Florida Health Department's Actions Investigated as Fired Data Manager Now Granted 'Whistleblower' Status (tampabay.com) 105
In March of 2020, Florida's governor was assuring the state that there was no evidence of Covid-19 in Florida, remembers the Washington Post. But there was — as far back as January.
The Miami Herald reports that when questioned Florida's Department of Health told its data manager to hide that data from public view, "emails from within the agency reviewed by the Miami Herald and others show." Eventually that data manager was fired, and within months her home had been raided by gun-toting police officers.
But that's not the end of the story. The latest development? That data manager is now instead "officially a whistleblower under Florida law, the Office of the Inspector General told her attorneys Friday," the Miami Herald reports. The Inspector General now says the data manager has indeed shown "reasonable cause to suspect that an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor has violated [a] federal, state or local law, rule or regulation." Slashdot reader whoever57 notes the move "will grant her certain protections."
The Miami Herald reports: Rebekah Jones, who was responsible for building the COVID-19 data dashboard for the Florida Department of Health, was fired last year after raising concerns about "misleading data" being presented to the public, according to the complaint, which was reviewed by the Miami Herald. In the complaint, filed July 17, 2020, Jones alleged she was fired for "opposition and resistance to instructions to falsify data in a government website." She described being asked to bend data analysis to fit pre-determined policy and delete data from public view after questions from the press — actions she claimed "represent an immediate injury to the public health, safety, and welfare, including the possibility of death to members of the public."
On Friday, the Office of the Inspector General informed Jones that "the information disclosed does meet the criteria for whistleblower status as described by ... Florida statutes," according to the email obtained by the Herald... "It's pretty huge," Jones told the Herald in response to the news. "This isn't vindication but this is a start. It's a big push forward...."
A department spokesperson said at the time that Jones was fired for "insubordination."
There's now an ongoing investigation into Jones' allegations. And in December Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper cited other issues with the state government's transparency:
The Miami Herald reports that when questioned Florida's Department of Health told its data manager to hide that data from public view, "emails from within the agency reviewed by the Miami Herald and others show." Eventually that data manager was fired, and within months her home had been raided by gun-toting police officers.
But that's not the end of the story. The latest development? That data manager is now instead "officially a whistleblower under Florida law, the Office of the Inspector General told her attorneys Friday," the Miami Herald reports. The Inspector General now says the data manager has indeed shown "reasonable cause to suspect that an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor has violated [a] federal, state or local law, rule or regulation." Slashdot reader whoever57 notes the move "will grant her certain protections."
The Miami Herald reports: Rebekah Jones, who was responsible for building the COVID-19 data dashboard for the Florida Department of Health, was fired last year after raising concerns about "misleading data" being presented to the public, according to the complaint, which was reviewed by the Miami Herald. In the complaint, filed July 17, 2020, Jones alleged she was fired for "opposition and resistance to instructions to falsify data in a government website." She described being asked to bend data analysis to fit pre-determined policy and delete data from public view after questions from the press — actions she claimed "represent an immediate injury to the public health, safety, and welfare, including the possibility of death to members of the public."
On Friday, the Office of the Inspector General informed Jones that "the information disclosed does meet the criteria for whistleblower status as described by ... Florida statutes," according to the email obtained by the Herald... "It's pretty huge," Jones told the Herald in response to the news. "This isn't vindication but this is a start. It's a big push forward...."
A department spokesperson said at the time that Jones was fired for "insubordination."
There's now an ongoing investigation into Jones' allegations. And in December Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper cited other issues with the state government's transparency:
- The Florida Department of Health's county-level spokespeople were ordered in September to stop issuing public statements about COVID-19 until after the Nov. 3 election.
- State officials withheld information about infections in schools, prisons, hospitals and nursing homes, relenting only under pressure or legal action from family members, advocacy groups and journalists.
- The governor highlighted statistics that would paint the rosiest picture possible and attempted to cast doubt on the validity of Florida's rising death toll.
"Unfortunately, the possibility of the Department of Health manipulating information is not a stretch," writes the editorial board of the Miami Herald.
For that reason, they write that Jones' whistleblower victory "stands to be a win over state secrecy for the rest of us."
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You're sort of ignoring the part where she abused the state's emergency alert system to push her cause.
