Volusia County spokesman Dave Byron playing spin game

Volusia County PR flak Dave Byron / Headline Surfer®

Headline Surfer® video / Dave Byron, shown here at left in the Frank T. Bruno County Council chambers in DeLand, the six-figure salaried-PR flak, is the guardian of media advertising, which allows politicians to exert their will on print media. He also is the protector of the public record, having kept a letter from attorney on Waverly close to the vest prior to Thursday's meeting. Headline Surfer® Publisher Henry Frederick addresses the County Council asking that Waverly public documents be posted on the county's website.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Dave Byron, the mouthpiece of Volusia County, is typical of the arrogance of government that has lost touch on holding the line on spending, and who like so many others, forgets that he works for us -- not the other way around. With a base salary of $123,165, Byron enjoys a comfortable position of 20-plus years as County Manager Jim Dinneen's hatchet man.

He's let me know on more than one occasion what he thinks of our new media platform and that all advertising goes through him.

So how dare I challenge him you might ask? Why bite the hand that feeds? There's no revenue coming our way. There hasn't been for the 5 1/2 years of our existence in covering the county, even though we've run more of his "press releases" than all other media outlets combined in that time frame. If there is any hope of fairness and transparency and funding to help our operation, it will come from holding Byron and others like him accountable to you, the public.

Here is what happened to cause me to put him in the spotlight here: On Thursday morning, I saw where the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the watered-down print paper and tool of county PR, had an advance story on attorney Jon Kaney's scheduled appearance that afternoon the County Council with a story wrapped around a "letter" Kaney had written to county officials.

I wasn't aware of the letter's existence and neither was County Chair Jason Davis, even though Byron is responsible for the flow of public information. I asked Byron in an email how it was that the Daytona newspaper had the letter and we didn't.

This was his curt response: "You didn't ask for it and they did."

Well, that didn't sit too well with me, since Kaney, the general counsel to the News-Journal and husband of then-Publisher Georgia Kaney, under the previous ownership until three years ago, likes to use the newspaper to set his agenda like he did with the lawsuit in the Bert Fish-Adventist hospital merger suit, his representation of longtime friend and then-State Attorney John Tanner in the who was being investigated by Special prosecutor Harry Shorstein.

And even Kaney's behind-the-scenes maneuverings in the American Music Festival fiasco as well as the biggest disaster of them all, the $27 million News-Journal Center that led to the crippling of the newspaper and the change in ownership from the Davidson family to Halifax Media through a federal court-supervised fire sale.

And even Kaney's behind-the-scenes maneuverings in the American Music Festival fiasco as well as the biggest disaster of them all, the $27 million News-Journal Center that led to the crippling of the newspaper and the change in ownership from the Davidson family to Halifax Media through a federal court-supervised fire sale

So, naturally, I was suspicious as to how it was the News-Journal had the letter. It was obvious to me that Kaney was feeding the News-Journal and setting the stage for news coverage favorable to him since he was walking into the Frank T. Bruno Council chambers and asking for a blank check for an undefined investigation.

And unlike previous write-ups in the News-Journal, this time Kaney was not only seeking subpoena power in this so-called Waverly investigation, but requesting his longtime lawyer friend, Noah McKinnon, join him on the taxpayers' dime.

I could have care less that the News-Journal had the "exclusive" as most of the reporting is promotional drivel any way. But it was important for me to see if Kaney was going to use the newspaper as his marketing tool. He didn't disappoint. But here was Byron, deflecting and providing cover.

After his snotty response that the newspaper had asked for the Kaney letter and we didn't, I responded in a follow-up: "Understood. They just happen to ask for a letter the same day it is dated and I'm magically supposed to know such a thing exists."

Byron's response? "All you have to do is ask for documents. I can not be expected to guess what documents you desire. All media are treated fairly; there are no games. I have no axe to grind with you or anyone else."

So let's get this straight. Kaney's going to go before the council and ask for unprecedented powers and taxpayer money, and he's not smart enough to understand the importance of the letter to the public?

Sorry Mr. Arrogant, but I'm not buying it. And neither was the county chair who was rather perturbed it wasn't added to the agenda packet online as a supplemental packet.

So I took the necessary step of going before the County Council during public participation at the end of the day and ask that "any and all" public documents related to Waverly be posted on the county's website under the heading "Waverly Investigation" as soon as they come into existence.

As I explained to the council, this takes the politics out of it and any hint of favoritism.

The following morning, I received an unsolicited email from Byron stating: "The NJ had talked previously with Kaney. They said in a prior story Kaney would have an outline by Wednesday prior to the meeting. The NJ covers the county very closely. I can not be expected to compensate for the NJ's diligence and the fact they have a newsroom full of reporters. I can assure you once again the NJ does not get preferential treatment, nor does any other news agency. Ask and you will get any record you desire but it's not my job to spoon feed the news media. The county's longstanding practice is to let all news agencies compete. That's the fairest thing to do in the long run."

Of course, Byron left out one little detail: The News-Journal receives upwards of a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in advertising, funding that doesn't even go through the elected officials for oversight and approval.

