BUSTED! Pensacola Misinformation Campaign...

From Rick's Blog http://ricksblog.biz/no-further-comment/

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It remains unclear who exactly instructed the city of Pensacola’s spokesman to launch an anonymous blog-commenting campaign in which he endorsed various aspects of Mayor Ashton Hayward’s agenda while criticizing entities viewed by the administration as political adversaries—including the Pensacola City Council and the Pensacola Police.

“I will have no further comment on this matter,” Public Information Officer Derek Cosson said in an email Friday.

A day prior, during a city council meeting, City Administrator Bill Reynolds had verified that Cosson was behind the anonymous postings. He said a letter of reprimand had been placed in the spokesman’s file, and that Cosson had acted at the direction of a superior who no longer worked for the city.

The administrator did not elaborate on who had instructed Cosson. Reynolds has not yet replied to a message left Friday afternoon; the administrator is not technically allowed to speak to the media—as per a new city press policy, only the PIO or mayor is authorized to speak with the press.

Working the math between the lines, speculation quickly zeroed in on former mayoral chief of staff John Asmar, who recently resigned.

“I never instructed Derek to use aliases to respond or to mischaracterize city council members, or to disparage them, ever,” said Asmar, adding that he had told Cosson to “respond to erroneous information” appearing in the media—“but that would be using his name.”

The former chief of staff said he did not believe Reynolds was referring to him.

“He’s assigned to the MIS department, that’s why I don’t think they’re referring to me,” Asmar said. “Paul Jones is the administrator now, he replaced Sherry—what’s her last name—Posey.”

Another city spokesman, Travis Peterson, also stepped away from his post last year. When contacted Friday, he said he never made anonymous posts in local media and that he never instructed Cosson to do so, either.

“I can only tell you that I didn’t direct Derek,” Peterson said. “I never thought it was a good idea to post under false names.”

The MIS department ultimately falls under the direction of Reynolds. More specifically, the city administrator outlined his involvement with press relations in an October 2011 email to Cosson and Peterson.

“As we continue to grow, I would like to see some more strategic planning in our press operations,” Reynolds wrote, proposing weekly meetings. “In the future, nothing gets released prior to my review. Once I have reviewed, it can then be sent for mayoral approval if required.”

Cosson’s anonymous commenting came to light when Independent News publisher Rick Outzen noticed that a comment from ‘Pensacola Fact Check’—criticizing both Outzen and Pensacola News Journal business reporter Carlton Proctor—stemmed from the same IP address as comments from Cosson. Upon reviewing past comments to ricksblog.biz, Outzen found numerous comments—logged under different names and politically consistent—stemming from the same IP address.

“Without exception, any time I have a comment about something on your blog it will be posted under my name or sent from this email address,” Cosson wrote when questioned about the anonymous posts. “I promise you, neither I nor Mayor Hayward spend half as much time worrying about your blog or your paper as you seem to think.”

Recently, the suspect comments pertained to the mayor’s attempted appointment to Escambia County’s RESTORE Act advisory committee—“David Penzone is highly qualified and would do a great job not just for the mayor but for the city”—and the Gallery Night blow-up that fed into contract negotiations with the Pensacola Police union.

“The thing that’s really surprised me about this whole incident is how the police officers don’t understand WHO THEY WORK FOR … if you or I went into a meeting and badmouthed our boss we would be let go immediately,” one comment read. “I think Hayward is showing a lot of restraint by handling the issue internally.”

A consistently favorite target of the blog comments in question is the city council. Members are referred to as the “KOOK PATROL,” or have their names altered—Pratt is changed to “Prattle,” while DeWeese is “DeWeasel.” The commenter refers to the city’s legislative body as the “Clowncil” and the “three-ring circus,” and individual members as “ridiculous” and “nasty and personal and a drama queen.”

“Our city council is embarrassing,” a commenter going by the name of Lewis J. Christopher logged in September. “What a sideshow.”

Comments apparently attributable to Cosson were often logged under a pseudonym playing off the name of outspoken mayoral-critic C.J. Lewis.

“Hilarious!” commenter Lewis J. Christopher wrote in late August. “Sources say DeWeese realized she couldn’t win her council race and is now desperate to stay in the headlines. Her blog, which reads like a schizophrenic off her medication, is sure to get even more entertaining as it becomes the mouthpiece of her campaign for municipal domination.”
Cosson also used his C.J.-alter ego on other local blogs. Lewis J. Christopher’s appearances included comments on the Pensacola Digest blog, as well as Occupy Pensacola’s Facebook page.

In August, Cosson used the name on the Occupy page to write that DeWeese could “keep writing as much crazy hoo-hah as she wants.” The commenter was confronted at that time by an Occupy representative, as well as, apparently, Lewis himself.

“Wow—the height of flattery—a Christopher J. Lewis impersonator,” wrote Occupy Pensacola. “Having fun being a fake and trying to tarnish a Pensacola resident’s reputation?”

