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Court upholds firing of county worker

A federal judge calls the remarks "sophomoric."

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published November 10, 2006

TAMPA - An appeals court has upheld a federal ruling that justified the firing of a Hillsborough County employee after he made "tasteless and vulgar" comments to a commissioner at a public meeting.

Gary Mitchell was a part-time employee with Hillsborough Government Television. He often operated cameras during County Commission meetings.

He was fired after making graphic remarks about female genitalia to former Commissioner Ronda Storms at an April 2002 meeting.

Storms was leading a discussion that questioned the funding for a public access station that aired a sexually explicit program.

Mitchell spoke as a member of the "Thunderheads," an organization he described as a political support group, which was also a play on Storms' name. He said they couldn't decide whether to call Storms "Vagi" or "Gina" and wanted her input.

After the county fired him, Mitchell filed a lawsuit alleging that his civil rights had been violated and that his speech was protected under the First Amendment.

He sued to protect his civil rights and make sure that no one else's were threatened, he said.

A federal magistrate judge dismissed the case, saying Mitchell had personally attacked Storms. In an opinion filed Oct. 31 and written by Circuit Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed.

"Comprised solely of sophomoric name-calling and contempt-communicating expressive acts, there is nothing in the content of Mitchell's speech that communicated anything of value to a matter of public opinion," the appeals judge wrote. "Instead ... Mitchell's speech could only be viewed as a personal attack on Commissioner Storms."

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 10, 2006, 07:01:28]