Shakeup in NE FL LGBT Leadership PAC: Ben Weaver steps down

On Saturday evening, we broke the story of Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown having what euphemistically can be called an animated discussion with members of the Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC. Today, we’re breaking the story of a shakeup within the PAC, as one of its founding members, Ben Weaver, stepped down amidst a disagreement with the group about tactics.

The press release from PAC Chair Carrington “Rusty” Mead offers a more vivid accounting of events than Weaver or the Mayor Brown campaign offered (though it does jibe with that of at least one on-the-spot observer).

“This past Saturday afternoon, members of the Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC attended GastroFest 2015 and tabled there to increase voter awareness of the issues of equality in Jacksonville and the current election season. In the afternoon, Mayor Alvin Brown and his team arrived at Hemming Park, campaigning for votes,” Mead states in the lede paragraph of the release.

From there, it gets more interesting: “Mayor Brown and a member of the PAC Board became engaged in a heated conversation in which the Mayor was uninterested in discussing issues of LGBT equality and the Human Rights Ordinance (HRO), and instead wanted to speak about economic development and improvements to Hemming Park,” Mead stated, adding that “Ben Weaver, of the PAC, tried to steer the conversation to the economic consequences to Jacksonville in light of our city’s failure to pass the expanded Human Rights Ordinance, then known as Council Bill 2012-296.”

The heated conversation soon enough got hotter.

“As the conversation between Mayor Brown and Mr. Weaver grew more heated, the Mayor touched Mr. Weaver in an offensive manner, as can be seen in photographs in the media since Saturday. Concerned about Mr. Weaver’s well being, and given the agitated state of the Mayor, other members of the PAC Board went to where the gentlemen were speaking. As has been reported, the Mayor was yelling and at that point, three members of the PAC board were also yelling,” Mead stated.

From there, “the incident was over as quickly as it began with the Mayor storming off and expressing his frustration with the PAC.”

I talked to Mead on the phone, who amplified these statements and issued some shockers that weren’t in the official release.

“Alvin was very angry,” she confirmed, adding that “he started putting hands on people” and referring to a “bunch of white people who wouldn’t vote for a black man… a conspiracy of white people… accusing us of not wanting to vote for him because he’s black.”

Mead mentioned that she and other PAC members had supported the Mayor four years ago, which made that statement ironic.

“This is clearly Alvin not wanting to talk about the HRO,” Mead said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to be touching. The only reason we walked over was because Alvin had his hands on Ben” to make sure “everyone was safe.”

Mead flatly denied allegations that PAC members had “ambushed” the Mayor.

“We didn’t ambush him. He approached Ben,” Mead said. “He walked by, saw us, pretended not to see us.”

After the incident, Mead alleges that the Mayor was implacable, calling Weaver a “traitor to the cause” and “evil,” adding “that’s why I can’t talk to you people.”

Though the Mayor did apologize to Weaver soon after the event, Mead contends that “he did not apologize to me.”

Mead also contends, contrary to the Mayor’s camp claiming that it was an “open and frank” conversation, that it wasn’t. Rather, the Mayor was dodging the topic at hand, preferring to “take credit for work that Wayne Wood did in Hemming Park.”

In the Press Release and our conversation, Mead indicated her willingness to talk over the HRO and related issues with the Mayor: “If Mayor Brown would like to invite myself and Jimmy Midyette to his office for a frank and open conversation, that would be fine,” she said.

“If he can contain himself to have a conversation, and find commonalities,” she would be willing to listen.

The LGBT PAC is going to continue, but without founding member Ben Weaver, as Mead made clear in the press release:

[T]he unfortunate and inaccurate comments made by Mr. Weaver to the press do not reflect the position of the PAC or the events that unfolded on Saturday afternoon in Hemming Park. Because of the apparent conflict of interest created by Mr. Weaver’s version of events, and disparaging remarks about his fellow PAC members, Mr. Weaver offered his resignation and the PAC Board accepted his resignation effective immediately.

Weaver, in our report Saturday, discussed the pressures that the Mayor was under, stating that Brown felt “ambushed” and that it was “hard for a black Democrat to see white liberals who claim to be progressive but don’t belong to the party of progressive values,” a statement which Weaver said was a reference to Republican politicians. He had also mentioned the “polarizing” dynamic between the Mayor and LGBT activists, a relationship which Weaver said has a “lot of facets.”

When contacted for comment on Mead’s press release and subsequent comments, Weaver issued a written statement, supplied below in full:

I am proud to have had a hand in the formation and launch of the Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC. The friends I have had an opportunity to work with have educated me on diversity and helped me understand the priorities in the fight for equality. We deserve a Human Rights Ordinance that is worthy of the people of this city and that means extending equal protection under the law to all of those in Jacksonville.

I look forward to continuing the work in effort of “a more perfect union” and am proud of the efforts of the LGBT PAC. When constituencies are marginalized or ignored, the tools of self government call to organize. The LGBT constituency has demonstrated their commitment to political self determination and, in time, with continued persistence and zeal, they will secure the freedoms guaranteed to them by a power greater than man’s law.