On Monday, March 13th, the Federal District Court granted the City of Tallahassee’s motion to dismiss a complaint filed by Taylor Biro. Biro filed the complaint after being removed from Tallahassee’s Citizens Police Review Board.
In response to the Biro’s claims related to freedom of speech, citing case law, Judge Allen Winsor wrote:
At the very least, the City has wide discretion in determining whether Biro’s
speech undermined its mission—and what to do about it. The City’s discretion “includes the prerogative to remove employees whose conduct hinders efficient operation and to do so with dispatch. Prolonged retention of a disruptive or otherwise unsatisfactory employee can adversely affect discipline and morale in the work place, foster disharmony, and ultimately impair the efficiency of an office or agency.”
In an email to appointed officials, City Attorney Cassandra Jackson wrote, “Even though the Court provided the opportunity to amend the complaint, Judge Winsor specifically stated that it appears unlikely that Ms. Biro could succeed in stating a plausible claim. The Court essentially determined that the City’s legitimate interest in having a trusted, unbiased Board member to pursue its interest was of greater weight than Ms. Biro’s interest. The City could remove an appointed board member for speech inconsistent with its interest. Please let me know if you have any questions. The order is attached.”
Biro is free to say whatever she wants (within the four corners of the law... can't yell 'fire' whenever you want; can't call in a bomb threat; can't threaten someone verbally or in writing; etc). However, if someone publishes slurs - irrespective of the target (except Nazis... we are all free insult Nazis), one should expect there to be repercussions. Biro hopefully learned a lesson from this experience about free speech.
@ Titus... allow me to reiterate the reality:
“To improve relations between its police department and the community, the City of Tallahassee established a Citizen Police Review Board… The City Commission appointed Plaintiff Taylor Biro to serve as one of the Board’s nine members… But after Biro showed up at public meetings with an “abolish police” sticker on her cup, the City Commission voted to remove her.”
Not to mention her public op ed denigrating and maligning LEOs.
... so, there's that...
@ Titus Cox = YES but, that does not mean you have Freedom from Consequences. I hope to think that there was a question on the Application she had to fill out about her stance on Law Enforcement, If so, I would have to assume she Lied to get placed on the Board. If so, THAT by itself is grounds to be let go.
Put her back on! Freedom of speech in constitutionally protected!
This could have been handled better from the beginning. DWC provided incorrect information at the onset in a public setting.
Perhaps the greatest lesson from this is that all elected officials must act in the utmost professional manner at all times especially in a public meeting.
I’m certainly not a legal scholar, but the only angle I see for Biro here is the analogy of City “employee” to City “appointee”. Applying City employment policy to a city board appointee action may not be a valid connection. However, it may be a moot point in this matter. Bottom line though, Biro’s publicly overt bias was detrimental to the core mission of the body... to wit:
“To improve relations between its police department and the community, the City of Tallahassee established a Citizen Police Review Board... The City Commission appointed Plaintiff Taylor Biro to serve as one of the Board’s nine members... But after Biro showed up at public meetings with an “abolish police” sticker on her cup, the City Commission voted to remove her.”
(insert mic drop here)
This is great news. Just because you have Freedom of Speech, does not mean you have Freedom from Consequences.
A little justice every now and again is a good thing....