A.G. Gancarski
The Lenny Curry administration may want Lisa King off the Jacksonvile Planning Commission, but she has no intention of going. So it looks like Curry has a scrap on his hands.
Florida Politics obtained a letter from King to Mayor Curry telling him, “I respectfully decline to resign from the Planning Commission.”
“I am convinced that the unprecedented appointment of four new members simultaneously will slow the work of the Commission to a degree that it will negatively impact the development pipeline and job creation in our City. I know that streamlining government operations is of major concern to you as it is to me,” King writes, before noting that her work has been used by his administration already.
“When I presented ideas to speed the work of the Planning Commission to your Transition Committee they were adopted into your final report. Today’s action seems to be in direct conflict with your stated goals and objectives,” King writes.
“I regret having to take this action,” King closes, “but respectfully feel it is in our City’s best interest.”
Since Florida Politics broke the news today, information critical of two new appointees has been received by interested parties. A common thread between Donald Adkinson and Nicole Padgett has been their close relationship with Councilman Al Ferraro, who defeated King in a contentious election in May, and with Curry.
Adkinson acted as a campaign surrogate for Ferraro on one occasion. Padgett, meanwhile, is the wife of one of Curry’s key supporters who was appointed to the Downtown Investment Authority.
Padgett also was one of Ferraro’s biggest contributors, going so far as to bundle maximum donations from employees at his business.
Of course, King has high-profile support on Council, in the form of Democrats John Crescimbeni and Tommy Hazouri. There are those, though, who speculate King also will have surprising Republican support.
Meanwhile, King is calling Curry’s bluff, and there will be a showdown of sorts during Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting, which is preceded by a nominating meeting at noon.
After the meeting, which promises to be a long one, there will be elections for the committee.
Florida Politics will attend, and we look forward to seeing fellow news media members there. If they can’t make it, no worries: We will Tweet out the link.