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You're sort of ignoring the part where she abused the state's emergency alert system to push her cause.
You're sort of ignoring the part where that's an unproved allegation by someone in the government.
And, you know, nobody in government would ever lie to try to have someone inconvenient hushed. /s
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Nobody in the media is interested in asking this question. I mean if they were, you would see dozens of interviews with independent epidemiologists asking them their opinions on her methodology. You'd probably see polls of scientists in related fields. If the journalists were really good you'd even see detailed explanations of why certain choices made by Rebekah were better or worse than the choices made by the teams at the Department of Health.
Almost nobody in media is capable of asking the questions, and from their political perspective, there is no secondary gain in finding someone.
Because ... federal lawsuit (Score:5, Interesting)
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is in a no-win situation and facing having to defend Florida in a federal lawsuit. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news... [msn.com]
Moody is hoping to bring this back into the state's control with this move. The discovery process for a civil rights case will be a nightmare for DeSantis on this. Every email, every "crush this girl" memo will be on full display. We are going to see immediate arguments in Federal court that this is not a Federal case and can be handled by Florida under Florida's laws and that things are proceeding under the law as they should be.
Re:Because ... federal lawsuit (Score:5, Informative)
Nope. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is the one that had her civil rights complaint moved into Federal court in February. They're locked into that position unless Jones herself asks for the transfer to be reversed.
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Broken link [msn.com] from the reply.
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Nope. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is the one that had her civil rights complaint moved into Federal court in February.
They must have thought their case was a lot stronger than it actually is. (That is, a lot stronger than I perceive it to be.)
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The corporate Democrats have really gotten into the whole false prosecution scam. Produce false charges, fling as much shit as you can before the election, election is over, the case falls apart.
I'm not sure what you are saying here.
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This reads like an AI-powered spam-bot.
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Except for the fact that DeSantis is a Republican, Florida is governed by Republicans, and it's the Florida government that's filing charges, and there's no indication that they're going to drop those charges.
Meanwhile the Florida's AG office is strengthening the defense of the one being charged... so that's going w
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We know she
We know that she
We know that her
You seem to presume that "we" know a lot of things.
I don't know anything except what's been in the news.
Do you have any firsthand sources to share so we can all "know" the same things you do?
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These individuals are the ones who should be exposed and prosecuted along with their managers all the way to the top. If not then this sort of thing will happen again & again.
In addition to being prosecuted, if they have science or medical degrees they should be stripped of them, and work in professions where they present less of a risk to the public.
This behaviour is the complete antitheses of what both those two professions are about, and the impact on public health caused by presenting false data as the truth is huge.
Re:The state of Florida did nothing wrong ... (Score:5, Funny)
...work in professions where they present less of a risk to the public.
Not a good idea... I don't want them spitting on my hamburger
Re:The state of Florida did nothing wrong ... (Score:4, Insightful)
No, when State employees commit crimes while on the job, and are supported in doing so by their co-workers, it is both the individual and the State who committed the crimes. That's how it works. The State is not a person; the State delegated these powers, and is responsible for how they were used.
Why is it always ONE whistleblower? (Score:2)
Re:Why is it always ONE whistleblower? (Score:4, Interesting)
Translation: Only a tiny portion of society can afford to lose their job rather instantly.
Between that and the don't-give-a-shit peanut butter spread across society, we really shouldn't be all that surprised.
Re:Why is it always ONE whistleblower? (Score:5, Interesting)
I listened to an interview with Dr. Jones a few weeks ago. She described her up-bringing as low income ("poor"). Thus, she said that she is used to being poor. She also said that she has a very strong urge to act ethically and morally and so she felt obligated to do the right thing and expose the malfeasance, even though it would risk her job. In the interview, she also said that there were other people in her department who were torn between keeping their jobs and exposing the corruption and that she has no ill-will toward those people who chose to keep their jobs, because she understood the need for people to keep a livelihood. Dr. Jones deserves a great deal of recognition for trying to serve the public in a highly ethical capacity.
More than can be said for most of the state government in Florida. While they forced the rest of the state to reopen and kept local governments from deciding if they wanted masks or not, the state politicians hid behind the excuse of COVID-19 to keep meetings that should be public hidden from the public. What is supposedly the people's business and should be executed in daylight is performed behind closed door in shady circumstances.
