A month before pre-filing to run to replace retiring Don Spencer as Santa Rosa County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller, candidate Ginger Pace was removed from her supervisory position within the office for failing to report a relative suspected of theft.
On Aug. 28 of last year, Pace received an inner office reprimand notifying her that she was being demoted and her pay cut by 10% for violating the Clerk of Court's Standard Code of Conduct. Specifically, the notification said, she had failed to report theft or a violation of the clerk's policy and procedures by another employee or vendor.
Pace filed paperwork to enter the race for Spencer's seat the following month, on Sept. 25, Santa Rosa County Supervisor of Elections paperwork shows. She has since qualified as a Republican candidate and will face Jason English in an August primary. English is Spencer's chief deputy clerk.
Documents show that an in-house investigation had revealed Tammy Caylor, identified by Spencer as Pace's cousin, had been discovered conducting weddings outside of the clerk's office while on the clock, charging between $140 and $180 per ceremony.
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The Clerk's Office stopped performing marriages in the 2015-16 time frame. That timing coincided with court rulings being handed down requiring clerks of court across Florida to perform same-sex marriages upon request. Spencer said in the case of Santa Rosa County the practice had been halted due to staffing shortages.
Spencer said his office only began authorizing Clerk's Office staff to "solemnize" marriages again on Jan. 2 of this year after learning from the Caylor investigation how popular the courthouse marriages had become.
"She was doing it before we reinstated the marriages. She was doing it on her own, scanning credit cards on her phone," he said. "When we saw how many she was doing we thought, 'We ought to reinstate this.'"
The legal weddings being conducted by the Clerk of Court's Office cost $30.
An investigation was initiated last summer when one of the Caylor's marriage ceremony participants called and inquired at the Clerk's Office about the clerk who conducted weddings. When told the office no longer performed marriages, the caller begged to differ.
Once the side hustle had been identified, Spencer said, video evidence of what was going on was easily obtained. It was learned Caylor was conducting ceremonies behind the CVS pharmacy adjacent to the Administration Building or sometimes at a gazebo not far away overlooking the Blackwater River.
Evidence showed Caylor had begun conducting a few ceremonies during the COVID-19 pandemic before expanding the practice.
"She started with a few here and there, but she got greedy," Spencer said.
The letter notifying Pace of her demotion and pay cut asserts that she had observed Caylor's "frequent breaks during the work day for the stated purpose of running personal errands." It claims she suspected the reason behind the breaks but failed to confront Caylor or report her behavior to superiors.
The letter states that Pace had told investigators she realized she was at fault for not investigating Caylor's behavior.
Pace, however, contends that the papers she was required to sign to accept her reprimand "used words I didn't use," and that a right to appeal the action taken was withheld from her.
Pace claims English was infuriated when word got around the Clerk's Office that Pace was considering running to replace Spencer, and that Caylor's behavior never became an issue until after her anticipated candidacy became known.
"When it happened it took me back. I was like 'what's going on?' It took me awhile to put the pieces together," she said. "I've spent 35 years of my life in that office, serving the public and doing my job. He (English) did it just to promote himself. It was their agenda to do this and they did it."
Caylor received a letter Sept. 5 notifying her that she'd been terminated. It listed six policy violations, including "multiple and frequent" violations of a policy prohibiting performing marriages during office hours. It noted that the violations had been occurring for three years.
She was also charged with directing co-workers to send marriage license applicants her way and leaving the office during work hours to conduct weddings in the parking lot of the County Administrative Building or other locations. It was learned she was charging fees in excess of what is allowed by statute and presenting certified copies of marriage licenses without charging the statutorily required fees.
At the time the weddings were being conducted, Caylor was one of approximately eight employees working under Pace. Spencer said his office couldn't prove that Pace knew what Caylor was leaving the office to do, but she should have inquired.
"That's why I demoted her and didn't terminate her. I couldn't prove she knew what was going on, but it was happening on her watch for three years," he said. "Ginger should have known what was going on. The captain of a ship needs to know what's going on, and that was her ship."
Pace confirmed Caylor was a cousin, but asserted that the two are not the only relatives working within the Clerk of Court's Office.
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Among the personnel records turned over to the News Journal by the Clerk's Office are several documenting discipline taken against Caylor over the long course of her career, including one that states she used an expletive to describe Santa Rosa County's chief judge.
Pace said she'd gone to her superiors many times over the years to report Caylor's behavior, but action had never been taken. She said she didn't report the outdoor marriage ceremonies because she didn't know they were going on.
"She knew me well enough to know that if I knew what was going on I'd have no part of it," she said. "She was leaving at lunch and on her breaks. Jason (English) and Don (Spencer) said that was company time. I don't know if that's true."
Spencer said evidence of the violations committed by Caylor had been turned over to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office but no charges were brought.
"We went to the Sheriff's Office, the Sheriff's Office would not file charges," he said. "We did what we're supposed to do. We gave them all the evidence. We pushed them, but they did not file charges."
He said he thinks the Sheriff's Office had declined to pursue a criminal case because so many of those who were married by Caylor had come in from out of town.
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