The Redacted, part 2: The altered DoE/Jefferson public records are crime scenes. Treat them so.
DoE illegally redacted crucial public documents to obscure names for unknown reasons. I've sent a complaint to Leon SA Jack Campbell asking him to prosecute this case as precedent demands.
You can read part 1 linked below. It lays out my unproven hypothesis, which I cannot test until DoE stops breaking the law, that the illegally redacted names include current and former Commissioners of Education Manny Diaz and Jacob Oliva.
These documents, illegally altered by your state government, remain a crime scene that prosecutors should immediately investigate. The 2nd Judicial Circuit has jurisdiction over Tallahassee-area crimes. I have sent a complaint to State Attorney Jack Campbell concerning this matter.
In 2009, the 10th Circuit State’s Attorney’ Office prosecuted Polk County School Board Attorney Wes Bridges for failing to release addresses and other personal information public records related to enrollees in the school district’s heath insurance plan.
Bridges, who said he was trying to protect the privacy of employees, pleaded no contest and paid a fine. The legislature later restricted access to personal records of some public employees. One can argue Bridges was pursuing morally legitimate, if illegal, aims.
And he was still prosecuted.
Documents as crime scenes
Contrast that with whoever directed the Florida Department of Education’s records custodian to wait 16 months to deliver illegally redacted records related to the DoE/Jefferson scandal sham investigations.
Three weeks ago, I requested unredacted copies of the records DoE illegally redacted in the delivering DoE/Jefferson investigative records to Tampa Bay Times reporter Lawrence Mower.
The redacted records show that someone told DoE investigator Mike Blackburn that he or she wanted Blackburn to avoid public disclosure of aspects of the investigation — after it had been closed. You can get the details on that in part 1.
DoE has now had 16 months (for the original public records request) plus three weeks to conform to public records law. It continues to willfully break the law instead. Thus, I sent two new communications on Sunday: one to DoE and one to 2nd Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell.
Here they are.
Communication to DoE on 11/5
The Department of Education's records custodian appears to be in criminal violation of Florida public records law, concerning the request I made -- and which you acknowledged -- on Oct. 17, 2023. I will reprint the original request at the end of this communication.
The custodian is refusing to provide any record exemption that justifies alteration through redactions of the public record in question. And the custodian refuses to provide the unredacted record, which it already has at its disposal, and could likely provide in less than five minutes. Both of these are self-aware violations of Chapter 119.07 of Florida Statutes.
Chapter 119.10 states clearly:
Any public officer who:
(a) Violates any provision of this chapter commits a noncriminal infraction, punishable by fine not exceeding $500.
(b) Knowingly violates the provisions of s. 119.07(1) is subject to suspension and removal or impeachment and, in addition, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
On Oct. 17, 2023, when acknowledging my request, the custodian said: "The Department will respond in a reasonable time based on effort required to locate, review and redact the requested information. Please note requests are addressed in the order they are received."
The Department is now well beyond any reasonable time in responding. The Department has already located, reviewed, and released the public document in question to Tampa Bay Times reporter Lawrence Mower -- altered with a handful of illegal, unjustified, unexplained redactions. There is essentially zero effort or time required to unredact the already released record and re-release it in accordance with legal obligations. No bureaucratic excuse, based on order of receipt, justifies continuing to break the law indefinitely.
My own hypothesis is the Department is intentionally breaking the law to protect high profile department names from political embarrassment and scrutiny. But I cannot confirm or disprove that hypothesis until the Department stops breaking the law.
Precedent exists for prosecuting a public official who unlawfully refuses to release public records. In 2009, the 10th Circuit State's Attorney's Office prosecuted Polk County School Board Attorney Wes Bridges for refusing to provide records in a timely manner. Bridges pleaded no contest and paid a fine, plus investigative costs.
Based on that precedent, it's my intention to refer this issue to the office of State's Attorney Jack Campbell of the 2nd Judicial Circuit, which has jurisdiction in this matter, I believe. Again, this matter could be resolved in moments if the Department decided to obey the law and its requirements.
Communication to Leon State Attorney Jack Campbell on 11/5
I then forwarded that communication to Campbell, with this additional note:
Dear Mr. Campbell:
My name is Billy Townsend. I'm a freelance writer, journalist, and former school board member in Polk County who has done a lot of work on the Jefferson County charter school scandal. I am forwarding you a correspondence I sent to the Department of Education this morning, concerning what I consider a clear, ongoing criminal violation of public records law. I urge you to use the power of your office to either compel the state to follow the law or prosecute them for failing to. If necessary, you can consider this a criminal referral from a citizen. The correspondence I've forwarded is pretty clear. There is a clear precedent from Polk County for the prosecutorial action I'm requesting.
In addition, this linked article from a few weeks ago provides deeper context on the entire issue.
My concern in this matter is legal release of the public record. I don't care about punishment for the individuals carrying out the illegal behavior of the department. I'm sure they're under duress. But this seems to be an obvious example of government law-breaking that you can address. Thank you. My phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX if you or anyone in your office needs to speak with me.
Sincerely,
I know nothing about Jack Campbell beyond his job title and role. I have absolutely no idea if he will act on this clear violation of law — or just pull a Brian Haas and avoid doing his job out of fear of what the governor will do to him.
But nobody can say it wasn’t brought to his attention in a forceful, public way.
The responsibility of citizens to use the tools we have
As citizens, those of us who do not want to bend the knee to the grossest and pettiest of grifter dictatorships need to use the tools at our disposal to combat those would-be dictatorships.
If your government wants to be lawless, we must force it to be lawless openly and see if anyone in power takes their jobs and oaths seriously enough to do something about it. That’s what we can control. Force corruption into the open, where it is weakest. If grifting gangsterism is going to kill self-government, then let it do so openly, with raw immoral power. Let’s not help it with silence and paralysis.
I also copied Barbara Peterson, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, on my communication with DoE.
The FCGA is very effectively using the tools available to it to combat lawlessness in Florida’s government. I hope they will get involved in this case.
Thank you, Billy, for all the great work you are doing. Your contributions do not go unnoticed!