And the county manager is routinely quoted in the newspaper in self-serving stories while other media outlets, including this one, get the cold shoulder because Dinneen, the bureaucratic tactician, wants to avoid answering the tough questions that go beyond the PR spin.

The News-Journal has a roomful of reporters, Dandy Dave? Really? Let's see, in the past half dozen years, the payroll of the former metro was cut in half from its once-800 strong.

In September, the paper lost award-winning reporter Ray Weiss (who I had worked with, both at the News-Journal and at Gannett Suburban Newspapers in New York) and Deborah Circelli, who I teamed up with back in the early 2000s for a multi award-winning investigative series called "Silent Cries" on Volusia County child homicides. Reiss packed it in in September and Circelli, earlier this month.

This followed last month's jettisoning of veteran New Smyrna-area reporter Mark I. Johnson, a photographer ands several copy editors, in a continuing shedding of payroll (more than a dozen this year), some positions replaced with chamber-friendly reporters working for less money.

Then Byron really got me fired up with this follow-up email Friday, an obvious "cover your ass" response regurgitating points he already made, and likely with language put in from the county attorney's office to sound credible, even though it's just more B.S: "Henry. This is the last time I am going to respond to your griping about the NJ reporting of the county. I will stress again -- for the final time -- the NJ does not get preferential treatment from me or my staff. The same goes for any other news agency. The county's longstanding practice is to allow news agencies to compete story for story. I do not, and will not, communicate to reporters what story each other is working on. That's the ONLY way the county can avoid being accused of playing favorites, although you seem to be the only exception. The reality is the news business is a highly competitive, for profit environment."

Byron went on to say: The NJ has an inherent advantage because they have a newsroom full of reporters, a fact of which you are fully aware. I, or my staff, can not be expected to compensate for the fact the NJ covers the county very intensely... There is no mystery as to why the NJ knew to ask for the Kaney communication to the county council, which the newspaper did so on Tuesday. How did they know to ask for it? The answer is simple. They talked to Kaney last week and he said he would have an outline to the county council by Wednesday of this week. My recollection is they printed that fact in their story last week. I repeat -- you ask for a document and you will receive it. I am not about to try to read your mind or anticipate what documents you desire. As stated in the past, the county public information division is not a news bureau, it's a public information office."

Byron, or whoever helped him write this, continued: "There's a big difference between the functions of the two. When the county issues a news release it goes to all news media. Otherwise, documents/information are provided as requested. In closing, in spite of the many disparaging remarks you have made about the county's public information staff and me personally, you will be treated fairly and in a manner that's consistent with the way other agencies are treated. This is all I intend to say on this matter."

Well, that's all it took for a strongly-worded response from me, which I made sure to copy to Dinneen, County Attorney Dan Eckert, County Chair Jason Davis and Council members Deb Denys, Joshua Wagner, Joyce Cusack, Pat Patterson, Doug Daniels and Pat Northey.

Suffice to say, I gave Byron a piece of my mind. Nobody dared to respond back. County Chair Davis did call me to say he read the response and agreed the documentation should be posted on the county's website.  After all, everyone of these players knows the games being played here:

