RE: Public Records Request
Bob Hurt
To: Laura Rush OSCA Counsel
Cc: Alex Sink, CFO
Thank you, Laura. I appreciate your response.
What does “reasonable time” mean to you? What does the law consider “reasonable time?” How long does it take to walk to a file cabinet, find a judge’s folder, open it up, pull out the oath document, copy it, and send it to me? Why didn’t you send me the CURRENT oath documents and Pay Requisitions? Did you fail to find them when you looked for them? Do they exist at all?
I get the feeling that you want NOT to comply with my request. It took only a day or two to find the oaths you did send me. Why did you send me only out-of-date oath documents?
Now, Laura, the report at http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/02/02-593/02-593_report.pdf explains all the details about the appointment process for senior judges. Della White told me the justices follow it, that she writes the appointment order, the Chief signs it, and she signs and seals it, then releases it, thereby appointing the judge.
If you will read through the procedure in the above report, you will discover that the word “oath” does not appear in it anywhere. And I saw YOUR name in the report as one of the attorneys on the committee that contributed to the report.
Surely you and Elaine “Queen Bee” New (also on the committee) must have known that Florida Statutes 876.05-10 and 105.031 require an 876.05-compliant loyalty oath on file prior to qualification for office, and without it the Senior Judge does not qualify and his office stands vacant. Don’t you bear some responsibility, along with the justices, for the failure 0f that procedure to require the necessary loyalty oath before the prospective appointee can qualify as a candidate for appointment?
876.05 Public employees; oath.--
(1) All persons who now or hereafter are employed by or who now or hereafter are on the payroll of the state, or any of its departments and agencies, subdivisions, counties, cities, school boards and districts of the free public school system of the state or counties, or institutions of higher learning, and all candidates for public office, except candidates for federal office, are required to take an oath before any person duly authorized to take acknowledgments of instruments for public record in the state in the following form:
I, _____, a citizen of the State of Florida and of the United States of America, and being employed by or an officer of _____ and a recipient of public funds as such employee or officer, do hereby solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Florida.
(2) Said oath shall be filed with the records of the governing official or employing governmental agency prior to the approval of any voucher for the payment of salary, expenses, or other compensation.
876.06 Discharge for refusal to execute.--If any person required by ss. 876.05-876.10 to take the oath herein provided for fails to execute the same, the governing authority under which such person is employed shall cause said person to be immediately discharged, and his or her name removed from the payroll, and such person shall not be permitted to receive any payment as an employee or as an officer where he or she was serving.
876.07 Oath as prerequisite to qualification for public office.--Any person seeking to qualify for public office who fails or refuses to file the oath required by this act shall be held to have failed to qualify as a candidate for public office, and the name of such person shall not be printed on the ballot as a qualified candidate.
876.08 Penalty for not discharging.--Any governing authority or person, under whom any employee is serving or by whom employed who shall knowingly or carelessly permit any such employee to continue in employment after failing to comply with the provisions of ss. 876.05-876.10, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
876.09 Scope of law.--
(1) The provisions of ss. 876.05-876.10 shall apply to all employees and elected officers of the state, including the Governor and constitutional officers and all employees and elected officers of all cities, towns, counties, and political subdivisions, including the educational system.
(2) This act shall take precedence over all laws relating to merit, and of civil service law.
. 876.10 False oath; penalty.--If any person required by the provisions of ss. 876.05-876.10 to execute the oath herein required executes such oath, and it is subsequently proven that at the time of the execution of said oath said individual was guilty of making a false statement in said oath, he or she shall be guilty of perjury.
Laura, I ask that you send me the following:
a copy of the recommendations you and Elaine B. New made to the aforesaid committee. Perhaps you did advise the justices of their obligation to SEE the notarized oath document for a senior judge candidate prior to making the appointment.
Also I ask that you send me a copy of the OSCA procedure for authorizing newly elected judges to become public employees and collect a paycheck.
Furthermore, I repeat my request for the CURRENT loyalty oaths and pay requisitions for these judicial officers:
- Senior Judge Thomas M. Gallen
- 6th Circuit Judge Mary L. Fleming
- 12th Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth
- 6th Circuit Judge David Demers
- Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis
Please send the requested documents ASAP by email or Fax.
I really do appreciate your help in this matter. I realize you have limited culpability for the lack of proper procedures in the past which led to the payment of judges and justices without valid oath documents on file as the law requires. However, I worry that the pressures imposed upon you from above could involve or implicate you in a conspiracy to obstruct justice by preventing timely divulgence of public records and timely recommendation of new procedures to make all judges swear new oaths before notaries and required those notary-certified oaths in their personnel files prior to their receiving pay checks, or by preventing the reporting of public officer oath crimes to grand juries or to law enforcement officials in the state and federal governments.
