To block, or not to block: Jacksonville City Councilors mull Twitter protocol

On Tuesday afternoon, the Jacksonville City Council Rules Committee pondered the question of whether one public official can block another on Twitter.

At issue: a resolution asking Attorney General Ashley Moody to weigh in on this matter, which opens up a larger question: whether tweets by a public official are necessarily public record.

The panel deferred action on the measure.

Jacksonville, where officials have struggled with records retention at times, is an interesting testing ground for these questions.

Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett Dennis, a Democrat, was irked some weeks back when Council President Aaron Bowman, a Republican, “blocked” him on Twitter.

Strong leaders don’t block people.#CurryCrimeWave

— Member of the Lot J 7 (@GarrettDennis_1) December 29, 2018

Dennis and Bowman have frequently lobbed bombs at each other using the popular social media platform.

https://twitter.com/AaronAbowman/status/1096970629935435777

Additionally, a dispute between Bowman and Dennis during 2018’s race for the Council Presidency led to each accusing the other of Sunshine Law violations.

A federal judge ruled last year that President Donald Trump was not allowed to block followers on the popular social media platform, yet he still blocks people nonetheless.

Dennis invoked this ruling in his testimony. A federal appeals judge in Virginia made a similar ruling regarding a local office holder earlier this year also.

City attorney Steve Durden contended that Twitter is a public forum for public officials, and that “you can’t pick and choose” who is allowed to follow “once you’ve decided to discuss your public affairs” on the platform.

“If you post information … relative to your official duties,” said Durden, “that’s a public record.”

Councilwoman Lori Boyer, the only attorney on the body, wondered why Moody’s opinion was necessary.

“We don’t typically seek ratification,” Boyer said, of opinions from the Office of General Counsel.

“At the moment,” Boyer said, “It’s settled in Jacksonville.”

“Everybody should be keeping everything as a public record,” Boyer deadpanned.

Boyer also asked about sock puppet accounts maintained by City Council members, who might not disclose their identities, and if conversations with those accounts were inadvertent violations of the Sunshine Law.

Democrat John Crescimbeni, supportive of the resolution, wondered what the downside was of reaching out to Moody for clarification.

Dennis noted in close that the General Counsel urged him to push forward on this.

“A lot of things I do, I go to the state Ethics Commission. Why not take it to the state?”

Skepticism was not dispelled.

Republican Matt Schellenberg didn’t buy Dennis’ account of the General Counsel’s opinion. And Lori Boyer invoked “home rule” as a reason to quash the inquiry.

“This is asking a frivolous question,” griped Republican Bill Gulliford.

Rules Chair Tommy Hazouri, no ally of Dennis’, concurred with that logic.

The committee will talk to General Counsel Jason Gabriel next time it meets.

For now, no action.