I don't remember the date of the interview on the show, but it was in one of the episodes here since probably February:
https://www.wmnf.org/events/11... [wmnf.org]
As an aside, that show used to be called "Radioactivity" (until about 3 weeks ago) and it was hosted by a guy name Rob Lorei. He was a fantastic host. Then the station's management decided to fire him for reasons that are still not public.
Re: Why is it always ONE whistleblower? (Score:5, Insightful)
The courts will figure it out. Not the guy who still says "chick" and "broad".
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I kind of feel like it's in the "It's always in the last place you look" vein. You stopped looking after you found it.
One person blew the whistle and had their life upended, anyone else who was thinking of doing the same wiped their foreheads and said "whew, it wasn't me."
Only in China do you get this shit. (Score:1, Insightful)
Oh, wait, it's in the US.
Guess that's same shit different country then. Hope you all think of this when your are next ranting at China.
Re:Only in China do you get this shit. (Score:5, Insightful)
Checks and balances eventually caught it. There is no real checks and balances in China: You dance to Xi's will or disappear.
Re:Only in China do you get this shit. (Score:5, Informative)
Lol, what checks and balances? This was no different than China other than DeSantis not being able to send her to a labor camp. She spoke out and armed goons showed up to teach her a lesson. The only judge that would even sign off on the raid was newly appointed by DeSantis, and it was the first thing he ever signed. https://www.independent.co.uk/... [independent.co.uk]
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Buried the lede here? Florida has statutes!
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Even with armed goons they were unable to "teach her a lesson," even to dissuade her at all; in fact, their attempt to do so increased her power against them! And now, they're under increased scrutiny as this process continues.
You're a fucking moron if you can't see the difference between than being sent to a "labor camp."
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You know we do prison labor [unicor.gov], right?
Your Idaho potatos are farmed by slaves [thecounter.org]. Take the wool off your eyes.
Yes, China also does it. That doesn't excuse it here. Or there.
Re:Only in China do you get this shit. (Score:5, Insightful)
You know we do prison labor [unicor.gov], right?
Your Idaho potatos are farmed by slaves [thecounter.org]. Take the wool off your eyes.
Yes, China also does it. That doesn't excuse it here. Or there.
The above post is worth repeating at a higher karma level to get it more notice. Consider that UNICOR ~IS~ the US Bureau of Prisons. [bop.gov]
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Oh, wait, it's in the US.
Guess that's same shit different country then. Hope you all think of this when your are next ranting at China.
As of today, there are 4,846 deaths in China attributed to COVID. In a country that holds 18% of the human population
Hope you think of this next time you want to open your fucking mouth about China.
Re:Only in China do you get this shit. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, wait, it's in the US.
Guess that's same shit different country then. Hope you all think of this when your are next ranting at China.
The huge difference is that there is media attention and public discussion leading to a public legal proceedings against the government. That corruption happens in the US is not a surprise at all. The difference is that corruption trials in China are largely a veneer for eliminating political competitors, while in the US, news and social media feely talk about and criticize the government and standing government leaders cannot exercise dictatorial powers without opposition.
Re:Only in China do you get this shit. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yet.
Just give it time.
They don't care. (Score:5, Insightful)
Government is 'enemy territory' to modern conservative ideals. Safe for any attacking actions, no matter the blowback.
That woman put human lives and public awareness of health issues above conservative ideals. Slow-walking whistleblower status, then sending armed officers to teach a lesson to anyone who would act like her is the modern conservative ideal.
There will be no repercussions, because Republicans control the levers of power here in Florida.
That's kind of why this older generation reminds me of a concept.
You can sometimes win every battle, with the biggest army - then still lose the war.
There's a new biggest generation in history - and they've been kept from power for all their lives... the real war is against them, and has kind of always been against them this past 20 years or so.
And by all polling, they're 60-40 to the older generation's 40-60, on basically every issue. Florida is the perfect example of what happens the more concentrated you get that older generation.
But the whole nation will increasingly become that younger generation - and everything will change once that balance of power shifts.
All these unconstitutional actions now are the temper tantrum that this is happening.
