Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris Thinks the FBI or CIA Is Bugging His Phone

By Bob Gordon

I recently had an hour-long phone conversation with Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris to discuss my concerns about the divisive and often defamatory conspiracy theories that have permeated his base of supporters.

I also addressed the voicemail between Council member Charles Gambaro and former Mayor David Alfin that was posted to Nextdoor and has sadly become a rallying cry alleging corruption and conspiracy theories among Norris supporters on social media and at council meetings.

I emailed a detailed list of questions to Norris in advance. His responses during the subsequent phone conversation were overall very concerning.

The voicemail was posted to Nexdoor in the form of a campaign-like video with black and white scrolling dialog that plays the six-second voicemail message by Gambaro to Alfin. It stated: “Hey Dave, Good afternoon, Charlie Gambaro here, just called to touch base before catching up, talk to you later, bye.” Gambaro wasn’t aware that the phone he was calling had been reassigned to our new mayor, Norris.

The scrolling text accompanying the voicemail attempts to cast suspicion: “Why is Gambaro calling David Alfin to catch up after the comprehensive plan got voted down. Does Gambaro work for developers? Is he looking for what to do next? Why call a developer funded, past mayor to catch up right after the council voted down the comp plan?” The black and white scrolling message was similar in style to previous Norris campaign ads.

Deriving any kind of nexus between the very humdrum six-second voicemail and some kind of implied conspiratorial corruption is simply not rational. The voicemail was transferred from Norris’s city-assigned phone to his personal phone, later to become a part of the deceptive Nextdoor post. That obviously raises questions as to how it happened. It is reasonable to assume that Norris, who controlled both phones, is responsible for the transfer. He is also responsible for the city-issued phone, so even if by some wild scenario (that itself raises questions about Norris’s  custody of city property) he did not physically carry out the transfer, he is responsible for it.

When I asked about this posted voicemail recording/video, Norris denied any involvement. Rather than show any concern for the security of his city and personal phone, he spoke of the message as if it were a smoking gun.

Even though he conceded that he has no evidence of corruption at all relating to that recording, he believed it was “circumstantial” evidence. I had to point out to him that such a message clearly would not rise to that level, or any level beyond a meaningless and insignificant six-second message.

He persisted, then pivoted to contend that if he could subpoena 10 city phone records, he could prove pervasive corruption. Whose 10 and what corruption was not clear, though Norris doesn’t need subpoenas. The records, voice mails and texts included, are public records. He could simply ask for them. Or he could ask his voicemail larcenist to ask for them. Talking subpoenas and falsely implying that the records are somehow inaccessible is another way to fabricate suspicion.

When pushed as to how that voicemail made its way from his phone to social media, he surprisingly suggested he may have been “wiretapped” by the FBI or CIA and went into a lengthy, wild story about how a now deceased high level government source has told him that Palm Coast has the largest population of retired CIA officers in the entire country. (Even assuming the impossible–that not only the FBI, but the CIA is wiretapping him, is he implying that he is under federal investigation?)

He went on to explain that he had friends and associates who would not talk to him on his phone for that reason. He asked me to draw my own conclusions from that. Well, I certainly did.

He is on record during a brief Palm Coast Observer interview claiming he passes his phone around. When I asked if he knew who might have had access and possibly be responsible for the extraction of the phone data, assuming it really wasn’t a covert CIA operation, he again denied any involvement, and in anger stated it was none of my business who he might have loaned his phone to.

Curiously, when asked if he was outraged and maybe felt a bit violated by the extraction of the data from his phone without his consent, he responded that he didn’t care at all. When asked several times if he might consider the incident defamatory conduct solely intended to mislead the public, he didn’t think so. In essence, he refused to concede that unfounded conspiracy theory rhetoric was a concern. He couldn’t care less.

In conclusion, I asked him how we might move past the unfounded accusations of corruption and what he could do personally to signal to his supporters to just plain stop and help heal a severely divided community. His response was that it ain’t gonna happen until Gambaro is removed from the council. I asked him what that had to do with the topic of our discussion. It is what it is, he responded, and excused himself because dinner was waiting.

There were several worrisome takeaways from our discussion. He simply doesn’t get it that spouting conspiracy theories and making unfounded allegations are unhealthy, wrong, and problematic for a public official who could be exposing his city to litigation. He likely knew much more and was not candid about the voicemail recording incident. He will likely continue to muddy the waters with unsubstantiated allegations. Most disturbingly, at times the mayor came off as paranoid and delusional.

None of this is reassuring for the urgently needed stability and credibility in the city’s leadership.

Bob Gordon is a Palm Coast resident.