County GOP Chairman Says Berke Should Resign For Admittedly Using Encrypted Messaging With Top Staff; Berke, Lee Call It Blatant Partisan Attack

  • Friday, September 30, 2016

Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Tony Sanders said Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke "should immediately resign after admitting that he and his senior staff employ an encrypted message application that neither records or stores messages sent and received for the purpose of official city of Chattanooga business on a government-owned server."

He said he was guilty of "deliberates acts to circumvent legal communications."

Mayor Berke said Friday afternoon, "In 2016, public servants are expected to communicate with citizens over lots of channels -- Facebook, Twitter, email, Instagram, text message and others. We have lawfully complied with every open records request since taking office. In fact, this year alone our City Attorney’s office has fulfilled 3,314 open records requests to date. I don’t pay attention to blatantly partisan attacks.

"Over the years I’ve enjoyed having the support of both Republicans and Democrats and I’ll continue to govern for the people who live here and not for political parties. I am going to continue to focus on doing my job and I look forward to winning re-election so I can continue our progress for another four years."

Chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, Terry Lee said, "Chattanoogans deserve better than this kind of partisan game-playing. Since Mayor Berke took office, Chattanooga has made tremendous strides in unemployment, job creation, and economic opportunity in our community. In fact, just yesterday Chattanooga was named the second best city in the US for women entrepreneurs. These are the areas of growth that Mayor Berke and Chattanoogans are focused on."

"With today’s ridiculous statement from the Hamilton County Republican Party, at least now we know that this rumor mill is being fueled by a thinly veiled partisan attack. The people of Chattanooga know better -- and deserve better. Tony Sanders, speaking for the local Republican Party, is absolutely wrong about the facts and apparently has no clue as to how open records work. Had Mr. Sanders done any actual research on the topic, he would know that every iPhone is now encrypted, as is Facebook Messenger and iMessage, and that encryption does not in any way prevent a message from being requested and made available to the public. With his rationale, Mr. Sanders would take us back in time where no person would even be allowed to use an iPhone.

"With our national politics being dominated by misinformation and partisan innuendos, it’s a shame that the Republican Party locally is injecting this rhetoric into a nonpartisan mayor’s race."

Mr. Sanders said, "I have heard from average citizens across the city and from currently elected officials who have the exact same response:  Mayor Berke and his staff are breaking laws that others must honor and adhere to as public officials."

He said the city has a legal records retention policy for a minimum of 60 days and the availability of records to comply with the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

Mr. Sanders said, "As an attorney and officer of the court, Mayor Berke either has no understanding of the open records law or has chosen to ignore it. Either way, it's not acceptable for an elected official to conduct city business outside of the public realm.

"News coverage in both the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Chattanoogan.com records the first-person admission by the mayor that he used a software application that operates outside the jurisdiction of the city-owned and provided server for email communications."

He quoted from the website of "Whatsapp", the application used by Mayor Berke and senior staff, "Some of your most personal moments are shared on WhatsApp, which is why we built end-to-end encryption into the latest versions of our app. When end-to-end encrypted, your messages and calls are secured so only you and the person you're communicating with can read or listen to them, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp."

Mr. Sanders said, "The purpose of using end-to-end encryption is to ensure absolute separation from public access.  I have fielded numerous complaints from local citizens after Mayor Berke and the City Attorney Wade Hinton admitted using this tool for the purpose of conducting city business.  Their actions are clearly outside of the ethical bounds of a public official.  Mayor Berke promised an open and transparent government, but his actions and those of his senior staff violate the public's trust and confidence in government."

He added, "A Chattanooga city staff member was quoted in a Sept. 21 article on the Chattanoogan.com saying, 'The mayor and his top staffers used it (smartphone messaging app) for the purpose of circumventing Open Records requests.' 

"The staff member continued and further explained that 'the mayor and some top staff also used their personal cell phones, rather than city-issued phones, intentionally to make it harder for anyone to get their communications through an Open Records request.' "

Mr. Sanders said, "Mayor Berke has deliberately created a communications pathway to prevent the public from accessing information which, by law, we must have the freedom and right to see.  His blatant disregard of ethical standards and the law pertaining to open records make him no longer fit to lead the city of Chattanooga."
 
Andy Berke is in his first term as mayor for the city of Chattanooga, which will hold its next election on Tuesday, March 7, 2017
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