A.G. Gancarski
February ended with Jacksonville City Council VP John Crescimbeni storming out of the gate in the race for the council presidency.
A group of councilmen — Gulliford, Crescimbeni, Greg Anderson, Jim Love, and Tommy Hazouri — signed on very quickly, giving Crescimbeni a real leg up.
Rhetoric was pitched in the councilmen’s conclave: lots of talk about “council tradition” dictating that, barring some unforgivable transgression against moral or municipal code, the VP move up to the top slot.
In that meeting, Republican Bill Gulliford — the most outspoken of the men in the meeting — urged Crescimbeni, the most veteran of the seven Democrats on the council, to close the deal quickly on his opponent, Finance Chair Anna Brosche.
However, the deal hasn’t been closed. Not by a long shot.
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Crescimbeni got one pledge since, from Democrat Joyce Morgan, bringing him to seven. Meanwhile, Brosche, who started like the allegorical tortoise, well behind Crescimbeni’s jackrabbit start, is making up ground — big league.
Brosche came into Tuesday with five pledges (Matt Schellenberg, Sam Newby, Al Ferraro, Aaron Bowman and the candidate herself). And even before the morning rush hour traffic abated downtown, she scored a sixth pledge: Doyle Carter.
Those with memories longer than the most recent news cycle will remember the surprisingly pitched race between Carter, a Westside Republican, and Crescimbeni.
Going into the vote, it appeared that Carter had the edge in pledges … before Reggie Gaffney reneged on his pledge to support Carter.
We asked Carter if the schmozz that was the 2016 vote factored into his decision to support Brosche. That wasn’t the case, he said.
The race is 7-6 now, and the momentum seems to be going the way of Brosche, a candidate preferred by the Chamber and other local stakeholders.
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We understand that Mayor Lenny Curry‘s office is taking an agnostic position on the race, and can figure out a way to work with whoever wins.
The relationship between Crescimbeni and Curry has improved, though there are caveats that may affect the mayor’s office should Crescimbeni win, which would not be the case if Brosche prevails.
For starters, there was tension between Crescimbeni and former Mayor Alvin Brown, with Crescimbeni backing out of an agreement to endorse, one trumpeted by the Brown campaign in Spring 2015.
Meanwhile, for a good illustration of what can go wrong when the council president and the mayor aren’t walking in lockstep, consider the example of Clay Yarborough and Alvin Brown — a fractious dynamic that hurt the mayor in getting his 2015 pension deal through while it still could have helped Brown get re-elected.
Curry has had two council presidents, Greg Anderson and Lori Boyer, who sang from the same page in the hymnal.
Arguably, he needs the next council president to be on that page also.
His pension reform package has yet to be ratified by the council, and aspersions cast by a council president could hurt the effort.
As well, the third year for a Jacksonville mayor often is when the bloom falls off the rose.
Brown’s popularity began to dip midway through his term, and while his approval ratings never went below the high-50s, support was soft enough to make him vulnerable to Curry’s challenge.
Of course, it’s unlikely that any Democratic operatives know how to play the game the way Tim Baker and Brian Hughes do. That said, it’s imperative for whoever emerges in this race to understand council’s role, driving policy in accordance with a mayor’s office that remains on a reform path.
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Meanwhile, it’s still slow going in the race for VP.
Aaron Bowman leads Scott Wilson 6-3.
Wilson met with Tommy Hazouri on Monday, but couldn’t close the deal.
As of Tuesday morning, no meetings were set up for the rest of the week by any leadership candidates, as many people are taking a “wait and see” attitude
