Ed Slavin endorsed by former St. Augustine Beach Mayor S, Gary Snodgrass! Thank you, I am honored, sir.

Thank you! I am honored by the October 19, 2026 endorsement on Facebook by beloved former St. Augustine Beach Mayor S. Gary Snodgrass. He wrote "Ed and I may not always agree, but I have never doubted his commitment to doing the work, understanding the issues, and doing what he believes is right. He is a hardworking advocate for mosquito control, open and honest government, and accountability. He listens, speaks plainly, and is willing to hold elected officials responsible to the people they serve. Ed’s commitment to mosquito control is also deeply personal, shaped by what malaria meant for his family. I strongly support his candidacy for the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. I hope you will join me in voting for Ed on or before November 3."

NASA's Preventable Disasters: Whistleblower Retaliation Caused Them All (Ed Slavin, St. Augustine Record column, February 20, 2003)

October 29, 2026 UPDATE:  I support scientific free speech about potential environmental problems. I would be honored to be your government watchdog on our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, seat 2. Please vote for me on or before November 3, 2026.

April 29, 2026 blog post: Some NASA Houston space flight engineers told me that stopped watching Space Shuttle launches after the Challenger Disaster in 1986, knowing that NASA's retaliatory, lax, lazy, mendacious authoritarian management could do it again.  And they did.  It did happen again in 2003.  NASA is increasingly outsourcing our manned space programs to piratical billionaires like JEFF BEZOS and ELON MUSK.  Will they respect workplace free speech rights?  You tell me.  From St. Augustine Record: 

NASA's Preventable Disasters: Whistleblower Retaliation Caused Them All (St. Augustine Record column by Ed Slavin, 2003)

During the 1990s, I was honored to represent the first two (2) environmental whistleblowers at the NASA Johnson Space Center in their U.S. Department of Labor whistleblower actions.  

For insights into "root cause analysis" or "lessons learned," here is my February 20, 2003 St. Augustine Record column about NASA's two (2) fatal Space Shuttle disasters, made possible by NASA's hostile working environment toward protected activity and its lack of a safety culture. 

From St. Augustine Record: 

NASA's Preventable Disasters: Whistleblower Retaliation Caused Them All (St. Augustine Record column by Ed Slavin, 2003)

Letter: Shuttle whistle-blower retaliation is root cause
Edward A. Slavin Jr.
St. Augustine
Published Thursday, February 20, 2003
Editor: America's second space shuttle disaster could have been prevented if "whistle blowers" were heeded and protected from retaliation by managers.

Now NASA has appointed yet another panel to investigate itself. As the song asks, "When will they ever learn?"

NASA ignored warnings about tile failure for decades because "NASA family" and contractor employees fear to speak out about safety, fearing retaliation. The New York Times reports that NASA fired safety advisory panel members and consultants criticizing budget cuts as unsafe. The Presidential Challenger Commission found NASA's culture chilled free speech rights the same as cold temperatures chilled the O-rings. NASA ignored numerous disaster warnings and cut safety. At the Johnson Space Center, many engineers did not watch space shuttle launches since Challenger, because they feared it could happen again. The Columbia 7 deaths are sadly rooted in a dysfunctional management culture that retaliates against whistle blowers and helped cause the Challenger disaster. NASA exacts an oath of "omerta" on raising concerns.

Secretive, authoritarian managers destroy the careers of too many ethical employees like Morton Thiokol engineer Roger Boisjoly and colleagues, who warned against the O-ring problem that caused the Challenger to blow up on launch in 1986.

Johnson Space Center banned one shuttle whistle blower from Johnson Space Center property, issuing a gag order against speaking to NASA employees about concerns about toxic chemical residues in shuttle cabin air. Rather than investigating risks to shuttle astronauts from chemicals and ill-sterilized medical hardware, the Johnson Space Center medical "investigation" concentrated on "Ancestry of Quotes," identifying the source of the inspector general complaint through text analysis. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin did nothing to remedy NASA's hostile working environment. The Johnson Space Center director was later promoted to be assistant secretary of energy in charge of Department of Energy's environmental cleanup.

