A.G. Gancarski
At the request of Mayor Lenny Curry, the Jacksonville City Council met Wednesday to discuss a “valuation study” commissioned by local utility JEA, as what many observers see as a prerequisite toward “next steps” toward selling the utility.
Council President Anna Brosche was adamantly opposed to the meeting, and expressed such Monday, which led Curry, for the first time since elected mayor, to call a special meeting of the legislative body.
The drama-filled three-hour meeting revealed that the city could turn $3 to $6 billion on a sale of JEA under the right conditions.
That splashy figure isn’t what’s being talked about the day after the meeting. Rather, the focus is on a spectacle, stunning to those who haven’t covered City Hall closely, in which Brosche denied Mayor Curry time to speak on the microphone.
That was the first time Brosche had refused to recognize a speaker since taking the gavel in July.
The unprecedented actions by Curry and Brosche speak to an unprecedented rancor between Jacksonville’s leading elected officials, one made all the more notable by the fact that both politicians, CPAs by trade, are also Republicans.
Duval County Republican Party chair Karyn Morton weighed in on the contretemps Wednesday night, siding with Curry (himself a former chair of the local GOP).
“Whatever your opinion of the JEA, or it’s potential sale, the actions at tonight’s City Council meeting are unacceptable,” Morton wrote.
“I implore Council leadership to conduct themselves in a professional and honorable fashion — including respecting fellow city leaders with whom you may disagree. It is imperative that Jacksonville’s elected officials forego disrespectful and ‘gotcha’ antics and instead find a way to work together to solve our city’s problems,” Morton added.
Brosche sees the matter differently than Morton.
“I agree with her that professionalism and respect are very important, and I have no obligation to honor and respect someone that does not honor and respect me. It was disrespectful for the Mayor to call a meeting that I respectfully declined. Tonight’s events proved my position that a meeting was premature,” Brosche asserted Wednesday night.
The relationship between Council President Brosche and the Duval Republican Party has been rocky for years.
When Brosche ran for Council in 2015 against DINO Kim Daniels, many local Republican Executive Committee members asserted that they would prefer it if Daniels won, asserting that Brosche’s willingness to support LGBT rights was a deal-breaker.
That said, Morton showed up for Brosche’s election to the Council presidency, taking a victory lap of sorts.
Brosche’s reaction after the fact could be described as measured, even skeptical.
“At least in the president’s race, she had a Republican running against a Democrat. I’m not sure she had a choice in that race. She’s about supporting Republicans,” Brosche said of Morton’s enthusiasm.
Though the chair of the local Republican Party has shivved the Council President in favor of the Mayor, the chair of the Duval Democrats sees Brosche’s actions differently.
“The time for deference is over,” asserted Duval Democratic Party Chair Lisa King.
“For the past 3 years, Mayor Curry has treated City Council as his subordinates and bullied them to approve his priorities. This is evident even in the manner the Special Council Meeting was called tonight — using the power of his office to facilitate political theater,” King asserted.
“Council President Brosche had an obligation to the council and citizens of Jacksonville to ensure this hastily called meeting was free from politics and interference. I know President Brosche to be a stateswoman of integrity, professionalism, and honor. She and I have disagreed in the past, but she has always treated me with respect. My disagreements with Mayor Curry have been markedly different,” King added.
King notably was replaced as head of the Jacksonville Planning Commission by Mayor Curry in 2015, as part of what critics called a “purge” of Jacksonville’s nominally-independent boards and commissions to bring in people who, as former Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart put it, “aligned with the mayor’s vision.”
King described Morton’s attack on Brosche as “the height of hubris.”
Brosche has yet to file for re-election to her at-large council seat. Curry has yet to file for re-election for Mayor.
The “first election” (a blanket primary) for each is 13 months away.
2 comments
Seber Newsome III
February 16, 2018 at 10:44 am
Whether you agree or disagree with the possible sale of JEA, the city council president was out of line, by not allowing the Mayor of Jacksonville, the opportunity to speak. Who does she think she is. She says she wants transparency, well, by not allowing someone, the Mayor at that, the opportunity to speak is not allowing transparency. Her charade was cost her in the long run.
Alicia Grant
February 17, 2018 at 9:20 am
I attend d the meeting and was sitting up close to the front. What most people did not see and has not been reported or mentioned was Curry’s actions when President Brosche refused to acknowledge him. He turned around to the audience broke into a huge smile and gave a thumbs up to the audience, eliciting clapping and hooting in violation of Council rules. How is that for maintaining mutual respect and decorum?
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