Barbara Petersen’s retirement from the First Amendment Foundation, after 25 years, takes place as legislators have piled up 1,122 exemptions to Florida’s open government laws.
open government
One Email From Serial Litigant Shuts Down Flagler Beach’s Video Access to Public Meetings
Eddie Sierra, a deaf south Floridian, is filing lawsuit after lawsuit against local governments across Florida if they stream government meetings without close-captioning them for the deaf.
Bunnell Short-Lists Six Men For City Manager, But May Have Violated Sunshine Law
The Bunnell City Commission short-listed six city manager candidates out of 18 outside of a public meeting, a method courts have found to violate the Sunshine law.
Jury Finds Ex-Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks Guilty On All 7 Felony Counts of Illegally Recording Others
Former Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks was found guilty on felony counts that she illegally recorded other officials during her tenure.
Trial Day 2: Jury Hears Kim Weeks Insult Secretary of State and Others As Ken Detzner Sat in Witness Box
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner was a star witness for the prosecution today, saying Kim Weeks recorded him without his permission. he then heard her call him a “dumb bastard.”
The Selling of Palm Coast:
Mayor’s State of the City Speech: $40 a Plate, Sponsors Sought, Profits Go To The Observer
Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland headlines a State of the City event at the city’s new community center in April, but for $40 a ticket. The for profit event is produced by the Observer, which will take all earnings.
Behind Closed Doors, Palm Coast Council Was Willing To Risk Big Loss Against McDonald Until Judge and Adjuster Set It Straight
Battles between Palm Coast government–the council and Jim Landon, the manager–and Dennis McDonald, the perennial critic, got so personal in a previous lawsuit, records show, that the city was willing to risk taxpayer money until it was forced to accept a settlement.
Charges Against Ex-Elections Supervisor Weeks Reduced to Five, But Warrant Stands
In almost two years of wrangling ex-Elections Supervisor Kim Weeks’s lawyers have reduced the 12 felony counts against her to five, but there appears little room left before either a trial or an out-of-court settlement.
Gov. Scott’s Office of Open Government Barricades Itself
Florida once had one of the toughest sunshine laws in the country, and people were proud of that. But it’s no longer the case. Transparency has given way to talk–and barricades.
The Mostly Bogus Case Against Kimberle Weeks
Ex-Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks was the most combative, distasteful, deceptive and ethically suspect elected official in the county, but she did not break the law with most of the “secret” recordings she made, contrary to the laundry list of felony counts against her.