Orange leaders settle 'textgate', pay $90,000
Orange County leaders have settled the "textgate" civil lawsuit and agreed to pay $90,000 to advocates of paid sick time who sued them for alleged open-government violations.
The civil suit was filed in late 2012 by Citizens for a Greater Orange County, a coalition of groups that led the fight for a paid-sick-time referendum opposed by county officials and local tourism interests.
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"For the first time in history, Orange County citizens successfully petitioned their government in 2012," the group wrote. "Unfortunately instead of having the right to vote on earned sick time, the County Commission illegally blocked that right after secretly texting with corporate special interests who wanted to make sure the vote never happened."
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Each of the defendants had lost or deleted phone texts messages that they had sent or received with lobbyists or other opponents of the ballot measure.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-textgate-civil-lawsuit-settlement-20140113,0,818454.story