NASA fought Department of Labor environmental whistle-blower jurisdiction. Chilling effects continued amid its smokescreen of "hardball" delay tactics. Another NASA manager was later suspended without pay for 15 days in another whistle-blower case, but too many retaliatory managers who destroy whistle blowers' careers get promoted.

Current laws do not adequately protect whistle blowers. In 1993, the Department of Labor inspector general found delays were ordered by several secretaries of labor. Last year the third circuit federal appeals court found it "completely inexplicable" why the Department of Labor took 13 years to adjudicate one simple nuclear whistle-blower case, while the law allows 90 days.

Citing the Challenger disaster, in February 1990 the American Bar Association recommended protecting all corporate, federal, state and local government whistle blowers from discrimination, with a federal administrative remedy. In our complex technological society, too many of us are required to agree with the boss or be fired. Whistle-blower laws remain a patchwork with loopholes, though a 2002 law is a positive step to protect some corporate whistle blowers. All must be protected from workplace retaliation and guaranteed freedom of conscience.

Let's free the "mind slaves," ending what Lincoln might have called "Idolatry that practices human sacrifice."

ANNALS OF DeSANTI$TAN: In the dark? 2026 ‘Government in the Sunshine’ manual seemingly shelved Attorney General James Uthmeier has not published an updated version of the manual. (Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix, October 16, 2026)

What has Florida Attorney General JAMES UTHMEIER done to our Florida Attorney General Special Counsel for Open Governent, Patricia Riste Gleason? General Gleason has served the people of Florida for some 49 years, including work as Cabinet Secretary for Governor Charles Crist.   Tonight, I learned that General Gleason's voicemail is forwarded to a robotic message from the Florida AG's office, with no means to leave a message.  

What rough beast has been named by Governor DeSantis to be Attorney General, one of the apparent co-conspirators in the $10,000,000 Hope Florida Scandal? 

Efforts to obtain the 2026 Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual will continue 

From Florida Phoenix:

In the dark? 2026 ‘Government in the Sunshine’ manual seemingly shelved

Attorney General James Uthmeier has not published an updated version of the manual.

BY JAY WAAGMEESTER-OCTOBER 16, 2026  12:05 AM

 The Government in the Sunshine manual has not been updated by Attorney General James Uthmeier. (Photo by Christine Sexton/Florida Phoenix)

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has not published the Government in the Sunshine Manual this year, seemingly breaking an annual effort by attorneys general in the state for decades.

The book is typically published in partnership with the Florida First Amendment Foundation and explains Florida’s public records and public meeting laws plus any changes made via case law or the Legislature since the last edition.

The Phoenix verified that the manual has been published every year since 1994, identifying earlier versions, too.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, via Department of Legal Affairs

A representative from Uthmeier’s office in Tallahassee confirmed to the Phoenix the 2025 edition is the most recently published edition. Uthmeier’s office did not, however, respond to Phoenix questions as to why his office has not published the 2026 manual. 

First Amendment Foundation Director Bobby Block said the absence of the manual has resulted in requests “pretty much every day from record custodians, whether they’re from sheriff’s offices or county departments asking, ‘When is the 2026 manual coming out?’” Block doesn’t have an answer.

“If you really look who is suffering from the fact that there is no manual, it’s the clerks of courts, it’s the records’ custodians through agencies around the state, whether it’s municipalities or county government or soil and water boards or school boards, whatever the case may be,” Block told the Phoenix. “… Without this, it becomes more difficult for them to do their job.”

The guides typically appears in the spring of each year.

Block said his organization has not received a clear answer as to why the guide has not been published. He speculated it could be because the foundation has opposed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempt to rewrite the state’s defamation law or supported legislation to impose stronger penalties on agencies that don’t comply with public records requests.

“Maybe it has nothing to do with FAF’s positions; maybe it has to do with there’s a desire to just kind of sink Florida’s open government laws. I don’t know, because that’s the direct impact,” Block said. 

No response

Block said his organization made a records request four weeks ago for a draft of the manual but has not received a responsive record. There is no statutory requirement to publish the manual, although Block said he’d be “encouraging sponsors to make sure publishing the manual becomes a statutory requirement. It’s that important.”

