Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiJune 20, 2017

The real story in Jacksonville’s City Council on this committee week goes deeper than the bills under consideration, extending to a radical shift coming in both committee leadership and how business will be conducted. On Monday, Council President-Designate Anna Brosche announced her new committees starting after this legislative cycle. The next Finance Chair, Garrett Dennis, had some […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 19, 2017

Jacksonville’s opioid crisis, as is the case around the country, is taking lives and resources from the budget all at once. Is a turning point imminent? Months back, Councilman Bill Gulliford began sounding the alarm about the increased casualty rate and the increased burden on emergency services from the crisis. Multiple meetings followed, then a bill […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 6, 2017

A bill proposing a ban on Jacksonville city sidewalks in downtown Jacksonville was withdrawn Tuesday by Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford. Gulliford, since filing the bill in 2016, has engaged with skateboarding enthusiasts in recent months over perhaps getting dedicated areas downtown for skaters. Gulliford noted that “laws in the books” address the issues of property […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 25, 2017

The political career of Jacksonville City Council President-Designate Anna Brosche hasn’t been all that long, but has been characterized by a triumph per year. In 2015, Brosche shocked some observers by defeating the iconoclastic Kim Daniels in the pastor’s re-election bid to the City Council. In 2016, Brosche – a CPA and a managing partner at […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 24, 2017

Stakes were high in the Jacksonville City Council Leadership Elections, and no one besides the candidates bet as big as Bill Gulliford. When pledging support for the runner-up in Tuesday’s vote for Council President months back, Gulliford said that he wouldn’t accept a standing committee assignment in an Anna Brosche administration. Gulliford walked that back Wednesday in an email […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 24, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council Officer Elections have wrapped, and now comes the inevitable post-game analysis…. ____ PROLOGUE A year ago, the Jacksonville City Council – like Jacksonville itself – was in a different place. Pension reform was a concept, ethereal on some distant horizon. And you couldn’t go a week without a thinkpiece on the […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 22, 2017

On the eve of a vote for the next Jacksonville City Council President, a reliable source notes that three councilors — including one candidate for President — had breakfast together Saturday at a Metro Diner location. Councilwoman Anna Brosche and Councilmen Matt Schellenberg and Doyle Carter (two committed Brosche backers) were among the participants in a group breakfast, […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 17, 2017

Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford sounded the alarm about the city’s opioid overdose crisis a few months back, and has mobilized city and outside resources in a fight to stem the epidemic of avoidable deaths. In March and April, Gulliford scheduled well-publicized meetings to discuss what could be done to stem the tide. Now, the next […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 6, 2017

Jacksonville City Council members, upon hearing the details of the Lenny Curry pension reform plan, seemed optimistic upon first hearing. However, as they were not at the bargaining table, they questioned the parameters of collective bargaining agreements, and wanted more detail on the actuarial projections. ____ Councilman Bill Gulliford, instrumental in the 2015 pension reform deal, said […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 3, 2017

Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford has turned considerable attention in recent months to combating the city’s opioid overdose crisis. Fatal overdoses in 2016: four times as these as homicides. After a successful meeting with councilors, the mayor, and other stakeholders in March, Gulliford convened the second public meeting on the topic on Monday. However, the precise […]

Tag: Bill Gulliford
Mike Johnson. Image via AP.

The uncivil war: How Jacksonville City Council committees got ugly this week

Is a turning point imminent for Jacksonville’s opioid crisis?

Bill Gulliford pulls Downtown Jacksonville skateboarding ban legislation

Anna Brosche discusses how she won the Jacksonville City Council Presidency

Jax Councilman Bill Gulliford mulls ‘year in exile’, ‘lesser committees’

Winners and losers emerging from the 2017 Jax Council leadership elections

Unnoticed meeting of Jax Councilors, including Presidential candidate, draws notice

Jax Councilman to Governor: Declare ‘opioid emergency’ now!

Jacksonville Councilors embrace, question details in Lenny Curry pension pitch

Jacksonville mulls pilot response to opioid crisis