A.G. Gancarski
Florida Politics has obtained a cache of emails related to Jacksonville Mayor-elect Lenny Curry’s transition. The emails date back to May 22. They provide an invaluable record of the transition, as the self-styled “transformational mayor” moves quickly from the seemingly perpetual candidate to the city of Jacksonville’s chief executive.
To highlight the nature of the transition and provide a narrative of a process, these are emails excerpts in chronological order.
May 22: Making Lenny Shine
At just after 6:30 a.m. on May 22, Sam Mousa vowed, in an email to Susie Wiles and Tom Petway, that “we will make Lenny shine, trust me.”
“Nothing like getting the band back together,” he added.
Mousa works quickly. Just an hour after that first email, he already had begun to compile a “list of recommended folks” to assist him with “City operational/budget review, finances/debt, improvements for efficiencies, personnel reviews, etc.”
Some of them would be “prior Peyton/Delaney appointees.” Others would be “‘real workers’ getting into the weeds.” Regarding the use of “supporters,” Mousa wrote that they would be better suited to “more general oversight of our work,” and providing “recommendations.”
Wiles, a veteran presence in Jacksonville government, offered Maintaining Jacksonville’s Competitive Advantage, a book prepared by former Mayor John Peyton for the Alvin Brown transition that detailed city functions, budgets, and so on.
“It is a bit outdated,” Wiles concedes, “but such little progress was made in the last administration, it’s still fairly relevant.”
Zing.
Later on that morning, Mousa got a text message from Chris Hand, Brown’s chief of staff, who congratulated Mousa on his appointment as transition executive director, and was setting up the process of transition.
Still on May 22, an email came through from Marty Fiorentino, who confirmed that he would be “special counsel to the transition team,” available for “special projects.”
One of his concerns was handling the board of directors. Fiorentino maintained that they should serve as vice chairs for the Inaugural and receive “periodic updates on the transition.”
“This will allow them to feel involved and provide any advice or counsel in a controlled setting. It will also allow them to feel part of the transition and support [the] agenda going forward.”
May 23: Sunshine
Another day, another 6 a.m. email from Mousa to Wiles, Petway, and Curry. The subject: Sunshine Laws and the transition team.
“Tom’s committee meetings with the entire transition team should probably be posted, per sunshine. However, if [staff] meet, or we meet with any of our ‘worker staff’, those sessions would not fall under sunshine.”
Mousa also advised “keeping the media informed on status, etc.”
The next big order of business came at 10:28 from Curry himself. He said the Jax Beach and Atlantic Beach mayors “agreed to be part of the team to represent the beaches.” He was waiting to hear back from the Atlantic Beach mayor (which he did a few days later), and wanted to reach out to the Baldwin mayor, presumably to make a similar offer.
May 24: As I Fish and Drink My Grey Goose
Mousa, in a reflective mode on a Sunday morning: “as I fish and drink my Grey Goose (more drinking than fishing) other matters come to mind… we need to make budget/review preparation priority #1” and create a budget “swat team” to get going immediately.
May 25 and 26: In the Weeds
On May 25, Wiles, Curry, Mousa, and Braxton Gillam convened for an “in the weeds” meeting. No information exists on that in the email. However, on May 26, Wiles, Petway, Mousa, and Curry set up a meeting at Petway’s US Assure office for noon.
Meanwhile, Mousa was assembling a “Budget Preparation Task Force to assist with Mayor Elect Curry’s first budget,” to review and/or create a “balanced budget while addressing the Mayor Elect’s priorities.”
On that team: Shari Shuman, Cal Ray, Kevin Stork, and Kirk Wendland.
As well, Wiles and Mousa set up a meeting with the Brown administration to discuss their budget process and status.
May 27: Lenny’s Corporate Interests and Background Checks
Gillam, who offers legal counsel throughout the transition period, sent Mousa an attachment with a “plain language explanation of both public record laws and the Sunshine Law.”
More interesting is Gillam’s concerns on how to address “Lenny’s corporate interests.” Gillam “had a few thoughts on how to structure this transaction, but need input before proceeding further.”
Mousa, in an email to Peyton, said that he “provided [Gillam] with copies of all documents that were generated for Peyton, in reference to his Gate holdings.” Clearly, he felt that was the appropriate course of action.
