Slogging, Sllogging, Slogging Through a Public-information Request

No, Linda. I am not calling you a liar. As a citizen, I pray that you are this citizen's and all citizens' advocate to true public information. You are the nexus of truth between the school board and the citizens whom you serve. It's a grave job.

I ask for a record of the last three jobs Hamilton had; their job description, their advertising if any, the competing applicants' submissions if any.

I want to know how Dr. Hamilton's job history ends with the school board. That is my simple aim.

I am convinced that Ms. Elia invented him a job after his official retirement date.

The state of Florida pension people will tell me when he began his pension. That would be his retirement data. A job past that time with the Hillsborough County School Board would be an invented job, the one the clerk told me he was on the job's papers for before it was announced.

Why would the clerk tell me that he got a job before it was listed ? Surely she was not lying . She thought she was just doing her job.

I have written to the pension people for the state as to when Dr. Hamilton began his pension. If he began it before he left HCC (I recall everybody got up and applauded him when it was announced by the board chair that he would be leaving. There was no enthusiastic applause. Dr. Hamilton was not popular.

According to my calculation,l this was seven months after his official retirement date.

Let's keep this businesslike. I will need this information when I appeal to the Secretary of Education for redress in the Kipley, Smiley, Sosa, and Morris Professional Standards cases that you told me Mr Valdez would not process.l

You will always be my source for public information unless the adminstration upper crust fires you. In which case I expect you to come to me for help, and I will help all that I can, and that is a considerable amount.

I have to trust your truthfulness or file a complaint against you. I would prefer the former.

Let's stick simply to the facts of the records. We can get through this one email at a time. lee

-----Original Message----- From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us] Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 1:32 PM To: lee Subject: Re: public information Am I taking what you wrote wrong, or are you calling me a liar? Linda E. Cobbe External Communications Manager Hillsborough County Public Schools 901 E. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33602 813-272-4602 (O) 813-493-6964 (C) 813-272-4510 (F) Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen. "lee" writes: Let me see if I have this right. You maintain that Dr. Hamilton did not have a job created for him by Ms.Elia after his retirement was scheduled to begin at the end of his regular career with the school system. You imply he just kept on working. A clerk told me he did get a new job and that his name was attached to it before it went on the books. In addition, I have the clearest memory that you said Ms. Elia did away with his last job when he left about seven months later. If his last job was the second in command to Elia, then that would mean Otero's job was done away with. But Otero took Hamilton's job at the time of Hamilton's scheduled retirement date. There is a penciled-in careted insertion of his name over Otero's on the Web site at the time he held that hold-over job. I also recall getting from somebody that the created job for Hamilton after Otero occupied Hamilton's job paid $140,000 a year. Give me the last three job descriptions he has held, please. with dates. You say you have them available. I also want the citation in state regulations about charging citizens for public-information research. In this job situation with Hamilton, we have an instance in which the citizens must trust to the honesty of a person in your position in the schools. That's why honesty is listed first in your job description. You owe your allegiance in providing truthful information first the citizens, not to the people in ROSSAC. It doesn't matter whether you like the person asking for the information or not. Your job is to provide truthful information to the public. Your job represents a pubic trust. lee -----Original Message----- From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us] Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 1:44 PM To: lee Cc: Stephen Hegarty Subject: Re: public information Lee - The scenario you describe just did not happen. He wasn't in DROP, so he wasn't scheduled to retire. You have reviewed and/or received every job description Jim Hamilton has had in the last 10 years. There are no position descriptions, salaries, or other records related to his employment with the district that we haven't already provided to you. This is nothing new. If you do still want these records again, I will have to charge you for my time to duplicate efforts I already made once, plus you'll be charged for the time it takes the folks in payroll to gather everything again. You usually aren't charged for my work, but I have devoted more hours to fulfilling your public records requests than to possibly all others combined. I can't give an exact estimate, but the invoice would be more than $40. Linda E. Cobbe External Communications Manager Hillsborough County Public Schools 901 E. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33602 813-272-4602 (O) 813-493-6964 (C) 813-272-4510 (F) Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen. "lee" writes: Ms. Cobbe: I resubmit my request for the items listed below. If there are any other linquistic problems, pray reply immediately so that I can clarify them for you. I expect the answers within 48 hours as is suggested by the attorney general's site on provision of public information by public bodies. lee -----Original Message----- From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us] Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 9:09 AM To: lee Subject: Re: public information Ms. DeCesare: At the time of his retirement? That would be when he retired. Linda E. Cobbe External Communications Manager Hillsborough County Public Schools 901 E. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33602 813-272-4602 (O) 813-493-6964 (C) 813-272-4510 (F) Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen. "lee" writes: Ms. Cobbe: Dr. James Hamilton retired last year. At the time of his scheduled time of retirement, Ms. Elia created a transition job for him with a fancy title and a $140,000 pay rate. A clerk told me his name was on the job before it even went on the books. Here's the sequence. Dr. Hamilton was supposed to retire at a certain date. He stayed on in a new job Ms. Elia created for him. This is the job I refer to below: I would like this public information about this job: 1, the job description; 2. its salary; 3. the ads placed and in what venues for this job and how long they ran; if there were no ads, please say "none." If they were, cite those and give me the applications of the people who applied for the job in competition with Dr. Hamilton; 4. the length of time Dr. Hamilton held this ad hoc bridge job and what total salary the state paid him for his incumbency in the job; 5. whether Ms. Elia did away with this job when Dr. Hamilton quit to retire and any reasons she cited for abolishing the position; 5. a Was the job listed on the Consent Agenda? Did the board on the dais approve this created job for Dr. Hamilton? 6. the date that Ms. Elia via the board created the current lobbyist job that she awarded to Dr. Hamilton. The official description of this job; 7. the ads and their venues for this lobbyist job that Dr. Hamilton now holds if any and how long the ads ran if the job were advertised; if there was no advertising for the job, say "none"; 8, a copy of any other applicants' applications for the lobbying job if it were advertised; 9. the salary for the lobbying job when it was awarded to Dr. Hamilton; 10. whether the rumor is true that Dr. Hamilton has received a boost in the salary for this job to $96,000. 11. notes of discussion that the board held off the board podium in conference with the administration about the creation of both the Hamilton bridge job and also his current lobbying job and the salaries each job garnered initially for Dr. Hamilton; 12. whether the board attorney reviewed these hires of Dr. Hamilton and approved of them; any notes the board attorney made on his decisions relating to these hires; 13. the attorney general cites 48 hours for a citizen to receive requested public information. Since you are on summer schedule, let the information requested have twice that amount of hours on working days for you to send me these data. Thank you. lee drury de cesare 15316 Gulf Boulevard 802 Madeira Beach, FL 33708 727-398-4142 tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com