A.G. Gancarski
Corrine Brown looks to be in deep trouble. Or at least “Person A” is.
The Florida Times-Union has been leading on the story of Person A’s latest imbroglio … which could be a career killer.
“Person A,” a public official all but identified as Brown, used her “official position” to “solicit contributions” to the until-very-recently obscure One Door For Education, whose president pleaded guilty and apparently exposed the whole operation.
I took in $800,000 over the years. A lot of that money from Jacksonville power brokers, who like how Corrine delivers more than the rank-and-file Republicans.
“Person B,” an employee of Brown (and those who have paid attention to her local operation can guess that one), is also named in the Times-Union article.
The Feds don’t play. The sharks are circling around Person A.
That would leave her a choice: step down, retire after this term, or push through and fight what appears to be a preponderance of evidence and a confession by her co-conspirator.
She needs to make her move soon.
Of late, we haven’t talked much about the matter of “which district she’ll run in.”
It’s been assumed that she would run in CD 5, if she were to run.
But what if she can’t go forth?
The field, as it stands, is awful for Jacksonville. Lashonda Holloway has no history in elected office, and wouldn’t stand a chance against Al Lawson.
There is a bench in Duval County, of course: Mia Jones, Audrey Gibson, Tony Hill, and Alvin Brown are all plausible names.
Of that four, the last name might make the most sense.
Despite Brown getting the badmouth from the Jacksonville media on a variety of issues since he left City Hall, he still has cachet with Jacksonville Democrats, and still has access to a lot of deep-pocketed donors … including many of the GOP pragmatists who will be sad to see Person A go.
Alvin Brown ran against Corrine Brown in 1994. The 22 years since would make him a better congressman.
Four years of City Hall experience would position him uniquely to advocate for Jacksonville on the Federal level, especially considering his work in D.C. in the 1990s during the Clinton/Gore administration.
Brown, up in Georgetown teaching for the semester, is likely watching this with interest.
And so are Jacksonville watchers.
There would be a delicious irony in the Lenny Curry administration having to use Mayor Brown as their point man on D.C. projects, especially given the pitched rhetoric of the campaign and the early months of the administration.
It’s not as if they’d get a better deal or a fairer hearing from a political lifer from across the state.
Alvin Brown for Congress sounds unlikely? Maybe. But no one was expecting Person A to go through the wrong door for education either.
