibly illegal spending by Sheriff DAVID SHOAR



Commissioners raise concerns about early work on Sheriff's Office training center
By Jared Keever
Posted Mar 27, 2019 at 12:01 AM
St. Augustine Record



Just a little more than a month after they voted to fund the construction of a training center for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, county commissioners have raised questions about work done on the property ahead of that vote.

The issue came up at the end of the commissioner’s March 19 meeting when Commissioner Jimmy Johns said he had been contacted by Jacksonville-based engineering firm RAM with concerns that they had been told they were “precluded from participating in the design build process” of the $15 million project because they had already provided some form of “design services” in the early phases of the work.

“I simply passed that on to staff and it’s become a lot more complicated,” he said.

What Johns said he got back from county staff was a collection of documents consisting of a timeline “and documentation to back up that timeline that’s thicker than our agenda book.”

“My primary concern is that, in summary, it appears that the board did not approve funding for the Sheriff’s facility in our budget, the Sheriff used funds from some other sources to have design work performed, I was never made privy to that design work related to a roadway to the future Sheriff’s facilities in conversations with staff or the Sheriff’s Office when discussing the $15 million item,” he said. “And that’s why I am asking questions.”

That set the stage for a roughly 15-minute conversation that ended with commissioners voting unanimously to have County administration send a letter to the St. Johns County Clerk of Court & Comptroller’s Office asking the Inspector General there to look into the matter.

During the course of that conversation Commissioner Jeb Smith referenced an estimated $700,000 that Sheriff David Shoar said in an October presentation that his agency had spent on site preparation to get the roughly 50-acre plot of land, which is owned by the county, ready for the project.

Of that, according to documents that he had been provided by Johns, $59,000 had been paid by the Sheriff’s Office to RAM, Smith said.

“Where did the funding come from?” he said.


Reached by phone early Tuesday afternoon, Smith said his concern was that, although the commissioners originally gave the green light for the project back in 2015, it was his understanding that getting started on the work was contingent on funding — the final vote for which didn’t come until their meeting on Feb. 5 of this year.

“But the Sheriff went ahead and started in on the project and he funded it,” said Smith, who voted against the funding measure.

In addition, he said that he had not seen any accounting for proceeds from timber sales on 53 acres that had been cleared.

Shoar, in a phone interview later Tuesday evening, said his agency did everything they were supposed to and took issue with the notion that the 2015 vote didn’t give him the go-ahead to get to work on prepping the land.



He called much of what Johns said at the meeting “unintelligible nonsense” and pointed out that all of the money spent out of his own agency, the land clearing, and a water management permit that had been secured was all disclosed at his October presentation and it should come as no surprise to Johns, an engineer, that the permit could not have been secured without the work of an engineer.

Asked about that on Tuesday, Johns said that “we can all sit down and have this conversation but I don’t want to he-said, she-said over the phone.”

And although Shoar said he knew that both Johns and Smith said they weren’t alleging that anything improper had taken place, he also took issue with the way the topic was brought up at the end of a meeting with no one from his agency present to defend it.


“I take great offense to the way it was done,” he said. “In my opinion they tried to cast aspersions on the project.”

Shoar said it was his opinion that Johns and Smith had both obstructed the project.

Johns, who did vote to approve the funding in February, “has moved the goal post” since the beginning, Shoar said.

The entire item will likely come back up at the commission’s April 2 meeting.

County Attorney Patrick McCormack said early Tuesday that he had been researching what the clerk has jurisdiction to review when another constitutional office, like the Sheriff’s Offic,e is involved and that the letter had not been drafted.

He also said that after a preliminary review of RAM’s involvement in the early stages of the project — following Johns’ raising of concerns — it is not entirely clear that they will be ineligible to participate in future work.

In a followup phone conversation, McCormack said that, though the letter still had not been drafted, he had spoken directly with the Clerk’s Office and said it is “anticipated” they will “review the matter” in so far as “compliance or non-compliance with the county’s purchasing and land development regulations” are concerned.

