A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville’s Carlucci family is inextricably linked with Jacksonville history.
Joe Carlucci was a councilman from the days of consolidation.
Matt Carlucci carried on the family’s tradition of public service, serving three terms on the council, including a stint as president.
Now Carlucci is the chairman of the Florida Commission on Ethics. Yet his time there is nearing an end. And he’s considering a logical next move: a run for council in 2019, to replace the termed-out At Large Councilman Greg Anderson.
“I’m feeling my way through,” Carlucci said, “but that’s what I’m hoping for.”
Carlucci, a Republican, has been getting “lots of encouragement” from Republicans and Democrats alike; should he run, he will have a couple of strong GOP consultants: Bruce Barcelo and Tom Nolan.
“If I pull the trigger … and it looks like I will,” Barcelo and Nolan will run the campaign, he said.
Carlucci also can count on key support from outside Duval County, such as from former Speaker of the House Will Weatherford, who vowed to be Carlucci’s “first contributor.”
Carlucci describes himself as partisan on the national level, but less so in the local realm.
Illustrating that independent streak, Carlucci notably supported Democrats Alvin Brown and Ken Jefferson for mayor and sheriff in 2015, bets that didn’t pay off.
That said, Carlucci has very complimentary things to say about the “strong leadership” of Mayor Lenny Curry now, calling the mayor “very bold, very decisive.”
“History will treat Alvin well,” Carlucci said. “He brought a lot of excitement.”
However, said Carlucci, “Lenny’s got the trains running on time.”
A council run would present one irony for Carlucci.
In 2003, he ran for mayor unsuccessfully.
When asked his reason for running for the city’s top job, Carlucci quipped to the Jax Daily Record: “I just couldn’t take another four years of council meetings.”
Reminded of this quote, Carlucci quipped that in the last dozen years, he’s “mustered up the endurance to get through the council meetings again.”
Carlucci, if he runs and wins, would offer institutional knowledge of the sort that veterans like Tommy Hazouri and John Crescimbeni bring to the chamber.
