Matt Carlucci defends Terrance Freeman appointment to Jacksonville City Council

Can Carlucci match Daniel Davis in the money race?

Former Jacksonville City Councilman — and current candidate — Matt Carlucci knows something about the gubernatorial appointment process.

Carlucci was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to head the Florida Commission on Ethics, a position he resigned shortly before launching his 2019 campaign for Council.

We caught up with Carlucci Friday, where he gave us a peek at that appointment process, and defended the appointment of Jacksonville’s newest Councilman, Terrance Freeman, controversial as a Republican who moved to NW Jacksonville solely because of being the governor’s choice.

Carlucci defends the city’s position.

“My years on the Council, I always leaned heavily on the General Counsel’s office.”

The general counsel’s position is that Freeman satisfied residency requirements, having established a district address before being sworn in last Thursday.

“If the general counsel’s correct, and I’m thinking he probably is, then Terrance is the councilman for that area, and given the chance, I think he’ll do a very good job,” Carlucci said.

“Sometimes great things get off to tough starts,” Carlucci added. “Perhaps a choice from that district might have made some other parts of that district happy. I get that. I’m not tone deaf to that. But also I believe in giving people a chance.”

“They’ll find that Terrance will be a hard worker and dedicated to doing what he can in that district,” Carlucci predicted.

Carlucci talked about his own process.

“I had to drive to Tallahassee to interview, and it was a tough interview. I didn’t have people calling on my behalf. He’s not a backslapper,” Carlucci related.

“He did allow me to have my picture taken with him, which I did,” Carlucci said. “It was an honor.”

“I knew one thing: he was dedicated to good government,” Carlucci said, stressing that his appointment process may have been different from Freeman’s.

Carlucci is well-positioned to return to Council, boasting a $240,000 nest egg against two fellow Republicans who each have roughly $10,000 on hand.

“We have contributions coming in still from friends and people interested in the race,” Carlucci said, noting that he has already reached his goal of $250,000.

“There are so many people asking for money right now,” Carlucci said. “It pays to get in early.”

He would not offer his take on how internal polls read.