A.G. Gancarski
The names on the ballot in Jacksonville District 8 are Pat Lockett-Felder and Katrina Brown. They might as well be Denise Lee and Corrine Brown though. Though there are some less than scintillating Council races on the ballot in Jacksonville, this one is special. It’s Denise Lee doing what she can to score a setback against the Corrine Brown “Quick Pick” machine.
We broke the story of Lee’s blockbuster endorsement of Lockett-Felder. Soon thereafter, we heard from the candidate, who was thrilled with the Lee endorsement. “Concerning Denise Lee’s endorsement, I’m very thankful to Ms. Lee. She knows that Pat Lockett-Felder will take care of the District the same way Ms. Lee has done for District 8. I want to make sure that District 8 has a better quality of life and to protect the security of my constituents,” she said.
That’s not the entire case that Lockett-Felder will make, of course. One of the things she did in Monday night’s debate with Katrina Brown, sources tell me, was bring up the almost $22k of unpaid property taxes and stormwater fees that her family business, Jerome Brown BBQ, owes to the City of Jacksonville.
Ironically, that’s a business Denise Lee helped to get a package worth $640K in loans and grants as a City Councilwoman 4 years ago. The same Denise Lee who just happened to remind me, in casual conversation, that there might be an article in the T-U that I’d find interesting.
The article references issues we’d brought up in previous reporting, including tax liens which Brown claimed had been taken care of. It does not mention other issues that our reporting had addressed, such as the heavy investment Jerome Brown BBQ has made into the Corrine Brown organization over the years, nor the seeming appearance of a reciprocal investment from the city to the BBQ company, nor the “correlation or causation” question raised by the Quick Pick going to the callow Katrina Brown rather than a candidate who Lee describes as being ready to go on Day One.
Denise Lee has spent months inveighing against the Quick Picks, and it’s easy to see why. She has never been a beneficiary of that machine; she was in office even before Corrine was in the House. She sees Corrine trying to put a candidate in place who would undo her legacy. Can you blame her for throwing down on the other side?
“Politics is the best way there is to touch a whole lot of people,” Lee told me last week during our coffee conversation. She points with pride to infrastructural projects that she’s installed in her district. And she sees Lockett-Felder as someone who respects her legacy enough to continue that.
The question becomes one of how much does the dirt hurt Katrina Brown? How much of it can be effectively used? Is it the kind of thing you need a mailpiece to get over, or can word of mouth do it? And how does Katrina Brown, who graduated high school the year Pat Felder won her first election, counteract two very savvy political minds who aren’t just running against her, but against a machine they see as trying to impose her on the District?
An interesting question will be what, if any, outside fundraising comes into this race in the next few weeks. Fish frys and free sandwiches are going to be flying on both sides. But if some PAC drops $30K into an ad buy on behalf of one candidate or another, that may make the difference.