“That will be reviewed and reported on,” he said.





at No comments:

FBI and FDLE: NOTICE THE DATE ON THIS DOCUMENT RE: SHERIFF DAVID SHOAR'S TRAINING CENTER






 

St. Johns County Sheriff’s Tactical Training Center – Civil Engineering Design Services Phase I

Sep 5, 2017
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Tactical Training Center – Civil Engineering Design Services Phase I
RAM is pleased to have been named as the Engineer-of-Record for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Training Center Project Phase 1 which includes permitting and construction documents preparation, beginning with the earthwork, for the 49-acre site.
This task includes the completion of design and preparation of construction documents for the identified elements of the Phase I portion of the Site Plan. The design will adhere to the requirements identified in the approved P.U.D. 2014-16, per Ordinance 2015-7; and St. Johns County Development requirements.

For more information on the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, please visit their website at: http://www.sjso.org/
at No comments:

Investigations underway into sexual misconduct allegations at Florida National Guard One of those named is the guard’s deputy commander, who is eligible to take over when the current leader retires April 6. -- Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced a replacement yet. (Tampa Bay Times)

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MUST INVESTIGATE THE FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD, HEADQUARTERED HERE IN ST. AUGUSTINE.



Investigations underway into sexual misconduct allegations at Florida National Guard

One of those named is the guard’s deputy commander, who is eligible to take over when the current leader retires April 6. Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced a replacement yet.
By Howard Altman
Published Earlier Today
Updated 3 hours ago