Which is a shame - they could have taken the approach of actively working with the younger generation writ large, conveyed more of their most important values - but no, it's been 90% a game of keeping resources away from them, and keep power away at historically unusual levels.
Which makes the concepts at the heart of modern conservative US values so weird and directly self-destructive. Not completely unseen in history - but very strange for modern times.
Ryan Fenton
Re:They don't care. (Score:5)
I've been earning a decent paycheck for many years now. My views have changed, but not towards being more conservative.
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A stereotype of a conservative is, "Okay, I got mine now, fuck the rest!"
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Blue states subsidize red states. Red states are the freeloaders.
Change of subject, or is your Fox Diarrhea kicking in?
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Who died and appointed you Scale God?
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No student loans. Paid off mortgage. The only debt we hold vanishes every payday when I pay off the credit card balance
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Considering that Henry's Ford father immigrated in the 1847, and the US had open borders until 1875, it does seem like an open border policy did end up giving the US a huge advantage.
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I am the opposite. Got steadily more conservative over the decades as my tax rate went from 0% to 40%.
When Republicans talk about tax cuts, they're not talking about you or me.
Stop being a fucking tool.
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Except that the total taxes paid isn't progressive. The poor pay very little in payroll taxes (e.g., none), but they pay most of their income in consumption taxes (because lots of things are taxed, like toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, etc, and being poor, those items cost a lot more relative to the take home income).
In addition, the very rich, they don't pay much in payroll taxes
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Most of us aren't making well over $400k a year (the start of the 39.6% tax bracket in past years). Since our tax system is progressive, one would have to make well over that amount in order to have an effective tax rate even come close to 40%.
Even in my state, which has high state income taxes, you'd have to make over $200k a year as a single filer just to have the top sliver of income be taxed at arou
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The old generation of today is a lot more tolerant than the old generation of the 50s. Times do change. Maybe we still have a two party lock on politics, but the politics also change and the two parties adapt with it. There is a bit of nostalgia here, as one party is now thinking fondly on the days when you could just accuse someone of being a commie and get away with, which is why these accusations now are being tossed out left and right in an era when commies aren't a threat anymore.
Re:They don't care. (Score:4, Informative)
I don’t have a strong view on the evidence underlying her claims - mainly because I haven’t actually seen it - but I think the hotair article might have been trying to leap to a conclusion. The central tenet of their position seems to be that because Jones did not have control of the data that underpinned her dashboard, she could not possibly have been able to edit the data at source. The article basically says that any changes Jones made to the data in the dashboard could have been spotted, instantly, by the people submitting it.
That doesn’t look to be unreasonable on the face of it. On the other hand, it does seem to make some pretty significant assumptions
1. It assumes that there were no other attempts being made to coerce other participants in the data preparation process to also falsify data.
2. It assumes that the individual contributors of data would have access to *all* the data and would therefore be able to determine that Jones’ dashboard was incorrect. [I don’t know who did the final data totalisation, but] What would happen if Jones was being sent copies of raw data from individual sources [as was, say, De Santis’ office], so essentially Jones was the only one who saw the complete picture before she published her web data.
3. Given De Santis’ track record, Jones would have to be completely insane to think that she could make this claim without getting some form of retaliation. Put to one side all the other history here and ponder why someone would go public with this accusation.
As I said above, I don’t have the facts here; I’m willing to keep an open mind, but on the face of it the hotair.com article was pretty much exactly that - hot air.
HotAir was started by Michelle Malkin (Score:2)
But the beauty of that article is that it has a link to
https://cbs12.com/news/local/o... [cbs12.com]
That article states clearly:
-- The Tampa Bay Times ultimately obtained emails relating to Jonesâ(TM) employment with DOH, which proved that shortly before leaving her job Jones was asked to take down a column on the dashboard relating to the âoeEventDateâ of COVID cases.
-- The âoeEventDateâ field of the dashboard displayed the dates of when people first reported potential symptoms of coronavirus
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3. Given De Santis’ track record, Jones would have to be completely insane to think that she could make this claim without getting some form of retaliation. Put to one side all the other history here and ponder why someone would go public with this accusation.
Because it gets her fame, and gets her feted? All the "right" people treat her like a hero.
Oh yeah, and people make contributions to her, literally give her money (she didn't like the platforms taking fees though, so she asked them to send checks, lol).
