A.G. Gancarski
The big news thus far this week in the Jacksonville City Council race for vice president hasn’t been flux in the pledge count, which still sees John Crescimbeni leading Doyle Carter 7 to 6.
Rather, it’s in the discussion of whether or not the system, as Councilman Reggie Brown charged, is “broken” or not.
The latest to weigh in on that: Councilman Garrett Dennis, during a meeting with Carter Tuesday.
Dennis, without prompting from Carter, weighed in on the FloridaPolitics.com (linked above) story that included Brown’s comments.
“I read where a council member said the process is a bad process,” fraught with “institutional racism,” said Dennis, who, like Brown, is African-American.
“I disagree. Is it perfect? No, but there’s no perfect system.”
From there, Dennis went on to ask Carter how he would “corral the troops.”
Citing “undercurrents of division,” Dennis said a “house divided will not stand.”
Carter was not able to make the sell to Dennis, even though Carter’s daughters worked for Dennis in the Supervisor of Elections office in recent years.
Meanwhile, Dennis appropriated Crescimbeni’s talking points in questions to Carter, including familiar spiels about how leadership needs to “protect the body” of the council.
Crescimbeni has not been able to make the sale to many of his fellow Democrats. Indeed, the only one currently on board is Joyce Morgan.
Based on Dennis’ line of questioning to Carter, he could be the second.
The final vote is the day of the next council meeting on May 24.
