A.G. Gancarski
Former Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Hazouri, running as a Democrat in a Republican year, got more votes than any other citywide candidate in the 2015 City Council election.
In addition to being mayor for four years (1987-91), Hazouri has also served as a State Legislator and a member of the Duval County School Board.
However, prominence on the Council, despite his best efforts, has yet to secure a place on the Finance Committee in his three years. And this year, as a result of his beyond-staunch support for the opponent of Anna Brosche in the race for President, he has been more marginalized than ever.
Those close to Hazouri have described the race for Council VP as being very important to him. With the Human Rights Ordinance expansion (a campaign priority) now established law, Hazouri has been light on bill introductions and heavy on the chase for higher office on the 19-person legislative body.
Going into Monday (a day before the leadership elections Tuesday), Hazouri had two pledged supporters: himself and fellow Democrat Joyce Morgan.
Per the minutes of the Morgan/Hazouri meeting, “Morgan said the council needs a VP that can hit the ground running and she thinks CM Hazouri can do that and his attitude and demeanor to all their colleagues is important, that it needs to be embracing and inclusive.”
Both of them had pledged the year before to support Republican Scott Wilson, who ultimately fell short in that bid.
Wilson is running again, and has yet to secure pledges. Meanwhile, Danny Becton is the clubhouse leader, with Jim Love and Al Ferraro, two fellow Republicans, falling in behind him.
Becton, again per meeting minutes, felt comfortable using the rhetoric of a magnaminous frontrunner in conversation with Hazouri: “Becton expressed a desire to have a congenial conversation since both are running for the city council vice president position. He continued to say that it’s a good group and that whatever happens, he hopes the whole council can move forward in a harmonious way, that he’s committed to that.”
It takes ten votes to win outright, but so far two-thirds of the body is undecided. Including five of the seven Council Democrats Hazouri would need to win.
“Nobody knows,” Hazouri said of the eventual outcome.
Ahead of the 3 p.m. vote, all three candidates will have pledge meetings.
Hazouri is not a fan of how the vying for votes works.
“I don’t like the process,” Hazouri said, comparing it to a game of charades that isn’t fair to candidates or the public.
Indeed, the process has veered outside of the sunshine for certain elections, including the vote for Council President and Vice-President in 2017.
Though pledges are supposed to be signed and conferred in public notice meetings, eventual winners President Anna Brosche and VP Aaron Bowman saw their winning margins conferred outside of the fourth floor of City Hall.
Some perceived irregularities: among them, a group of council members voting in a “pack,” which ultimately swung the election toward current Council President Anna Brosche; and a breakfast meeting between Brosche, two other supporters, and some others that also raised the hackles of some council members on the other side.
Then Council President Lori Boyer — the only attorney on the 19 person council — noted that the “optics” suffered from activity outside of noticed meetings.
“You’re not allowed to talk about something like ‘the race’,” Boyer asserted.
A document from the city ethics office bolstered that view.
“How you come to a decision, the thinking process,” the PowerPoint continues, “should be done at the noticed meeting so the public can see how you got to your decision. If it is all decided somehow ahead of time, if you know how it is going to turn out…. how did that happen?”
The document contends that “city business” falls under the Sunshine Law rubric, a designation that would seem to include a Council leadership race: “Where is the real meeting? What is being shown to the public? Or is there a ‘subterranean meeting’ going on where the real decisions are being made outside of the noticed meeting and out of public view?”
While the race for VP is an open question, the race for Council President is essentially decided, with VP Aaron Bowman garnering 13 pledges supporting a promotion for the first-term Republican.
Voting is at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
