Lenny Curry denies Lisa King another volunteer board role

In 2015, there was more than a little bit of local drama about the removal of Chairwoman Lisa King from the Jacksonville Planning Commission.

King was bounced unceremoniously, and the man who nominated her for chairwoman, Tony Robbins, likewise was removed soon thereafter.

By virtue of removing King as a Planning commissioner, she also became ineligible to continue as the Planning Commission representative on the Housing and Community Development Commission, divesting the local Democrat of a second volunteer role.

A third rebuff for King from the Curry administration transpired on Friday as she was denied the opportunity to be on the District 6 Citizens Planning Advisory Committee.

Jessica Laird, who handles boards and commissions, sent King a 29-word email saying that “the Mayor will not be appointing you to this committee.”

This “really disappointed” said CPAC Chairman Rex Neidlinger, a Curry supporter in the 2015 election along with other CPAC heads.

“I don’t like what’s going on,” Neidlinger said of the partisan move.

“I was hoping that [King] would become leadership,” he said, noting the CPAC lacks a vice chairman and that King would be a logical fit for government affairs in the CPAC.

Neidlinger said he doesn’t know the motivation. Perhaps, he speculated, “the mayor has a vendetta or is making it personal.”

During the lead-up to King’s removal from Planning, commission members wanted to know what was driving the move. Curry’s chief of staff, Kerri Stewart, told them, “The mayor feels like he’d like someone else” in King’s role and that they didn’t “wish to get into a public debate” regarding the reasons.

Curry’s spokeswoman, Marsha Oliver, wrote this response to media inquiries: “Please see the correspondence sent to Ms. King. There are no additional statements or information to share about the non-appointment to this Committee.”