The longtime head of the town of Gilbert’s controversial Office of Digital Government (ODG) resigned ahead of an anticipated town council investigation.
ODG’s Dana Berchman, the Chief Digital Officer, sent in a resignation letter to the town council last week. Berchman clarified that her resignation would be effective March 7, two days after the scheduled council meeting to review her department. The letter made no mention of the increased internal controversy over how far ODG was willing to go to silence its critics and political opponents.
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According to a report by AZ Free News, ODG staff orchestrated the censorship and punishment of town employees based on their personal speech online.
Public records cited by the outlet offered insight as to how ODG and, consequently, town of Gilbert leadership would respond to speech critical of them or leftist political beliefs: ODG would gossip about and make a plan of response to a town employee’s speech via internal group messaging; one or more ODG members would reach out to complain to that employee’s supervisor(s) through text, phone call, or email; and, invariably, that town employee would endure some level of reprimand for their speech.
“In an August 2020 email obtained through public records, Berchman notified Gilbert Fire Department (GFD) leadership that one of their fire trucks drove by and turned on sirens to support Back the Blue protesters. The implication was that GFD leadership would instruct its employees to not engage in similar behavior in the future[.]”
AZ Free News also traced ODG’s roots to Town Manager Patrick Banger. He came up with the idea for ODG, inspired by a similar initiative to centralize municipal communications formed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democrat.
Immediately following the investigative report, the town issued a statement (likely written up by ODG) to media outlets defending the department’s practices as a protection against hate speech. They presented an interpretation of employees’ personal online speech as official representations of town policy and communications.
“The Town has been clear that we will not tolerate divisive, offensive or culturally insensitive posts from employees purporting to represent the Town. There is no further need to address the false claims from anyone, including disgruntled former employees.”
Yet, Berchman would regularly post her own politically charged content onto the same platforms where her staffers would monitor the speech of other town employees.
Some X posts captured before Berchman made her profiles private revealed her open contempt for former President Donald Trump, white people, and Republicans in general.
Berchman was also dismissive of her critics among constituents publicly before this latest investigative report, describing them to podcasters as the “pitchfork people” with invalid opinions.
“Let other people come in, invite them in and let them tell you what you think about what you’re doing. Not people that show up at council meetings or, you know, I say the pitchfork people who have a grievance, the average people who’s living their lives,” said Berchman.
Looks like the pitchfork people have made themselves heard @sp_blodgett https://t.co/iENTAIU7HU
— GilbertBystander (@Bystander85234) January 24, 2024
I thought micheal bloomberg was a “republican”
How is such an office legal!? (Where is the AZ Attorneys General?) The First Amendment would necessarily be violated by these confines as it says nothing about you being offended and protected from speech. Free Speech means I have the right to offend you by my speech.
Looks like the 4th Reich runs Gilbert.