“It has been published out of the sense of pride and obligation since its inception,” Block said. 

“I find it deeply disturbing,” Block said. “And I find what’s disturbing about it is, Florida has a commitment to its citizens, and when you don’t honor your commitment, and yet you hide behind slogans like ‘the free state of Florida,’ you have to wonder, do those slogans actually mean anything when you’re not honoring the contract that you have with the public?” Block said.

He pointed out that access to public records is a constitutional right in Florida, not a privilege. 

Uthmeier, appointed attorney general by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February 2025, is campaigning to keep the position in his own right. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Former Miami Democratic state Sen. José Javier Rodriguez (via Twitter).

His opponent, Democrat José Javier Rodríguez, said the guide is too important to go unpublished.

“For more than 20 years, I have represented individuals taking on powerful corporations and institutions that have taken advantage of them. I know firsthand how critical our public records and public meetings laws are to holding government accountable,” Rodríguez said in a written statement to the Phoenix.

“The Government in the Sunshine Manual is an essential resource for Floridians to understand their rights and hold public officials accountable. As Attorney General, I will ensure this important resource continues to be published and remains accessible to the public. Floridians deserve an Attorney General who believes in transparency, not one who keeps them in the dark.”

Moody made it an event

Uthmeier’s predecessor, Ashley Moody, is running for election to keep the Senate seat DeSantis appointed her to fill. (It was vacated by Marco Rubio.)

Moody’s office published the Government in the Sunshine Manual 2025 edition, the 47th.

It actually was published under then-acting Attorney General John Guard, who served in the position until DeSantis appointed Uthmeier to the post. Guard was Moody’s chief deputy attorney general.

“Our system of open government is a valued and intrinsic part of the heritage of our state. Each day, Floridians use these laws to inform themselves as citizens, to attend government meetings and to review government records. As a result of these efforts, government leaders can be held accountable for their actions,” Guard, now a  judge on the state’s Second District Court of Appeal, wrote in the introduction of the 2025 edition.

Moody at times made a ceremony of publication, as she did in 2022, releasing it in recognition of National Sunshine Week.

“In recognition of National Sunshine Week, I am proud to release Florida’s 2022 Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual on our website free of charge,” she said in a press release. Our office works hard every year to produce and publish this important guide that helps citizens navigate Florida’s public records laws and access government meetings,” Moody continued.

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Author Info

JAY WAAGMEESTER

Jay covers education for the Florida Phoenix. He previously worked for the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Iowa State Daily. He grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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QUALITY JOURNALISM FOR CRITICAL TIMES

TIME FOR A NATIONAL SEARCH! -- DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM RETIRING -- St. Augustine City Manager has had only one employer since circa 1997 (updated October 12, 2026)

I would be honored to have your vote on or before November 3, 2026 for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (seat 2).  Love this magical place. Moved here on November 5, 1999.

St. Augustine needs a national search for a City Manager.  Who among us would disagree?

Expressing the trite and ungrammatical view that St. Augustine is "very (sic) unique," and violating both grammatical rules and the reasonable expectations of probity, our rather unsophisticated St. Augustine City Commissioners dumped the decision of a national search into the laps of future City Commissioners at their October 12, 2026 meeting.  

Meanwhile, the Commissioners oddly renewed the horse and carriage franchise for the Cushion family, after cancelling their carriage licenses due to documented lawbreaking and horse abuse allegations. 

The word "unique" never carries a modifier.  It's unique or it's not.  

But the third rate City Commissioners in sixth rate City of St. Augustine government remain mired in schtick and horse manure, that stinky substance that one cleans out of horse barns, and which allows corruption to flourish.  

In April, 2005, DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM told me "there is no corruption in the City of St. Augustine."  We were discussing zoning and planning, and he was then the understudy to MARK ALLEN KNIGHT, the City Planning and Zoning Director.

St. Augustine and St. Johns County are "unique" in corruption history, perhaps requiring their own chapter in a future edition of Mark Grossman's book, POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN AMERICA --An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power and Greed, and coverage in Brendan Ballou's PLUNDER -- Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America.