Honestly, Laura, dragging your feet in fulfilling my public records request will only make you, not anyone else, look bad. And, as you know, I want to hold you in the highest esteem. To that end I encourage you stand tall and strong in obeying the laws wholeheartedly, and to consider the implications of the following:
18 USC § 4. Misprision of felony
Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
4 USC § 101. Oath by members of legislatures and officers
Every member of a State legislature, and every executive and judicial officer of a State, shall, before he proceeds to execute the duties of his office, take an oath in the following form, to wit: “I, A B, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States.”
4 USC § 102. Same; by whom administered
Such oath may be administered by any person who, by the law of the State, is authorized to administer the oath of office; and the person so administering such oath shall cause a record or certificate thereof to be made in the same manner, as by the law of the State, he is directed to record or certify the oath of office.
18 USC § 241. Conspiracy against rights
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
The People of Florida have the right to a duly constituted Republican form of government under the US Constitution Article IV Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government...
Thus, any large-scale flouting of oath laws, particularly when encouraged by Attorneys working for OSCA and the State Department, denies us the guaranteed Republican form of government and constitutes a form of treason and insurrection, justifying an appeal for the President of the US call out the militia to protect the people from imposters holding public office, as the preponderance of Florida’s judges now seem to function. According to the Constitution’s annotations:
Similarly, in Luther v. Borden, 7 How. (48 U.S.) 1 (1849), …Chief Justice Taney declared that … Congress had by the act of February 28, 1795, 1 Stat. 424, authorized the President to call out the militia in case of insurrection against the government of any State. It followed, said Taney, that the President “must, of necessity, decide which is the government, and which party is unlawfully arrayed against it, before he can perform the duty imposed upon him by the act of Congress”,334 which determination was not subject to review by the courts.
By the way, contrary to your assertion below that chapter 119 does not require you to provide information to me, I DO have the right to obtain information from you.
The United States Constitution guarantees it in the last 10 words of the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people … to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Florida Constitution similarly guarantees that same right in Article I Section 5:
The people shall have the right … to petition for redress of grievances.
A petition has no meaning or value unless the party petitioned has the obligation to listen to or read the petition and then answer the petition. So, you have the legal duty to answer my questions. You injure me irreparably by refusing or failing to answer timely, truthfully, and completely. As you know, a breach of that legal duty provides grounds for a tort claim for redress of the injury. And, you might want to consider other remedy available to me:
Florida Statute 760.51 Violations of constitutional rights, civil action by the Attorney General; civil penalty.--
(1) Whenever any person, whether or not acting under color of law, interferes by threats, intimidation, or coercion, or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation, or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the State Constitution or laws of this state, the Attorney General may bring a civil or administrative action for damages, and for injunctive or other appropriate relief for violations of the rights secured. Any damages recovered under this section shall accrue to the injured person. The civil action shall be brought in the name of the state and may be brought on behalf of the injured person. The Attorney General is entitled to an award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs if the Department of Legal Affairs prevails in an action brought under this section.
(2) Any person who interferes by threats, intimidation, or coercion, or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation, or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the State Constitution or laws of this state is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation. This penalty may be recovered in any action brought under this section by the Attorney General. A civil penalty so collected shall accrue to the state and shall be deposited as received into the General Revenue Fund unallocated.
Any public employee who forces me to use such a remedy can expect to pay all the costs of doing so, for the state will play a role in the case as prosecutor, thereby requiring the target of litigation to contract and pay for private counsel. Furthermore, my time and resources for prosecuting such a case, in the event the Attorney General decides not to do so, don’t come cheap.
I look forward to receiving the answers and documents I requested soon.
Truly and sincerely,
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Bob Hurt, All
Rights Reserved (UCC 1-308)
2460 Persian Drive #70 × Clearwater, FL
33763
+1 (727) 657-3754 × FAX +1 (206) 222-2012
http://bobhurt.com
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From: Laura
Rush [mailto:Ru...@flcourts.org]
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007
10:18 AM
To: Bob Hurt
Subject: Public Records Request
Mr. Hurt,
In response to your September 30, 1:52 A.M. e-mail, and your October 1 voice mail messages to Della White and to me, please be advised that Florida’s Public Records laws, including Article I, section 24, Florida Constitution, and rule 2.420, Florida Rules of Judicial Administration, and case law interpreting those provisions, permit and authorize a government entity to respond to public records requests within a “reasonable” time. I have already provided you with a partial response to your request. Further response to your request will be provided within the time requirements mandated by Florida law. Please also be advised that Florida public records laws do not encompass requests for information.
Sincerely,
Laura Rush
General Counsel
Office of the State Courts Administrator
500 South Duval Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1900