Worth Knowing.
Worth Subscribing.99¢ for the first month
Maj. Gen. Michael Calhoun retires April 6 as commander of the Florida National Guard and Gov. Ron DeSantis will name a replacement.
But the search comes while the guard — some 12,000 soldiers and airmen who deploy to combat zones and help at home in natural disasters — is facing ongoing investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct and coverups that date back a decade, the Tampa Bay Times has learned.
Among the allegations: that an officer joked he would hang a sign-up sheet outside the office of a female contractor so people could sign up for sexual favors from her in 15-minute increments.
Some of the allegations are spelled out in an email to a state lawmaker written by Maj. Elliot Potter, a Tampa-based officer in the Florida National Guard’s Judge Advocate General Corps. Potter researched the allegations and forwarded them to his superiors. A copy of his email was obtained by the Times.
ADVERTISEMENT
One man Potter accuses in a coverup is the guard’s No. 2 in command, Brig. Gen. Mike Canzoneri, who is among a group of officers eligible to replace Calhoun.
According to Potter, Canzoneri and another officer “have actively concealed evidence of sexual misconduct and other violence committed against soldiers of the Florida National Guard.”
DeSantis, a former attorney with the Navy Judge Advocate General, said through a spokeswoman that he could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Canzoneri also declined to comment.
As of this week, DeSantis had not announced Calhoun’s replacement.
Potter sent his email to state Sen. Lauren Book, a Broward County Democrat. Book told the governor in a Jan. 16 letter that she was “inclined to believe” Potter. Investigations are underway at both the state and federal level, said Book spokeswoman Claire VanSusteren. 
In a statement to the Times earlier this month, Calhoun, the Florida National Guard leader, declined comment on specifics of any investigation, but said, “we are deeply troubled by these allegations.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“We expect all of our members to demonstrate our values,” Calhoun said, “including honor, integrity and respect for self and others — and will continue to take necessary steps to ensure we are held to the highest standards so that we are worthy of the faith and trust the public places in us.”
• • •
Among the people whose complaints fueled the investigations is Shira Callahan, a 46-year-old former civilian contractor for the guard who has filed sworn statements with the guard’s Inspector General’s Office. Callahan alleges a pattern of sexual misconduct and other wrongdoing by guard soldiers and leaders.
She said in an October 2017 sworn statement that Canzoneri came up to her during a break in a 2011 conference and “slowly ran his hand from one side of my bare shoulder to the other.”
She also said Canzoneri made sexual gestures to a female bartender during the same conference and ended a two-year affair he had with a female soldier then transferred the soldier after she refused to have sex with his friends.
What’s more, Callahan accused Canzoneri of covering up for another officer she named in her complaints — Lt. Col. Scott L. Taylor.
As a result of Callahan’s allegations, Taylor was found to have “created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment” for her, according to a September 2017 letter from Army Col. Leslie F. Caballero, inspector general with the Florida National Guard.
Caballero called it “conduct that brings discredit to the Florida National Guard.”
Those findings, signed off on by Calhoun, also included recommendations for changes in guard policies. They include ensuring that everyone considered for key positions is thoroughly screened and that personnel pass along information to commanders about “problem soldiers.”
Six months after Caballero’s letter, on May 1, Taylor was named division chief at the Florida National Guard Joint Force Headquarters — the latest in a series of rank and job promotions despite complaints against him from Callahan and others.
In another of those complaints, former Sgt. Maj. Alan Rizzo — who acknowledged he and Taylor had a history of “bad blood” — said he was “extremely concerned about the close personal relationship between” Taylor and Canzoneri.
Callahan said she cannot understand Taylor’s rise in the ranks.
She sees parallels between allegations against the Florida National Guard and the fear of coming forward expressed earlier this month by Arizona Sen. Martha McSally. A pioneering combat pilot, McSally told a Senate hearing that she never reported she was raped by a superior officer when she served in the Air Force because she didn't trust the system.
Said Callahan, “Had she reported her assault, I have no doubt she would have been re-victimized all over again. Leadership may say what is expected in broad strokes ... but their day-to-day actions and attitudes demonstrate a reluctance to bring about real change towards a systemic problem.”
Taylor, in a phone interview, denied the allegations against him and said he does not have a close relationship with Canzoneri. 
He said he has been targeted by a small group of former guard personnel whom he had disciplined. They’re out to ruin his reputation through the military’s complaints process, he said, filing more than 200 complaints against him.
“These individuals,” Taylor said, “have weaponized the process.”
He said he has statements from 10 witnesses rebutting the allegations against him but did not provide the statements. He later stopped returning messages from the Times.
• • •
It was in his role as a judge advocate general attorney that Potter received complaints against Canzoneri.
ADVERTISEMENT
He undertook a review and later learned that it overlapped with allegations against Taylor. The allegations come from people who all are friends, Callahan said. They include her, two former Florida Army National Guard soldiers, and the wife of one of the soldiers.
Callahan described the incident involving the sexual sign-up sheet during a recorded interview in June with Army Lt. Col. Adam Calderon. Calderon had been directed by Maj. Gen. Calhoun to investigate Taylor. 
As Taylor stood outside Callahan’s office one day, she said, he told a group of soldiers that he planned to post the sheet on her door “with 15-minute increments so that the entire battalion” could get sexual favors from her.
“But it came with the caveat that he couldn’t just stop it there,” she said during the interview, “that the number one spot was reserved for him ...”
She told Calderon about her communications with Potter regarding Potter’s research into Canzoneri, saying the lawyer “was not interested in anything having to deal with Taylor at first until he realized that you could not have one issue without the other.”
Potter, she said, submitted the results of his review “up the chain” to the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General. 
Potter declined to comment for this story. Calderon confirmed the conversation with Callahan but declined to comment on its specifics or the results of his findings.
A Florida National Guard chaplain with whom Callahan also spoke, Army Col. Glenn Finch, said in a phone interview that he found Callahan credible.
“I believe her to be truthful,” Finch said. “She has no reason to lie, she has nothing to gain. I have a lot of respect for her and her courage.”
Callahan’s first request for action was to the guard’s inspector general, filed in March 2015. She said Taylor sexually harassed her in June 2011, and she reported incidents alleged to have involved Taylor with other people, among them: reports from two female soldiers that Taylor solicited sex from them via email in August 2012; sexual harassment of a male soldier in a shower in September 2012; and a physical assault against a female Army non-commissioned officer.
Callahan said in an interview that the complaints about email solicitations came to her in role as family support assistant to the guard. The male soldier filed a separate action request over the shower incident. The non-commissioned officer denied in an interview with the Times that Taylor assaulted her, saying they were just horsing around.
ADVERTISEMENT
• • •
The status of investigations into the Florida National Guard has been unclear during the first months of 2019.
On Feb. 7, the state Department of Military Affairs told Sen. Book that a three-week review had turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by Canzoneri or by a second officer accused of a coverup — Maj. Terrence Gorman. Gorman is the department’s deputy general counsel. The department provides management oversight of the guard.
About two weeks later, Callahan filed a sworn statement with Potter.
She reiterated her earlier complaints that Taylor had sexually harassed her and “generally harassed” others in her unit — and added that Gorman had advised her not to record or report the harassment “as it would ‘blackball’ me (Callahan) within the battalion.”
Asked by Potter if she believed Gorman was attempting to “protect the alleged perpetrator,” Callahan answered, “Yes. Absolutely.”
Gorman declined to comment for this story. 
Meantime, unsatisfied with the response from the Department of Military Affairs, Book asked how the department had reached its conclusions clearing Canzoneri and Gorman. The answer she received: An investigation is still ongoing.
Senior news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Howard Altman at haltman@tampabay.com. Follow@haltman.
Howard Altman - Military Affairs and General Assignment Reporter
HOWARD ALTMAN
Military Affairs and General Assignment Reporter

