Bail bonds money pushes Jacksonville sheriff’s political committee over $100K
Embattled Mike Williams didn't make the hurricane briefing. Image via AG Gancarski, 2017.

Mike Williams Jax Sheriff

“A Safe Jacksonville,” the political committee of Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, cleared $100K cash on hand in August.

August, of course, was the first deployment of the committee’s muscle: a well-timed poll from the committee, dropped during budget hearings, helped the Sheriff make his case that his department needs 100 new officers.

Williams’ committee brought in 17 contributions totaling $27,500 in August (against $1,050 spent). Ten of those contributions are from bail bonds companies, with the most evocatively named of them all being “Ankle Monitor Bail Bonds.”

The poll mentioned above was not reflected in the August campaign finance report.

All told, Williams’ committee has over $105,000 banked.

His next election is in 2019, and no competition has emerged yet.

This allows Williams’ committee the flexibility to devote resources to messaging and, perhaps, backing candidates who align with his vision for public safety.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


One comment

  • Kenneth Heatherman

    September 15, 2017 at 11:03 am

    For a sheriff to be taking money from bail bond companies is conflict of interest. Good reason to not support him and good argument for not having an elected sheriff.

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories