Should Escambia County employees be required to resign to run for political office?
The county commission will consider an ordinance next month that might require employees to quit before filing as a candidate for any office.
It is not an unusual idea. Commissioner Robert Bender said during a recent meeting that state employees and employees of other counties are currently required to resign to run.
“If that’s the goal, then you want to have an ordinance that says anyone that is collecting pay from the Board of County Commissioners, for example, would not be able to run for elected office, including contract employees, anywhere on the work chart,” County Attorney Alison Rogers told commissioners.
Commissioner Jeff Bergosh said employees that become candidates can apply to get their job back, but there would be no automatic pass.
“If I decide that I’m going to run for mayor, and I resign this seat,” Commissioner Lumon May said. “If I don’t win mayor, I don’t come back to District 3 (commissioner). We are just out.”
“There’s risk in rewards. If you want to quit your job and run, quit your job and run,” May said, saying would not support any ordinance that would allow the person to return automatically to their job after their campaign.
Rogers said current law prohibits any county employee from, essentially, campaigning on the taxpayer’s dime.
“It is a crime for your employees to use their public time to do campaign activities,” Rogers said. “You need to be on leave. You are not supposed to be on county time, county computer, county phone…it is a crime. We do try to monitor this the best that we can.”
“I don’t have a problem with anyone running. But I will say this. The employer has a say,” Bergosh said.
Bergosh noted that he was not responsible for bringing a potential resign to run ordinance up for discussion. Two years ago, Johnathon Owens, who was an aide to District 2 Commissioner Doug Underhill, ran against incumbent Bergosh for the District 1 seat. Bergosh won with 38.71% of the vote. Owens finished third in the primary with 22.48% behind Jesse Casey with 31.01%
Rogers is expected to bring a resign to run ordinance back to the commission for further discussion and a possible vote in February. The ordinance would apply to any county employee that runs for any political office, not just the county commission.
Under state law, elected officials in Florida must resign in order to seek another elected office.