That pervasive stinky St. Augustine corruption allowed feculent former City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRISS to dump a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir) and hornswoggle haughty naughty Commissioners that it was "clean. fill." Longtime Atlanta-based EPA regulator John Marler told me that "there are no bedsprings in clean fill." No toilets, either. But our Old City Reservoir was contaminated, smeared, bleared and teared with contaminated solid waste, dumped there by HARRISS & Co.

Thanks to my late friend Diane Mills, who gave Ms. Sherry Badger a video camera for Christmas. 

Thanks to Sherry Badger, the video evidence of the illegal dumping was documented and provided by me on a DVD to  the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criminal investigators.

City Attorney James Patrick Wilson drove with asked City Manager HARRISS if he had a permit to dump the landfill in the lake, to which the rebarbative reprobate scheming City Manager replied, "I'm gonna git one."  (HARRISS never did).

Under HARRISS' maladministration, misguided St. Augustine city burghers long attacked talented visual artists and musicians, running them off St. George Street at the behest of greedy businessmen, whose cat's paw was a former City Manager.  See First They Came for the Artists (Ed Slavin & Georgio Valentino, Folio Weekly, March 19, 2019).  

Yes, my friend, the place described as the "most lawless city in America" by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our beloved City of St. Augustine now aspires to be a "Compassionate City." It's time to prove it with a national search, instead of promoting the next good-ole-boy in line.

Mediocrity and municipal corruption led investigative reporter Lincoln Steffens to write a book called The Shame of the Cities. 

Our Nation's Oldest City is run by hollow Organization Men, typified by the incumbent City Manager, who never had another employer other than the City of St. Augustine since he graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1997.  

BIRCHIM was recommended for an interview by TRACY WILSON UPCHURSH, a third generation City Mayor, who was  also a third generation State Representative, a corporate lawyer, whose handwritten letter to then City Manager William Pomar noted that privileged DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM's unnamed uncle was a Flagler College Professor.  While  BIRCHIM's contract expires June 2, 2028, he's resigning now. Good career move, after repeated failed, uninspiring, unproductive work.

We need to hire more qualified people, not more clones and clones of clones of clones.  

A national search is the standard of care. Anything less is more horseshit, willful wanton negligence, recklessness and neglect of duty.

A national search allows consideration of qualified candidates from everywhere, seeking the best and the brightest, complying with civil rights laws -- instead of considering only the mediocre yokels whose decades of mistakes keep getting repeated, decade after decade.   (In the immortal words of the late United States Supreme Court  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "Three generations of imbeciles is enough.")

My late Irish-German grandmother would have called these superficial, slow-thinking St. Augustine Commissioners "hopelessly provincial."  

No class. No courage. These are not reformers.  These are Babbits practicing conformity to the expectations of the owners and controllers and Epstein Class. 

As my Mother would say, "We are surrounded by mediocrities."

Tell Commissioners: It's time for a national search for St. Augustine City Manager, as I wrote in the St. Augustine Record in my April 26, 2010 Guest Column, here:

City of St. Augustine press release: 

On Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at 10:07:33 AM EDT, CityStAug Communications <info@citystaug.com> wrote:

September 29, 2026

 

City Manager David Birchim announces retirement

 

Commission will select interim city manager

 

On Monday, September 28, City of St. Augustine City Manager David Birchim submitted his letter of retirement to City Commissioners, effective Wednesday, December 16, 2026. Birchim was selected from three candidates in May 2023 to serve as City Manager, following former City Manager John Regan upon his retirement in June of that year.

 

Upon retirement, Birchim will have 29 years of dedicated service to the City of St. Augustine, decades of experience in professional urban planning and public administration, including more than 23 years in supervisory and leadership positions.  His extensive knowledge of City operations, commitment to public service, and leadership have helped guide the organization and advance important initiatives.

 

During his tenure as City Manager, Birchim worked closely with the City Commission, staff, residents, and community partners to manage City resources while addressing the challenges of a growing and evolving community.  His leadership reflected a commitment to balancing St. Augustine’s future with the preservation of the history and character that make the city unique.

