Jax Council VP race heats up; both candidates score commitments

Sam Newby gets a grant for a local business, then gives it his business.

The two-man race for the Council VP-elect between Republican Rules Chairman Matt Schellenberg and Democrat John Crescimbeni heated up Tuesday.

On Monday, Crescimbeni (rumored to have a lot of oral commitments some months back) got his first signed commitment, from Republican Finance Chairman Bill Gulliford, who crossed party lines to do so.

Tuesday saw Schellenberg scoring the support of Republican freshman Sam Newby, and Crescimbeni pitching to Republican Council President Greg Anderson, in a pair of public notice meetings that seemed like formalities.

The score, at the end of the day: 2-1 for Crescimbeni.

Schellenberg explained his rationale for running to Newby and the media assembled, citing that although he hasn’t been in “leadership positions” the last four years (with the exception of his current Rules chairmanship, the Mandarin Republican nonetheless has been “at the forefront” on meaningful initiatives, such as getting the city to go self-insured, and moving the Supervisor of Elections office to its current Imeson location, a move that was controversial at the time but that saves the city $400,000 a year.

“I’ve been very good at moving agendas,” Schellenberg said, “over the last four years,” in a way that is “effective for the leadership of Jacksonville and Mandarin,” including “collaborating with other people on Council.”

Newby, in response, told Schellenberg that he was “preaching to the choir” and affirmed that they had “talked about this [race] before.”

For Newby, the support is personal and rooted in history.

“When I made the second round (in the 2015 city elections), you were one of the first to call,” Newby told Schellenberg.

“You supported me when a lot of people didn’t,” Newby said, adding that “our values are closely aligned.”

Newby also found parallels between their first campaigns, in which each were underdogs.

“You ran against the Council president,” Newby said to Schellenberg, and that was a “tough run for you.”

Schellenberg, who introduced Newby to Mandarin at the annual Mandarin Arts Fest, can sow the seeds planted in that effort in declared support in his current quest.

When asked about oral commitments, Schellenberg downplayed their meaning. As Crescimbeni effectively said on Monday, the name of the game is to get a signature.

Speaking of signatures, Crescimbeni got a big one just after lunch from Council President Anderson, who told him, “I think you’d be a great [Council] president.”

Anderson told Crescimbeni, “I’ve worked with you for five years. I know you’re a man of integrity” with “an incredibly high work ethic” and an “institutional knowledge of how things worked in the past.”

Both men have served, Anderson related, on myriad committees together, such as Blight, Finance, and Courthouse Oversight.

Anderson had one request.

“I’d like to continue to serve in leadership,” the Council president related, “in any role that you think is appropriate.”

Anderson, a banker by trade, indicated a preference for Finance.

Crescimbeni noted that the 2011 class, in which Anderson came in, was notable because “many had no prior governmental experience,” yet they “learned the ropes quickly,” by necessity, as they faced “challenging dilemmas that were the product of inheritance.”

When Crescimbeni was originally elected to Council, back in 1991, he noted that there was plenty of money in the city’s coffers … a luxury that wasn’t the case two decades hence.

With Gulliford and Anderson backing Crescimbeni, he has two major players behind him. Schellenberg’s hope would be to pile up votes among first-term members like Sam Newby.

The question is, however, are there enough of them?