Dear Mr. Byron,
How dare you refer to my inquiry as "griping" when the county chair himself didn't have the letter from Kaney until the morning of the council meeting. He said so himself on the dais. First of all, let me be perfectly clear: The Daytona Beach News-Journal, a subsidiary of Halifax Media Group, indeed gets preferential treatment from your office by virtue of advertising revenue which enables them to perform the due "diligence" you so eloquently represent in your response. Whether the News-Journal reported in a previous story that Kaney was planning to write a letter is of little significance here. You control the flow of information. You know very well the Waverly presentation for Thursday's Council meeting was high profile. In the interest of transparency and fairness to the public, you could have been proactive in sending this correspondence to the other two media outlets that regularly attend the meetings -- Headline Surfer® and the West Volusia Beacon. And you could have provided it to the elected officials at the same time. But you, Dave Byron, are not transparent. You are biased, vindictive and spiteful. You made it clear to me in August that you speak on a regular basis with New Smyrna Beach City Attorney Frank Gummey and that the general consensus between the two of you is that this media outlet is not legit. Then again, the mayor and city manager of that municipality have been caught up in multiple state ethics investigations for more than a year now.
It's laughable your insinuate that I'm asking you to report to me what the Daytona paper is working on. There isn't a reporter on the staff of the Daytona Beach News-Journal capable of reporting at my level. You said it yourself: According to your recollection, the News-Journal reported Kaney would do an outline prior to the meeting. That just reinforces my point about transparency. Not everyone reads the News-Journal, a product with a declining print circulation and whose digital platform requires payment for access after five clicks for non-print subscribers. If you can't see the value to the "public" in terms of timely release of information leading to a high-profile issue and topic on the agenda the very next day, then you don't belong in this job.
I don't need lectures from you about news gathering. I made my point clear Thursday during public participation: From this point forward, you post "any and all" public documents related to Waverly on Volusia.org and it's up to the media to stay on top of it. That takes the politics out of it. Kaney has a relationship with the News-Journal as he can generate favorable public opinion to push his agenda. Don't you dare insult my intelligence otherwise. You are a bureaucratic extension of county politics and you take your orders from County Manager Dinneen. You are not obligated to provide me with anything I don't ask for. But then the onus is is on you. Like Mr. Kaney, the News-Journal enjoys a favorable relationship with Mr. Dinneen. He's not going to speak with a real reporter, where he'll have to answer real questions. By controlling the advertising, you exert control over the media. The News-Journal reporter is nothing more than a stenographer for Mr. Kaney and Mr. Dinneen. I'm the only media person who complains? That speaks volumes, too.
The Volusia League of Cities holds an awards dinner and this media representative is relegated to the sidewalk because the mayor (Adam Barringer) doesn't want to be shown up with the backdrop of ethics charges while receiving a phony award. This media outlet is the only one not included in the list of media representatives on the VCOG website, for which the mayor of NSB is the chair.
This media outlet was subject to humiliation ands falsehoods in the Daytona paper with extensive quotes from the NSB mayor and a letter-writing campaign back in August designed to try and derail our lawful contract with the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority.
Your elected officials voted 4-3 yet a second time to get rid of Palmer Wilson, the chairman of the SVAA. You'll be reading a series of stories this weekend showing why that orchestrated maneuver is now going to cause your government great embarrassment. But for the moment, back to you, specifically, and your office: You have nearly a dozen employees at your disposal, and might I add, a "sweetheart deal" with Frank Bruno's former campaign manager Mike Jiloty, to write even more press releases, who I have been told is now representing a Council member running in 2014.
You have no problem filling up my emails with promotional press releases that for most part lack photos (that's the rub with your staff that supposedly has a full-time photographer/videographer).
When the George Zimmerman case led to charges filed by the special prosecutor all public-related documents were posted online (on the 18th judicial circuit website from the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford) . The same holds true with the SE Volusia Hospital Authority with the lawsuit with all public documents posted on Bert Fish Hospital's website.
To be quite frank with you Mr. Byron, if I were an elected official, you'd already be gone. You are typical of the type of bureaucrat who has stayed on far too long, and at far too-high salary, not to recognize the significance of being transparent and pro-active in getting this letter out to the media as soon as it was delivered to you.
If you think I'm caught up in trying to compete with the News-Journal, you truly are clueless. Everyone involved knows what a charade the Waverly investigation is. You haven't cleaned up the Nicole Carni mess. Then again, it was stall, stall, stall for Mr. Bruno's senate run.
Had the other elected officials bothered to listen to the audio recordings of the SVAA meeting they would have seen why Councilwoman Denys' veracity affected the outcome of removing Wilson. And isn't ironic that the Council suddenly allowed the Merchants of Flagler to once again seek revenue. But I'm certain none of the elected officials bothered to listen to the merchants' leader Adelle Alletti's "Where's my money" pitch at the very next meeting.
Certainly, neither you nor your staff will be putting out a "press release" about SVAA Director Carl Watson's (alleged) abuse of the authority's credit card, including lunches for himself and his assistant as well as another $600.00 for a bicycle touring group for which the advertising was already sewn up. Your government has members serving on the SVAA and West Volusia authorities who don't meet the requirements. And, of course, you had an SVAA accommodator who took care of Denys' campaign fundraiser while doing the bidding for the chamber in trying to get money and dumping Wilson. No press releases on any of that either. And of course, where's the due diligence of the News-Journal?
I wasn't pleased with having to appear before the Council to ask that the politics and favoritism be taken out of the equation by posting all the Waverly documentation online as it comes in. Mr. Kaney and Mr. Dinneen can continue their personal bond with the News-Journal reporter. You just make sure the public record is transparent. Believe me, if I never heard from you again, I'd be that much happier.
Do I need to bring up your childish and spiteful behavior with giving me the beach patrol safety officer termination document six days after the fact? You've written your "CYA" response. Do your job with fair play and integrity and you'll get nothing but praise from this reporter. Continue on your current course and you will only aggravate the situation.
Again, if you have to think you have to worry about reading my mind as to the importance of sending out the Kaney letter then you are not worth the bloated six-figure salary you enjoy. I'm still waiting for my request of August for media advertising to be discussed on the dais, but certainly I'm not making any friends. Eventually, we'll be in court. Count on it!
 
Headline Surfer® has exclusive video coverage of Kaney's convoluted pitch, the pandering of several County Council members and comments from two citizens the News-Journal conveniently ignored in its rather brief story on Kaney's presentation.
 
It's this type of multi-media presentation that has Byron and others knowing we can generate the news in spite of their PR spin and lack of revenue sharing. Because at the end of the day, that's all it really is. Byron knows it and he knows that I know it. 
 
As a PostScript, Headline Surfer® has curtailed re-writing and publishing of Byron's promotional press releases since August except for those absolutely necessary. That has been in place since August.
 
And with the strength of our presence in the online search engines and news directories, the county is getting a far less return for its buck on the staffing required to cxhurn this stuff out. That's the price the county politicians pay for trying to starve us out.