A.G. Gancarski
On a sunny March afternoon with the spring heat cooled by a persistent breeze off the St Johns River, Lenny Curry brought starpower to a rally on Jacksonville’s Southbank. It came in the form of former Texas governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry.
“4:30 on a Tuesday afternoon,” Curry said, looking over the crowd.
“We’re all friends here, and you’ve heard me talk about the importance of this election,” Curry said, again asserting that this election is about the future of Jacksonville.
“We will solve the problems of the day, but will govern in a way that transcends a single mayoral term,” Curry said, leading into a discussion of his plan, which he expects to be “measurable, accountable, and transformational for our city.”
The use of the word transformational is no accident. It has been a recurrent trope since Perry endorsed Curry in January, during an endorsement where Perry called Curry a “transformational candidate.”
Of course, Curry won’t have an opportunity to transform Jacksonville without a solid GOTV effort from the faithful. “Right now this comes down to you voting and getting your friends, family, and neighbors to vote,” Curry said.
“Ask the people who trust you to vote Lenny Curry for mayor,” the Republican nominee said. “The future of Jacksonville is in our hands collectively.”
Outside of Curry’s campaign, some have expressed skepticism about Curry’s closeness with Perry. This event helped make that more explicit, as well as similarities between Perry and Rick Scott
“Both of these governors understand excellence,” especially as it relates to pursuing new business to come to the state. “When you compete, you raise the standard,” Curry said, before describing a telephone conversation when Curry and Perry “spent 20 minutes on the phone talking about how [pro-growth] economic policies for states can work in cities.”
Perry, upon taking the microphone, amplified those themes.
“I’m going to be brief and I’m going to be succinct,” Perry said, who then described Jacksonville as a city with “enormous potential” and asked Duval voters to “think of what can be … with leadership that is optimistic about the future.”
Perry held forth about the need for a tax policy and a regulatory climate that “lures capital to Jacksonville to invest,” before launching an oblique criticism of the Mayor Alvin Brown‘s public safety record.
“You want a community that’s got great quality of life, where people feel safe, and I don’t know if that’s happening in Jacksonville right now,” said Perry, who added, “You know what’s happened in Jacksonville in the last four years.”
Perry depicted a city under Curry’s stewardship that is “safe and vibrant economically” with its “greatest days” ahead.
Part of that anticipated renaissance is rooted in Curry’s close relationship with Scott, Perry said.
“A mayor can be a partner to a governor,” Perry said. “You and Rick Scott are two peas in a pod.” When it comes to “economic development,” Perry added, “you two sing from the same hymnbook.”
As he wound up his remarks, Perry surveyed the crowd, looking at the teens and 20-somethings standing together near the stage.
“I’m so excited to see young faces at this event. This is about their future.”
UPDATE: Shortly after the event, Fabien Levy, the deputy campaign manager for the Brown campaign, issued a statement regarding the Perry/Curry event, contrasting it to the Jake Godbold endorsement of Brown earlier Tuesday:
If ever there was a more fitting reflection of this race, it is the two endorsement events that occurred today. Mayor Alvin Brown put Jacksonville first and was proud to accept the endorsement of former Jacksonville Mayor Jake Godbold, surrounded by hundreds of seniors who were all enthusiastically supporting the mayor’s re-election. Meanwhile, party boss Lenny Curry has proven that national politics and party loyalty are more important than anything else to him, which is why he’s standing side-by-side with presidential candidate Rick Perry tonight. Lenny Curry says he’s not a politician, but would rather stand with national politicians than Jacksonville residents. In the words of Rick Perry, “Oops …”
UPDATE #2: Curry campaign spokesman Brian Hughes observes that Levy’s response omits mention of the John Peyton endorsement of Curry today:
Today Democrat Alvin Brown was endorsed by a fellow Democrat. Meanwhile just before Rick Perry, a nationally-recognized conservative, came to praise fellow conservative Lenny Curry, Mayor John Peyton declared that Lenny Curry is more than qualified to lead Jacksonville. Both national conservatives and local leaders agree; Lenny Curry will bring the vision and skills to make Jacksonville a world-class city. They all agree that Jacksonville deserves better than Alvin Brown’s failures.