ADVERTISEME

Investigations underway into sexual misconduct allegations at Florida National Guard

One of those named is the guard’s deputy commander, who is eligible to take over when the current leader retires April 6. Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced a replacement yet.
By Howard Altman
Published Earlier Today
Updated 3 hours ago

Worth Knowing.
Worth Subscribing.99¢ for the first month
Maj. Gen. Michael Calhoun retires April 6 as commander of the Florida National Guard and Gov. Ron DeSantis will name a replacement.
But the search comes while the guard — some 12,000 soldiers and airmen who deploy to combat zones and help at home in natural disasters — is facing ongoing investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct and coverups that date back a decade, the Tampa Bay Times has learned.
Among the allegations: that an officer joked he would hang a sign-up sheet outside the office of a female contractor so people could sign up for sexual favors from her in 15-minute increments.
Some of the allegations are spelled out in an email to a state lawmaker written by Maj. Elliot Potter, a Tampa-based officer in the Florida National Guard’s Judge Advocate General Corps. Potter researched the allegations and forwarded them to his superiors. A copy of his email was obtained by the Times.
ADVERTISEMENT
One man Potter accuses in a coverup is the guard’s No. 2 in command, Brig. Gen. Mike Canzoneri, who is among a group of officers eligible to replace Calhoun.
According to Potter, Canzoneri and another officer “have actively concealed evidence of sexual misconduct and other violence committed against soldiers of the Florida National Guard.”
DeSantis, a former attorney with the Navy Judge Advocate General, said through a spokeswoman that he could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Canzoneri also declined to comment.
As of this week, DeSantis had not announced Calhoun’s replacement.
Potter sent his email to state Sen. Lauren Book, a Broward County Democrat. Book told the governor in a Jan. 16 letter that she was “inclined to believe” Potter. Investigations are underway at both the state and federal level, said Book spokeswoman Claire VanSusteren. 
In a statement to the Times earlier this month, Calhoun, the Florida National Guard leader, declined comment on specifics of any investigation, but said, “we are deeply troubled by these allegations.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“We expect all of our members to demonstrate our values,” Calhoun said, “including honor, integrity and respect for self and others — and will continue to take necessary steps to ensure we are held to the highest standards so that we are worthy of the faith and trust the public places in us.”
• • •
Among the people whose complaints fueled the investigations is Shira Callahan, a 46-year-old former civilian contractor for the guard who has filed sworn statements with the guard’s Inspector General’s Office. Callahan alleges a pattern of sexual misconduct and other wrongdoing by guard soldiers and leaders.
She said in an October 2017 sworn statement that Canzoneri came up to her during a break in a 2011 conference and “slowly ran his hand from one side of my bare shoulder to the other.”
She also said Canzoneri made sexual gestures to a female bartender during the same conference and ended a two-year affair he had with a female soldier then transferred the soldier after she refused to have sex with his friends.
What’s more, Callahan accused Canzoneri of covering up for another officer she named in her complaints — Lt. Col. Scott L. Taylor.
As a result of Callahan’s allegations, Taylor was found to have “created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment” for her, according to a September 2017 letter from Army Col. Leslie F. Caballero, inspector general with the Florida National Guard.
Caballero called it “conduct that brings discredit to the Florida National Guard.”
Those findings, signed off on by Calhoun, also included recommendations for changes in guard policies. They include ensuring that everyone considered for key positions is thoroughly screened and that personnel pass along information to commanders about “problem soldiers.”
Six months after Caballero’s letter, on May 1, Taylor was named division chief at the Florida National Guard Joint Force Headquarters — the latest in a series of rank and job promotions despite complaints against him from Callahan and others.
In another of those complaints, former Sgt. Maj. Alan Rizzo — who acknowledged he and Taylor had a history of “bad blood” — said he was “extremely concerned about the close personal relationship between” Taylor and Canzoneri.
Callahan said she cannot understand Taylor’s rise in the ranks.
She sees parallels between allegations against the Florida National Guard and the fear of coming forward expressed earlier this month by Arizona Sen. Martha McSally. A pioneering combat pilot, McSally told a Senate hearing that she never reported she was raped by a superior officer when she served in the Air Force because she didn't trust the system.
