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New Ordinance Requires County Employees To Quit Before Running For County Commission
March 7, 2022
Escambia County has approved an ordinance that requires county employees to resign before running for the county commission.
The commission backed away from previous discussion of an ordinance that would require a resignation to run for any political office and settled on just candidates for the five commission seats. On a motion from Commissioner Doug Underhill, the ordinance passed 5-0.
The ordinance applies to employees of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners, but not the commissioners themselves as they don’t work for the BOCC.
Comments
25 Responses to “New Ordinance Requires County Employees To Quit Before Running For County Commission”
I bet every single one of those commissioners, especially the ones who hop from one political office to another need their paychecks. Why should any County employee have to give up theirs? And why do these commissioners get to vote on something that solely benefits them? That is ridiculous. Vote these sneaky boyz out of office…all of them. In fact, let’s all vote that they aren’t EVER allowed to return.
Don’t put up with this nonsense, Voters!
All of the people complaining are a day late and a dollar short. Not 1 person stood up and opposed this decision at the board meeting before it was voted on. Not 1
Wonder how much is paid for each district regarding their staff I.e Aides, phone answer people, analyst’s and advisors etc. are they paid by each commissioner or are they county employees? Is there an annual allotment ? Also, does each commissioner have to reside ( live) in their districts ? What else is provided to commissioners other than Salary ?
Ethically, you should recuse yourself from voting for something that is going to directly benefit you.
Here’s an idea, make all the local city and county races non partisan that way it’s an open primary.
So only the rich can run? Who else could afford to quit to run? There is little chance this would withstand a court challenge. They are carving out portions of the population and eliminating their ability to run. They should all be voted out.
Right on.
The county law affects not just county employees but people performing services for the county as a temp employee, i.e. those people in the private sector who are not government employees. The county law appears to be in conflict with Section 99.012, Florida Statutes as well as multiple Attorney General Opinions and Division of Election Opinions. Bergosh says that such county laws are “ubiquitous” but that does not seem to be the case and even if they were the fact that one or more counties adopt a law does not make it legal. No one in Tallahassee checks to verify that county laws are legal. There was no legal analysis provided in support of the ordinance. I suspect that if a county employee challenged the law in court it would be found unconstitutional to include because the Florida Legislature has preempted local governments on this issue. To be sure, the county’s collective bargaining unit should seek a legal opinion on behalf of the employees.
Be sure to vote out the Communist dictators of the Escambia county commission as soon as possible. they are being ridiculous passing laws that apply to other people but not themselves. Why should anyone be required to quit their job to run for office. Better yet, impeach them.
We must vote AGAINST every incumbent commissioner! They have nobody’s interest but their own, but do they ever show up for photo ops, TV reporters questions(which they may then evade), but ask an important question at a BOC meeting and they’re defensive. Let’s change the commision!!
For someone who’s constantly throwing out conservative ideals of freedom like Doug Underhill claims he’s definitely a train wreck when it comes to enacting them. He’s constantly fighting against them and acting like he’s above the law and the ethics of public service.
Those fabulous FIVE prolly not worried…the public seems to have short memories and some don’t even suspect anything’s going-on !
Wish I was younger and worked for the county. I would ban 100PLUS employees to run for CC and quit on the same day
O Really,This is the same as Washington DC..No Vote. We will just make up our own rules.Nevermind the Peoples choice..Put it to a vote…
Voters of Escambia County remember this at election time and show up and vote.
So all county employees have to quit their jobs and be without a paycheck for months if they decide to run, but the county commissioners can keep theirs and the money they make from it while they run for re-election. Totally makes sense.
You mean our county’s run by crooks?
Can’t think of any of the FIVE that should be re-elected. Vote them out…maybe the next group will remember who they should be working for !
You can not seek public office unless you quit your job?
Blatantly unlawful.
Again..there is an appearance of a double standard here…whether it’s resigning a county job to run for county commissioner or ” special” retirement plans for “higher ups”.. this does not pass the smell test..What has happened to the concept of SERVING THE PEOPLE INSTEAD OF THEMSELVES??
Wow. I’ve never considered that 5 CC would all get voted out of office over the same issue.
This should be put to the residents to vote on. sounds like the commissioners are placing hurdles in the way of county employees when it comes to running for office.
This is what I would expect from communist, NOT American citizens!!!! I seriously hope everyone one of these commissioners will be voted out, because we !the people told them not to do this!!!!!
Mr. Bergosh, I am severely disappointed in your decision to vote yes on this ordinance, as someone as well educated as yourself, I expected better from you, you will not be getting my families support anymore!!!!!
Good way to keep the riffraff out of their exclusive club. Goes along with the corruption we see daily in government at all levels, why should this be any different? Don’t feel bad, I hear even the Ukraine government has or had some of this type of thing going on. This county thing is a bit bald and in your face tho, I must admit. I remember when Col. Sanders died, KFC made a tv commercial that had him as a cartoon character saying, “I’m the Colonel, I can do that!” Seems we’re getting a bit of that attitude downtown, eh?
Thanks Underhill, yes it was a bad idea, from the book of bad ideas to try to get your aide on a seat on the same commissioner board you were on. Campaign tried to politicize the firefighters and encourage them to play politics on social media when that was against company policy during that time frame in 2020.
Or maybe Underhill was just so shook up over losing in federal court and having to now release all those Facebook PMs and also having to admit to the ethics committee he was taking donations from the guy that wanted to buy OLF8 and didn’t report it. Perhaps he didn’t even know what he was making a motion on during the meeting. He was not present at agenda review that morning. He sounded confused on his comments later on his public facebook propaganda page trying to explain it to his de facto press secretary.
Even so, that makes sense, resign to run, because it contributes to a toxic situation to mire politics with governance.