In the evening of May 27, an interesting email from Mousa contained a chain of conversation about the nomenclature of committees, in which Wiles was quoted asking Brian Hughes to craft “punchier titles” for the committees.
As well, there was an exchange between Hughes, Mousa, and Wiles regarding the draft version of the resignation letter for the Brown staff. The team supplied the email to Cleveland Ferguson to be sent to “all appointed officials and appointed staff,” as Wiles put it.
A minor hiccup, to be sure. By 11:34 on the evening of May 27, Petway was able to email Fiorentino, John Rood, Peter Rummell, Michael Munz, Mousa and Wiles, saying that the “organization of the Lenny Curry Transition Team is well under way.”
Beyond that, May 27 offered emails from Hand that gave a look into some pending legislation before city council, including the Water Taxi Sponsorship Agreement, the Office of Economic Development Public Investment Policy, an amendment to the Jaguars’ lease, the transfer of the Jacksonville Suns Ownership/Lease, and a JEA agreement.
An early evening email from Hand to Mousa and Wiles gave insight into the Brown administration’s budget process: “departments were given the direction to utilize a flat expense budget, while also providing information on the added expenses necessary to provide a flat service level budget.”
May 28: Now Hiring?
Curry forwarded an email from former Jacksonville City Councilwoman Suzanne Jenkins, who was looking for a spot on the transition team, citing her experience with Mousa and Wiles in “previous administrations.” Many subsequent emails from job seekers followed.
More interesting, however, was an email from former Jacksonville Undersheriff Frank Mackesy to Wiles regarding his recommendations for the mayor’s security detail.
“I think you will need no more than two officers for this task. If you should only choose one it can quickly burn the officer out,” Mackesy wrote.
Mackesy was able to personally recommend Tye Welsh and Dennis Blankenchip for the job. Welsh, he wrote, “knows all the players and the venues.” Blankenchip, meanwhile, “has some dignitary protection experience.”
Meanwhile, on May 28, there was interface between the Brown administration and the transition team on the resignation letter process. An interesting point: “no resignation letters to anyone in the Office of General Counsel,” from Mousa. Those would be an issue for Curry’s OGC to address,
As well, the first public-records request came through on May 28 from Nate Monroe of The Florida Times-Union. Monroe’s request “dates back to May 20 and will be ongoing.”
May 29: Thank You for Your Dedication
Hand emailed the draft resignation letter from Cleveland Ferguson to Mousa, Wiles, and Kandi Begue.
“As is tradition with the election of a new mayor and the start of a new administration, I have been asked to seek the resignations of all appointed officials and appointed employees.”
The resignation “will take effect if and when the Mayor-elect chooses to accept the resignation.”
May 30: An Early Political Win for Lenny
An email from Jacksonville Civic Council Chairman Ed Burr to Petway and Wiles spoke to political reality.
“We are trying to set a meeting with the civic council/chamber leadership to meet with the governor to discuss UF Health while he is in town Friday. Assuming (big assumption) we get some sense of flexibility from him, does it make sense to try to orchestrate an early political win for Lenny. Thinking some sort of private meeting after which the governor announces renewed support or something positive for the hospital.”
Coincidentally or not, Scott gave such a signal on June 5.
Another interesting May 30 tidbit from an email from Petway: “Lenny confirmed to me this morning that he approves a joint swearing-in ceremony with Sheriff Mike Williams.” For those who wonder how well the two men will work together, wonder no more.
June 1: Grover Norquist
Curry got some national publicity among the mainstream conservative movement after his election, and it likely won’t die down anytime soon, if the June 1 email regarding Grover Norquist wanting to do a profile of Curry for Americans for Tax Reform is any indication.
June 2: Mike Weinstein
Though Mike Weinstein is currently a declared candidate for Public Defender against Matt Shirk, he’s always been drawn to City Hall. In that context, Jessica Laird emailed Mousa and Wiles to set up a meeting on June 15.
Conclusion
A lot of these emails we reviewed are too quotidian to quote. The office supply orders, the parking spaces and the email issues would defy the patience of even the most patient reader. In a way, that should comfort people who worried that, given the pitched rhetoric of the campaign, there would be some marked sea change. There can be real changes in budgetary priorities; however, the city must be run no matter who is in office.