Said Callahan, “Had she reported her assault, I have no doubt she would have been re-victimized all over again. Leadership may say what is expected in broad strokes ... but their day-to-day actions and attitudes demonstrate a reluctance to bring about real change towards a systemic problem.”
Taylor, in a phone interview, denied the allegations against him and said he does not have a close relationship with Canzoneri. 
He said he has been targeted by a small group of former guard personnel whom he had disciplined. They’re out to ruin his reputation through the military’s complaints process, he said, filing more than 200 complaints against him.
“These individuals,” Taylor said, “have weaponized the process.”
He said he has statements from 10 witnesses rebutting the allegations against him but did not provide the statements. He later stopped returning messages from the Times.
• • •
It was in his role as a judge advocate general attorney that Potter received complaints against Canzoneri.
ADVERTISEMENT
He undertook a review and later learned that it overlapped with allegations against Taylor. The allegations come from people who all are friends, Callahan said. They include her, two former Florida Army National Guard soldiers, and the wife of one of the soldiers.
Callahan described the incident involving the sexual sign-up sheet during a recorded interview in June with Army Lt. Col. Adam Calderon. Calderon had been directed by Maj. Gen. Calhoun to investigate Taylor. 
As Taylor stood outside Callahan’s office one day, she said, he told a group of soldiers that he planned to post the sheet on her door “with 15-minute increments so that the entire battalion” could get sexual favors from her.
“But it came with the caveat that he couldn’t just stop it there,” she said during the interview, “that the number one spot was reserved for him ...”
She told Calderon about her communications with Potter regarding Potter’s research into Canzoneri, saying the lawyer “was not interested in anything having to deal with Taylor at first until he realized that you could not have one issue without the other.”
Potter, she said, submitted the results of his review “up the chain” to the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General. 
Potter declined to comment for this story. Calderon confirmed the conversation with Callahan but declined to comment on its specifics or the results of his findings.
A Florida National Guard chaplain with whom Callahan also spoke, Army Col. Glenn Finch, said in a phone interview that he found Callahan credible.
“I believe her to be truthful,” Finch said. “She has no reason to lie, she has nothing to gain. I have a lot of respect for her and her courage.”
Callahan’s first request for action was to the guard’s inspector general, filed in March 2015. She said Taylor sexually harassed her in June 2011, and she reported incidents alleged to have involved Taylor with other people, among them: reports from two female soldiers that Taylor solicited sex from them via email in August 2012; sexual harassment of a male soldier in a shower in September 2012; and a physical assault against a female Army non-commissioned officer.
Callahan said in an interview that the complaints about email solicitations came to her in role as family support assistant to the guard. The male soldier filed a separate action request over the shower incident. The non-commissioned officer denied in an interview with the Times that Taylor assaulted her, saying they were just horsing around.
ADVERTISEMENT
• • •
The status of investigations into the Florida National Guard has been unclear during the first months of 2019.
On Feb. 7, the state Department of Military Affairs told Sen. Book that a three-week review had turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by Canzoneri or by a second officer accused of a coverup — Maj. Terrence Gorman. Gorman is the department’s deputy general counsel. The department provides management oversight of the guard.
About two weeks later, Callahan filed a sworn statement with Potter.
She reiterated her earlier complaints that Taylor had sexually harassed her and “generally harassed” others in her unit — and added that Gorman had advised her not to record or report the harassment “as it would ‘blackball’ me (Callahan) within the battalion.”
Asked by Potter if she believed Gorman was attempting to “protect the alleged perpetrator,” Callahan answered, “Yes. Absolutely.”
Gorman declined to comment for this story. 
Meantime, unsatisfied with the response from the Department of Military Affairs, Book asked how the department had reached its conclusions clearing Canzoneri and Gorman. The answer she received: An investigation is still ongoing.
Senior news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Howard Altman at haltman@tampabay.com. Follow@haltman.
Howard Altman - Military Affairs and General Assignment Reporter
HOWARD ALTMAN
Military Affairs and General Assignment Reporter

ADVERTISEME
at No comments: