A.G. Gancarski
Political cronies abound at Mike Hogan’s Duval County Supervisor of Elections office. One example is former GOP pollster John Libby. Another one upon whom we’ve focused recently is former Jacksonville City Council president, former State House member, and current State House candidate Dick Kravitz.
Kravitz endorsed Hogan in the spring, with a mailer trumpeting this apparent coup. Yet no mailer was sent out when Kravitz was hired at the SOE in a customer-service role greeting people as they enter the door.
Plus despite Kravitz and Hogan having the money to do so, no mailer was sent out regarding Kravitz being exceedingly well taken care of via governmental pensions.
Kravitz’s DROP payout, received after he termed out of the House, would be enough to buy a house in some parts of town: $86,307. He had entered with 15.67 years of service credit in the Elected Officers class.
Don’t worry, though. He gets more. A lot more.
In December 2008, Kravitz began receiving a gross monthly benefit of $1,517.60. After a 3 percent cost-of-living-adjustment (or COLA) every July 1, Kravitz’s current gross monthly benefit is $1,866.45.
In 2015, Kravitz got more than $23,000 in gross pension benefits. Nice work if you can get it. Especially on top of that $86,000 check from years ago. And his work at the SOE, greeting voters and very arguably electioneering for his State House bid, during a citywide election when at least some early voters from his district will encounter him.
Equal time, a requirement of broadcast media, doesn’t apply in Kravitz’s case here. Kravitz’s opponent, Jason Fischer, quite likely is not getting hired to campaign on the clock. And he certainly doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars of pension benefits to help him along either.
How many taxpayer funded paychecks are enough for Kravitz? Will he level with House District 16 voters about being a paid employee of the SOE, drawing state pensions, and looking to boost that total further?
Pension issues came up during Hogan’s campaign for SOE, with allegations that the veteran pol was running to “collect a pension.” Turns out that might be SOP at the Duval SOE.
