LARGO, Fla. – Florida’s chief financial officer said he was not involved in any way with the visit law enforcement officers made to the Largo home of a man who had sent a postcard to the CFO that read, “You lack values.”
“I had no idea,” Blaise Ingoglia said, when News 6 spoke to him at an event in Central Florida Friday. “I did not see the postcard. I had no idea that they were looking at the postcard and looking into the background. I had no idea that they were visiting.”
Law enforcement’s visit to James and Cathy O’Gara’s home in Largo last Wednesday morning has raised concerns about the relationship between politicians and the people they serve, as well as the right to criticize those politicians.
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“All I’m doing is exercising my rights,” James O’Gara said in an interview with WTSP this week. “If I threaten or it can be inferred that I’m threatening any official, it should be investigated.”
But O’Gara said the words he wrote on a postcard—“You lack values”—were never intended as a threat and should not be interpreted as one.
Last week, two officers wearing vests that said “police” knocked on O’Gara’s door.
“They said, ‘Did you write a postcard?’ and I said, ‘I’ve written a lot,’” O’Gara recounted. “And they said, ‘Well, did you write this postcard?’ (One of the officers) held up his phone and showed me the postcard. And I said, ‘Yeah, I exercised my First Amendment rights.’"
In an email to O’Gara, Largo Police said the law enforcement personnel were with the criminal investigations division of the state’s Department of Financial Services (DFS). The department answers to Ingoglia.
In a statement, the communications director for Ingoglia called the incident “unfortunate” but said, “The CFO did not see the postcard, nor did he direct a threat assessment to be conducted.”
Ingoglia reiterated that position Friday.
“I don’t know what prompted the investigation, but what I can tell you is that I did not order the investigation,” he said. “I do understand that law enforcement—their job is to make sure that we are protecting elected officials.”
News 6’s Mike Valente followed up by asking Ingoglia if he believed the note constituted a threat.
“I didn’t see it,” Ingoglia said. “I don’t know what was on the card.”
Valente then responded by noting the card read, “You lack values.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure that’s not the only thing,” Ingoglia said.
O’Gara told WTSP he had only written those three aforementioned words, in addition to his signature.
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