A.G. Gancarski
A writing teacher I had once told me the secret to character development. A character can be good or bad, but as long as he is verifiable, that is the secret to credible characterization.
I look at Sam Mousa, Lenny Curry’s new Chief Administrative Officer in that sense. Some have said that he’s “recycled” from a bygone time. The fact is that the man is a classic. Smart, assertive, flush with institutional knowledge and leadership ability, with the credibility to command any room.
A rumor from a strong source last week told me that Mousa could be in line for two executive positions in the Curry administration. While that doesn’t appear to be the case, the fact is that Mousa as Chief Administrative Officer is going to be that value guy that may be the most important person in the Curry administration.
He doesn’t waste time. He does not BS. He does not invest in hand wringing moralism, or “look at me” sentimentality. What Mousa does is get to the heart of a problem, and solve it. The fixer. The insider. Like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction. Or like Brando in a certain trilogy.
I’ve covered Mousa a lot in the last couple of weeks. Last week at Jacksonville University, when he gave a lesson on budgeting during the Fiscal Responsibility meeting. And this week on the fourth floor of City Hall, in a conference room in the Mayor’s Suite, where Mousa has gone through almost two dozen departmental budgets already in three solidly booked weeks, and has forced those presenting to back up their requests with the utmost of authority.
From libraries to the Downtown Investment Authority, and from the Sheriff’s Office to Sports, Entertainment, and Special Events, Mousa did not capitulate to any given request, sentimentality be damned. And at the same time, he is a realist. In the budget presentation of the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission, he was not in any way dismissive of that group’s aims, nor of it being starved for resources in recent years.
You can expect, in Sam Mousa, an old hand who knows that the devil is in the details. We all know what John Delaney said about him: “He may be an S.O.B. but he’s my S.O.B.” He will have Lenny Curry’s back in the same way.
There is a reason that Curry is so happy to have Mousa aboard. It’s that he understands the importance of a team dynamic. Mousa is that rare character: a coach on the field, who nonetheless knows how to throw a block. You will never have to worry either, those of you in the media, about Mousa giving some anodyne quote. The man talks real. He doesn’t waste your time or his. In that sense, he’s a throwback to the Jacksonville of yesteryear. In the best way possible.
