Lawyer Daniel Bean tapped for Jacksonville Port Authority

The Jacksonville Port Authority has a new board member, while a current member earned another four-year term.

The new blood: Daniel Bean, a Jacksonville lawyer, is a partner at Abel Bean Law.

Among that firm’s specialties: general counsel services for small and medium sized businesses.

Prior to that, Bean was with Holland and Knight.

Bean had a 25 year stretch in the Navy, ending in 2012. His Bachelor’s Degree was from Vanderbilt; he got his law degree at the University of San Diego.

The reappointment: Ed Fleming.

Per the Governor’s Office: “Fleming, of Jacksonville, retired in 2010 as CEO and President of Atlantic Marine, after a 32-year career in the maritime industry. He was a founding board member of the Jacksonville Marine Transportation Exchange and served on the Jacksonville Waterways Commission for eight years, in addition to consulting in the industry. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business from Jacksonville University. He is reappointed to a four-year term.”

Both of these men were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who gets three of the seven picks on this board.

The other four are picked by Jacksonville’s Mayor, currently Republican Lenny Curry.

The board, as one would expect, pulsates with the distinctive rhythms of the Northeast Florida donor class.

To wit, John Baker is the chairman; the exceedingly well-capitalized financier is among the Jacksonville area’s major players.

The vice-chairman is no slouch either.

Jamie Shelton of bestbet fame is among the most politically-connected people in Jacksonville. bestbet has exercised its political will over the years, and Shelton (along with wife Ali Korman Shelton and her father, Howard Korman) is among the city’s a-list players.

John Falconetti, the immediate past chairman, is deeply connected to the Republican power structure historically, and is a serial appointee to boards.

John Allen Newman, while a Democrat, has been eclipsed by his famous wife: the headline-grabbing Omarosa Manigault, a former staffer for President Donald Trump who has since parted ways with the White House.