She made the reasonable assumption that by supporting the ideology that rules many institutions, she would come out pretty damn good. And so far, she has. Don't pretend she was some brave hero here.
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As I said above, I don’t have the facts here; I’m willing to keep an open mind, but on the face of it the hotair.com article was pretty much exactly that - hot air.
The hotair article cites this CBS story [cbs12.com] - you know, those noted rabid conservatives at CBS, lol.
We should start drawing a distinction (Score:5, Interesting)
Conservatives are just afraid of losing what little they have. The Authoritarian Right Wing recognized this and is exploiting it for political gain. The right wing is actually extremely radical in their policies and beliefs, and if conservatives weren't so inundated with well crafted propaganda they'd recognize that and abandon them.
Driving a wedge between actual conservatives and the Authoritarians is necessary to protect democracy.
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What's the practical difference between a radical authoritarian and an actual conservative who always voted for radical authoritarian candidates?
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Um.. do you remember who the conservatives were, and what it took [life.com] to make them into "progressives"?
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Here is what the right wing believes should happen:
https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
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But the whole nation will increasingly become that younger generation - and everything will change once that balance of power shifts.
You mean the generation with their indifferent faces in their phones all day slurping up "news" from social media?
Can't wait.
Credit? (Score:2)
Thanks for posting this story 30 minutes after I submitted it, with no credit.
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You didn't even read the summary, did you.
Otherwise, it was a pretty lazy submission. You're lucky to get mentioned at all.
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Thanks for posting this story 30 minutes after I submitted it, with no credit.
"Slashdot reader whoever57 notes the move "will grant her certain protections."
Right, no credit what so ever.
You idiotic ass wipe.
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Slashdot reader whoever57 notes the move "will grant her certain protections."
What were you hoping for, the Nobel Peace Prize?
Changing the subject? (Score:5, Informative)
But actually, you don't even need Rebekah Jones as your source to prove Florida's numbers are suspect. Slashdot's blurb specifically notes that it's the Miami Herald that's saying they've seen emails where the Department tells Jones to delete the January data.
Also, it's the Sun-Sentinel that says Florida fudged the other numbers.
So it's pretty clear that Florida was involved in some data flim-flam. (Which does also make Rebekah Jones seem very credible)
Re: Changing the subject? (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.tampabay.com/news/... [tampabay.com]
That day, according to the Miami Herald, reporters contacted the department to ask about the "EventDate" field of data, which showed when people first reported coronavirus symptoms or positive test results. Some people had listed dates as early as January 1, indicating people reported symptomatic or tested positive much earlier than when cases were confirmed in March. It is unclear when the state learned about those cases, or when the people were tested.
Sometime that day, the column vanished from the "Person Cases" data, which lists anonymized records for every confirmed case in Florida. The Palm Beach Post reported the disappearance the next day, May 5.
The Tampa Bay Times automatically checks for changes in the data and archives new updates. Shortly before 10:12 a.m on May 4., data still included the EventDate field, showing records with listed dates that people reported symptoms as early as January 1. By 3:02 p.m., the column was gone.
Good. (Score:1)
Hang Ron DeSantis by his Trumpy conservative ballsack.
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Heh. That's not the portrait hanging in the post office.
Loser.
Which OIG? (Score:2)
I see that there is an OIG for Florida State [myflorida.com], which seems the most logical choice, but the Tampa Bay Times article isn't specific and I'm curious to know if it was a different one.
Thanks in advance for anyone who can fill in that blank...
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Really sorry if this is a silly question to ask... but does anyone know which "OIG" made this determination please?
I see that there is an OIG for Florida State [myflorida.com], which seems the most logical choice, but the Tampa Bay Times article isn't specific and I'm curious to know if it was a different one.
Thanks in advance for anyone who can fill in that blank...
It also says the determination was
under Florida law
so there is no ambiguity; it was the Flordia OIG.
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So ... (Score:1)
Authoritarian Fascism is alive and well (Score:5, Insightful)
... in Florida. If this starts to go very far, people will start to flip into the investigation camp. It would be nice if this made its way to DeSantis and that smarmy fecker ended up in an orange jumpsuit as a result.
Um, no (Score:3)
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My opinion (Score:1)