City Councilman Larry Grohn said Friday that the use of an encrypted message service by Mayor Andy Berke was a deliberate attempt to avoid the Open Records Act.
Councilman Grohn, who is running for mayor, said, "In recent days, there has been one story after another come out concerning how the Mayor and his head staffers have used end-to-end encryption apps to communicate both personal and city business. As usual, the administration makes a brief statement, and it all goes away in a few days.
"It is my opinion that this was a deliberate attempt to evade the FOIA open records laws and hide these communications from the taxpayers. Of course, their claim has been that only personal messages took place between personal phones. The vast majority of worldwide users of WhatsApp utilize the app to avoid data services charges on their devices. For the mayor and his staff this is certainly not the case. So, what were the mayor and his staffers trying to hide?
"The Tennessee Ethics Commission and Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) specifically counseled the members of the city council concerning ethics and open records laws soon after we assumed office. Any messages which deal with business of the City are open to FOIA, even if on personal devices. The Mayor is no stranger to the requirements of the law.
"So the big question remains unanswered! Why was a special encryption application installed on the mayor’s and his staffer’s phones in the first place? The arrogance and defiance displayed by this administration is palpable even to the casual observer.
"One staffer told a reporter he had never used the application. However, records turned over to the same reporter showed the app was used between him and the City Attorney, and explicitly showed that statement to be false. We the citizens are expected to just shrug this incident off and accept the answer of, 'I don’t use it anymore.'
"I have personally never used this type application; however, I have learned the communications could have been backed up and stored - even if the application itself is deleted. The mayor and any of his staff, in the spirit of transparency, could have saved the messages in order to comply with the law. I only ask this last question. Does anyone truly believe this was just an oversight, or a casual error in judgment?
"Actions such as these are why I am running to be your next mayor. In the last election, candidate Berke campaigned on a platform of violence reduction, accountability, openness and transparency. The people need to decide if his promises then have been matched by his actions as Mayor?
"I believe the citizens of Chattanooga deserve and expect better from their public servants, both elected and appointed. The mayor is the leader of our City, we have every right to expect ethics above reproach, high moral standards and honesty. The mayor has failed the city in every one of these aspects.
"I ask the citizens of Chattanooga to 'Believe in Better' with me."