A.G. Gancarski
In a press availability after her bravura performance in a Monday night forum in Jacksonville, Rep. Corrine Brown fielded questions from the local media.
Among other insights, she vowed to release Quick Picks this month, but she did not say whether or not she would endorse the half-cent Jacksonville pension tax contained in County Referendum 1.
Brown described the forum as “fun,” adding that she would “let the work I’ve done speak for me.”
She reiterated claims she made during an interview with Politico Monday, regarding charitable work that she has done that the media has not covered, including sending kids to China, 60 people getting Congressional Black Caucus scholarships with her help, and providing computers for 1,000 kids.
When asked if that money came from One Door for Education, the charity she ran that federal prosecutors said wasn’t actually dispersing money for charitable ends, Brown was emphatic, saying she was getting letters of verification from Orlando and other communities, saying there actually was charity being performed.
She reiterated claims she is facing a “witch hunt, and I’m the person they’re hunting,” Brown said.
“I’ve been working from Day 1, and I’m on call 24/7,” Brown said.
Brown also expressed optimism that she can be a viable candidate in the western part of the district, which sprawls from Jacksonville to Tallahassee.
“I’ve never forgotten my roots, and I do have roots in the community,” Brown said, noting that in Quincy, she worked to stop Georgia and Alabama from trying to take Florida’s water.
Local officials, Brown said, are always in her office.
She also offered a rejoinder to Al Lawson‘s frequent refrain about Marco Rubio shedding a light on the conditions at Eureka Garden.
“Where’s Rubio been in the last six years? Give me a break,” Brown said.
Brown also revisited a controversy from last year with former Jacksonville City Councilwoman Denise Lee, noting that the city “sent back HUD vouchers for veterans … money that would have given vets housing.”
