Pam Childers contests county expenses on lawsuit against PNJ over Bergosh text

Escambia Clerk of Court and Comptroller Pam Childers is contesting the county's spending on a lawsuit over Commissioner Jeff Bergosh's text messages.

Childers sent a letter to the county attorney's office on Friday saying that she could not authorize attorney pay for the time worked on a lawsuit against the Pensacola News Journal and two others that sought to have Bergosh's leaked text messages returned.

A Okaloosa County judge ruled earlier this month that the county's lawsuit against the newspaper "ran afoul of the First Amendment" and the lawsuit was aimed at suppressing public discussion of the messages which are of public importance.

The judge said the case qualified for Florida's anti-SLAPP law, which imposes penalties for "strategic lawsuits against public participation." The Anti-SLAPP law allows people to collect court costs and fees against governmental entities who try to use lawsuits to shut down discussions of matters of public interest.

Bergosh text messages: Escambia lawsuit over Bergosh texts dismissed, county must pay PNJ's attorneys fees

In her letter, Childers requested the time the county attorney's office spent working on the case and that pay for that time cannot made with public funds.

"Any work performed on this case, or on any corresponding appellate matter, cannot be funded with public funds," Childers wrote in the letter. "To do so would violate the fundamental concept that public funds can only be expended for public purposes."

Childers said in her letter that the judge ruled the text messages were never the property of the county but the private property of Bergosh.

"Therefore, there should be no dispute that the beneficiary of this litigation or appellate action is JeffBergosh personally, and not the County or its taxpayers," Childers wrote.

In the last few years, Childers has clashed with the County Commission several times, most notably with the county's local retirement plan for commissions. Childer challenged the program in court, and a judge ruled that it violated the Florida law as it amounted essentially to a pay increase not authorized by the Florida Legislature.

"I remind the County that it is a fundamental concept in Florida law that public funds must be used for public purposes. We have strayed from this principle in Escambia County," Childers wrote. "Continued misappropriation of taxpayer dollars and resources on private matters must stop immediately."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pam Childers contests county expenses on lawsuit over Bergosh texts