“Mr Lewis is the impersonator,” Cosson replied. “He’s been riding my coattails for years.”

“I have a Facebook Troll? Wow!” commented Christopher J. Lewis the next day. “I bet it’s His Absentee Mayor Ashton J. Hayward III or someone working under orders passed down from the Office of the Mayor …”

OH I luv it. Pcola is a downright funny place to live. Idiots.

Wow. There's enough drama in the Pensacola City Council for a damn soap opera! Several times while reading above article, the words, "PANTS ON FIRE!!" flashed in my head.

I worked with Maren's husband for years and I consider him to be a dear friend (even if he does now work at an arguably questionable law firm... lol). It really ticks me off to read things like what that DB said about her above. She is a good person with a huge heart and a wonderful mother and wife.

Sometimes I wonder whether or not the powers that be have ever traveled outside of Mayberry to see local government operated in an above-board, professional, respectful, legal and effective manner.

These continued, shoddy actions affirm the perception outside our city and state that Pensacola is nothing more than a bastion for rubes staging sophomoric politics. No wonder that the only businesses that this area draws is developers, firms and individuals take advantage of our stupidity, grab the wads of money stuffed into our foolishly open pockets and run.

Rest easy, though; our new embryonic symbol and abandonment of "The City of Five Flags" to "The Upside of Florida", will surely save us from ourselves!

After I retired from the navy in 91, I worked a few jobs before getting hired on the base in 2000. One was as an electrician making $5.50/hr. ALL of the employers used the standard line of "you're retired navy and don't need a big paycheck". I was the ONLY retired military employee in the company. I asked at least 10 different electrical contracrors before getting hired. The same job in Talahassee was paying $15/hr. The contractors normal price for the customer was $89/hr with a 1 1/2 hr minimum change. A friend in NY offered to hire me for $20/hr just changing light bulbs in the power plant. The cost for an electrician in NY, including NY City was $79/hr and they paid the employees doing the work $20-25/hr to start.

On the base, a GS 5 job here is a GS 7 job in Jacksonville or most other areas of the country.

It's the area being run by the good old boys that is keeping out the industry and jobs while they rake in the money from the tourists.

Is this what was meant by "strong" mayor?

whowherewhy wrote:

Is this what was meant by "strong" mayor?

I remember reading conflicting definitions prior to and during the election. See below:

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Strong-mayor form

The strong-mayor form of mayor–council government usually consists of an executive branch, a mayor elected by voters, and a unicameral* (see below note from me) council as the legislative branch.[2]

In the strong-mayor form the elected mayor is given almost total administrative authority and a clear, wide range of political independence, with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads without council approval and little, or no public input. In this system, the strong-mayor prepares and administers the city budget, although that budget often must be approved by the council. Abuses in this form led to the development of the council–manager form of local government and its adoption widely throughout the United States.

In some strong-mayor governments, the mayor will appoint a chief administrative officer who will supervise department heads, prepare the budget, and coordinate departments. This officer is sometimes called a city manager; while the term used in the equally popular council–manager government, the manager is responsible only to the mayor in this variant.

Most major and large American cities use the strong-mayor form of the mayor–council system, whereas middle-sized and small American cities tend to use the council-manager system.[3]

Pakistan, after its devolution plan, has had a variant of the strong-mayor system since 2001. In India, West Bengal has introduced a cabinet-type system of executive, called mayor/chairperson-in-council, in its local governments during 1980–1991, that resembles the strong-mayor system, except that the mayor may be removed through a vote of no-confidence by the elected council in the British model of government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor%E2%80%93council_government#Strong-mayor_form

Following is the very limited (and therefore kinda scary) information online upon cursory Google search for "Pensacola strong mayor":

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Ashton J. Hayward, Mayor

Ashton Hayward was elected Mayor of Pensacola in 2010, after the city passed a new charter forming a "strong mayor" form of government in 2009. Hayward is a native of Pensacola, attended local schools and graduated from Florida State University. Prior to his election as Mayor, Hayward worked in New York City for the AT&T Corporation and the Financial Times. In 2003, Hayward returned to Pensacola with his wife, An, and started a real estate firm which he managed until taking office in 2011.

As Mayor, Ashton manages a city staff of almost 800, a budget of over $200 million, and works with members of the City Council to set policy and the City budget. In addition to managerial and policy duties, the Mayor also serves in an unofficial capacity in guiding local economic development initiatives, leading legislative advocacy efforts to state and federal elected officials and agencies, and ceremonial duties throughout the region.

Ashton and his wife, An, have one son, Aiden.

http://www.cityofpensacola.com/mayor

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*I was not familiar with the word "unicameral" which was utilized to describe a strong mayoral system in the Wikipedia article above and had to look it up. For others with similar less-than-stellar vocabulary such as my own, the definition is "having or consisting of a single legislative chamber."

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unicameral

The synonyms for unicameral are interesting and enlightening:

http://www.synonyms.ca/unicameral-synonyms.htm

Hope this helps, 3w.