'Textgate' Scandal Forces First of Its Kind in the Nation Text Message Archive Documenting 2,000 Orange County Employees Text Messages

By Ken Storey

Remember that Sick Time proposal that 50,000 area voters signed in support of only to have Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs text with local lobbyists (that link is a major Huffington Post story on the scandal, how embarrassing is that) and businesses in a successful attempt to block it from the November 6, 2012 Orange County ballot?  The proposal was forced to head to Tallahassee where it was ultimately struck down for a final blow when just on June 15, 2013 Rick Scott signed a new law into effect banning local governments from enacting mandatory paid-sick time measures. 

The push to shift the proposal from the local government to Tallahassee was a concerted effort on the part of local politicians.  Lew Oliver, Orange County GOP Chairman, texted at least one commission on the eve of the Orange County commissioners voting on what to do with the sick time proposal that it needs to be delayed, which they complied with the following day, so that Tallahassee "can deliver the kill shot." In all five of the six county commissioners were aware of the concerted effort to defeat the sick time proposal before the meeting in regards to the ballot proposal had even begun.

 One commissioner, Jennifer Thompson, texted Disney lobbyist Sharon Smoley a shocking 32 times during the meeting itself.  Commissioner Scott Boyd, who originally denied being involved with any text messages with lobbyists on the day of the vote, received text messages from Smoley and three other lobbyists on the day of the vote.  The other lobbyist whom he received text messages from included: Rich Maladecki of the Central Florida Hotel and Motel Association, Beth Thibodaux of Darden Restaurants and Shannon Gravitte of Mears Transportation.

After the 'Textgate' scandal broke Mayor Jacobs quickly (and oddly since she herself was one of the major focuses of the scandal) became an advocate for a more open local government.  By November, long after the proposal was dead in the water here in Orange County and on its way to a “kill shot”  in Tallahassee, Jacobs set out to block commissioners from texting during meetings.  By January, 2013 she had plenty of ideas on how to bring light to these public records.  Her proposals included having all lobbyists log all contacts with herself and the commissioners, including phone calls and text messages, within seven days of the conversation.  She also proposed a ban on lobbying via text messages or voicemail.  She recommended that board members, herself included, ban using personal devices for official county business.  The proposals were ultimately voted down by the commission in late February.

Eventually a compromise was agreed upon though and now Orange County, Florida is the first county government in the nation to use to implement text-tracking technology on cell phones or smart phones that are issued to over 2,000 county employees.  The system, known as TextGuard, will automatically archive all text and digital communications.  Costing $97,000, the system is a tamper-proof ‘app’ that will allow for public inspection via a public records request on all text messages from and to these employees that is pertaining to county business. 

In a written release published on June 17 Jacobs says in regards to the new system that “These changes in our practices are consistent with the high standards we have established for transparency and open government and implement a mechanism to maintain all text messages on county-issued devices in accordance with public records laws.”

Along with the new app the over 2,000 employees it affects “were required to undergo public records training that also outlined new administrative regulations relating to changes in technology and the importance of maintaining transparency. Participants then signed a form of acknowledgement,” according to an official press release from the county regarding TextGuard.  And no, the official press release from the county predictably doesn't mention the sick-time ballot scandal at all.  County CIO Rafael Mena did acknowledge that the new system is a direct result from the scandal though in a recent interview with Government Technology magazine.