 

Birchim’s career closes with many successes to his credit, including the creation of the Community Services Department and development of the Dignity Pavilion, advancing the West King Street Parking Garage and new Anastasia Island fire station initiatives, and most recently, a complete revision to the City’s management and operations of Nights of Lights, the globally recognized, community holiday event.

 

“It has been an honor to serve the City of St. Augustine and to work alongside such a dedicated team,” said Birchim. “Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of being part of many projects and initiatives that will have a lasting impact on the city.  I’m grateful to the City Commission, staff, community partners, and especially our residents for their trust and support.  St. Augustine is an extraordinary and special place.  I’m proud of what we have accomplished together and confident in the City’s continued success.”

 

Birchim holds a Master of Science Degree in Planning from the University of Tennessee.  He is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and Florida Public Pension Trustee Association (FPPTA).  He was promoted from Planning and Building Director to Assistant City Manager to specifically be responsible for overseeing special projects such as land development, affordable housing, legislative funding initiatives, and the resilient shoreline initiative.

 

The City Commission accepted Birchim’s letter, releasing him from his contract which is set to expire on June 2, 2028.  At the next meeting when all commissioners are present, they will select an interim City Manager to allow the final decision to made by the newly seated board in 2027.

 

Media inquiries may be directed to Melissa Wissel, Communications Director, at 904.293.3307.

 

#  #  #  #

 

Attachment: Retirement letter submitted by City Manager David Birchim, September 28, 2026

 

 

Melissa Wissel

Communications Director

City of St. Augustine  |  Communications Department

P.O. Box 210  |  St. Augustine, FL 32085

Office: 904-825-1053

Mobile: 904-293-3307

Email: mwissel@citystaug.com

Fax: 904-825-1096

www.CityStAug.com 

 

 

    

____________________________________________________________________________

Please Note: Florida has a very broad Public Records Law.  Unless specifically exempt by state law,

written communications to city officials or staff regarding official city business are public records

available to the public and media upon request. If your email communication is related to official 

government business, it may therefore be subject to public disclosure.

 

Mosquito Control and Overdevelopment

I am running for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County in the November 3, 2026 election.  May I please have your vote?

Flooding is increasing.  Increased flooding flows from every single proposed "development" here. Mosquitoes flourish amid flooding. 

The frequency and severity of storms and flooding is increasing.  We must use good science to prepare for the storms and remediate the flooding.  

We must protect people from persistent flooding, evidenced by testimony at government meetings.  

Whenever a development (sic) proposal is discussed, residents testify about flooding.  Too often, our governments are flummoxed, failing to present scientific evidence in response. 

Our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County does its best to apply good science to mosquito control.  It has five Ph.D. scientists.

But our St. Johns County Commission has no Chief Scientist, no Chief Economist, and makes decisions substantially unencumbered by good data and good science.  

Poorly-staffed County Commissioners rather remind me of what Sir Winston Spencer Churchill said in 1937, "The Government simply cannot make up their mind, or they cannot get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent. So we go on preparing more months and years – precious, perhaps vital to the greatness of Britain – for the locusts to eat."

Mosquitoes are eating us alive.  Building "developments" in mosquito swamps is unwise and unscientific.  It needs to stop. 

Our St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners and our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County are two separate local government agencies, with their own boards.  

SJC abolished its Intergovernmental Relations Committee under  controversial former County Administrator MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK (2007-2019), who sought a County takeover of mosquito control.  We, the People stopped him. 

Our County must better regulate "development" by greedy "developers," who build homes in swamps, exposing residents to hordes of mosquitoes. 

Worldwide, some 1,000,000 people die every year after mosquito bites. My Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943, contracting malaria.  We saw his suffering.  Due to the effects of malaria, I was born fourteen (14) years later, after my parents prayed to Saint Jude (patron Saint of hopeless causes).. 

Our County's "Growth Management (sic)" staff must consult with experts with our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County and AMCD's scientists and professionals.  

Every single "development (sic) order" must include a mosquito control plan. Every single one. No excuses. Protection against mosquito-borne diseases must not be a "hopeless cause."

I am running for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (Seat 2) in the November 3, 2026 election.  

May I please have the honor of your vote?

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

http://www.staugustgreen.com

(904) 377-4998