Now before I continue I am going to say I spoke to someone in the “inner circle” of the command staff. This person wanted to clarify things, off the record. I have to say it is unsettling how little respect this person has for my intelligence as well every single one of the people who are witnessing this situation up close.

This is what I was told: The first order of business: Purportedly, it was “demeaning” to imply Whitney is “a bookkeeper”. To clear things up, what I said was that she had a bookkeeping background. By the sounds of it, I am going to say it was Whitney who felt strongly about my wording. I asked the source if she had a degree in accounting, to which I was told, “no”. So I asked what should I had said. The answer was “she has a background as a CFO”. While the reality is that she held that position in other jobs, lacking an actual, physical degree, or expertise that is gained by formal education, to say she has a background in bookkeeping may be too generous of a description. She oversaw people who had degrees in these positions. While she may have practical insight, had her position as “Chief of Staff” been open to applications from people within and outside the agency, she would have undoubtedly been a lesser candidate. That was not what happened.

This brings me to my second point; I was told that Whitney “brings value to the agency that is unmatched”. I could say something demeaning about what skills she, speculatively, brings to the table, but those comments are what everyone else is currently thinking; therefore, I will refrain. But I would question this assertion of her value by pointing everyone to the travel completion voucher that is far less than consistent. Her own records are less accurate than even Lyter or Chip’s. Until I brought up the inconsistencies in her voucher, no one had caught the issues. Draw your own conclusions.

Next, because it was unclear as to what days she may have been at the conference in Jacksonville, (especially since the hotel stay for Chitney was refunded as to both. But I will get to that in a minute), I requested her badge swipe history for February and her payroll info for that time. Now the more interesting thing in this is actual times she seems to be at this $165k a year job. These swipes are for entering the building and different areas of the ECSO. So there are no indications after swiping how long she stayed except to review the next swipe.

She’s a bit loosey goosey with when she is physically at this job for this month. As she is salaried, there are no clock in times.

The next thing my source on the inside said was that the hotel rooms were refunded because the wrong cards were charged. Personal credit cards were charged as opposed to the Florida Sheriff’s Association. So the charges were reversed. But I still have a problem. You see, there was never a correct charge paid. It wasn’t reversed and recharged to the correct card. It was simply refunded. Unless that is, there is no receipt of that provided in the travel packet, which would be another problem with Whitney “adding value” to the agency. Seems that wasn’t caught by anyone looking at that details of these receipts. But maybe I’m just nitpicking. Who needs that level of accuracy in a governmental agency?

Now there is one more conjecture I want to mention–only because it came from different people and it really does make sense of some of the errant facts. So has anyone thought about why Whitney is attending conferences that are decidedly unrelated to Chief of Staff duties. It is hypothesized that Chip’s running for a third term to allow for him to step aside and make way for the first female of the Escambia Sheriff’s Office. That would explain a great deal. Sorry Andy…looks like you’re shit out of luck.