Staff Reports
Campaign season, at last
Though much of this year has been the season of COVID-19, the 2020 elections are hurtling toward us, as a recent surrogate “virtual visit” delineates.
While the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigns have been largely south of I-4, some star power from the ticket came to Duval Tuesday in the form of the nominee’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden.
Biden’s event was under the auspices of a “back to school” tour, bringing an education message to battlegrounds such as Jacksonville.
Tuesday’s Duval production was the second one in Florida, a follow-up of a remarkably similar event last week in the Tampa market.
The event had Biden, a community college teacher by trade, highlight some of the changes a President Biden might make. Access to technology, food security, and mental health support are among the campaign’s big picture priorities.
“Our kids are dealing with so much anxiety and uncertainty,” Biden said, vowing that Biden would double the allocation for school psychologists if elected.
The Biden campaign is confident it can flip Duval. In 2016, Hillary Clinton carried Jacksonville itself and nearly took the entire county; in 2018, Andrew Gillum, Bill Nelson and Nikki Fried all won countywide, even as the first two candidates lost ultimately statewide.
In other words, expect more of these events; it will be interesting to see how Republicans counterprogram down the home stretch.
Waterworks
Senate Appropriations Chair Rob Bradley is leaving the Legislature this year, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has already given the Fleming Island Republican his first board appointment.
Bradley will serve on the St. Johns River Water Management Board, a fitting coda to the legacy of restoring the river and its subsidiary lakes in recent years.
Working with DeSantis and his predecessor, Rick Scott, Bradley took the lead on a number of issues ranging from strengthening the Florida Forever program to attempting to solve problems with flooding in Black Creek.
Speculation had arisen about Bradley’s next political move, and this one allows him to fortify the governing board of an asset he worked to strengthen in Tallahassee.
Bradley’s wife Jennifer won the GOP primary to replace him, and it’s likely she will defeat Democrat Melina Barrett.
The Senator is not the only new DeSantis appointment to the SJRWMB: also empaneled is Rayonier executive Janet Price.
Know your rights
People subject to housing discrimination have a clearer path to recourse, now that the Governor signed a Jacksonville Democrat’s bill into law
HB 175, sponsored by Rep. Tracie Davis, amends the Florida Fair Housing Act (FFHA) to allow someone charging discrimination can file a lawsuit under the act. Previously, all so-called administrative remedies must have been exhausted.
Davis is “excited” the Governor signed her bill into law.
“It’s our job to fix this compliance issue to ensure that housing rights and protections for Florida residents are not diminished and that the Commission on Human Relations can do the job the Legislature created it to do- protect Floridians,” she added.
Davis is heading to Tallahassee for her third term, after winning her August primary. No Republicans or NPA voters filed.
Yes-kamani
A potential 2022 gubernatorial candidate is lending support to a Jacksonville City Council candidate Sunday.
Rep. Anna Eskamani did a town hall event with fellow Democrat Nicole Hamm, with Eskamani getting a chance to workshop the kind of appeals that will be necessary if she is to run for Governor.
Theoretically, the field could be thick with female candidates, including U.S. Rep. Val Demings and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.
But there are vast philosophical differences between the three.
Eskamani is the one for whom the rhetoric of the left, specifically the radicalized under 30 cohort, comes most naturally. She has punched above her pay grade in Tallahassee, bringing progressivism to a chamber with a number of DINOs and moderates amid the small Democratic minority.
Expect other potential statewide candidates to audition, in one way or another, in Duval.
Recall that in August 2018, Andrew Gillum took a majority of Democratic voters in the county, a momentum most polls didn’t see coming that allowed him to capsize Gwen Graham and take the nomination.
Bring it on
The Duval County Clerk of Court race heated up even before Labor Day, with Democratic hopeful Jimmy Midyette launching an Anna Brosche styled broadside against the Lenny Curry machine in an ad in Sunday’s Florida Times-Union.
The ad, titled “bring it on,” basically is a preemptive strike in what will be an ugly campaign between Midyette and “true conservative” Jody Phillips.
Midyette, an attorney known for his LGBT activism, namechecked Tim Baker, Brian Hughes and Sam Mousa in the display ad, and also took aim at disgraced JEA CEO Aaron Zahn.
“My campaign is about whether we’re going to let the same people who tried to steal the JEA to now take over the courthouse and corrupt the future elections of our judges,” Midyette writes in the ad, which also positively namechecks Scott Wilson, the former City Council President obliterated in the August GOP primary by the same political machine.
Ahead of the August primary, Phillips raised roughly $170,000, more than double Midyette’s haul. The Democrat, who had roughly $57,000 on hand at last check, clearly decided to take his case to print rather than television and mailers, at least in the first foray.
Open the bars?
As reported by WJXT, one local bar owner is appealing to the Governor to let him open his bar.
The Bald Eagle bar on Jacksonville’s Westside has been closed since March, and after six months irritation is mounting.
“We’ve got to get a message to the Governor and say, please Governor, if you can flip a coin at a football game and you didn’t social distance yourself from that high school player, then why am I social distancing from my friends, my customers and my co-workers,” owner Randy Martin said.
“This is a Tavern, this is a Cheers, this is somewhere where people come because they like each other,” he said. “It’s time to let us open up. It’s time to let us live our lives.”
The Governor has said he is trying to “get to yes” on a strategy to reopen bars, which have been closed for all but a few weeks since the beginning of spring.
Q, Q and more Qs
Claire Goforth, the former Folio Weekly editor now covering the seamier side of the extremist right for the Daily Dot, went to a QAnon convention in Jacksonville last month and lived to tell the tale.
“The Red Pill Roadshow was equal parts spectacle, lunacy and convention — but mostly grift. There’s a growing grifter class of QAnon personalities. For their marks, the QAnon faithful, the show was a chance to mingle with other members of the quasi-religious conspiracy theory community. It was kind of sad to see them taken advantage of.”
Goforth also opined on the speeches: “The theme of the Red Pill Roadshow can be distilled into the three Ps: President Donald Trump, pedophiles, patriotism. Speakers hovered over these topics as faithfully as the over-80 crowd at the Golden Corral starch bar.”
Though the stereotype of the QAnon adherent is the misfit male, Goforth reports that women predominated in the gathering of 100 or so, a turnout perhaps dampened by the RNC not coming to Jacksonville after all.
Withholding World Health Organization funds
The war on the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Trump administration and several Republicans intensified this week with the administration declaring they would forego paying millions of dollars in outstanding dues to the organization. Trump has led the charge to withdraw from the organization and will apparently renege on nearly $80 million owed as far back as 2019.
Trump and Republicans have been at odds with the WHO for what they describe as “cozying up” to China, who initially downplayed the coronavirus and the capacity for it to rapidly spread. They also castigated the organization for not permitting Taiwan to share their success at controlling the virus.
“The (Chinese Communist Party) lied about #COVID from the start & instead of sounding alarms, the @WHO downplayed its severity,” tweeted St. Augustine Republican Michael Waltz. “Because of this, millions are sick & thousands are dead. I agree with President @realdonaldtrump, we must defund the #China manipulated WHO.”
The organization did not immediately respond to the news, other than to say they were weighing their options.
“We refer you to our previous statements of regret regarding the U.S. decision to withdraw. We await further details, which we will consider carefully,” a WHO spokesperson told Reuters.
LaVilla Exhibit
African American musical art will be celebrated beginning Thursday in one of Jacksonville’s historically Black areas of the city.
The LaVilla music history outdoor exhibition opens Thursday at 905 W. Forsyth Street on the western edge of downtown. The exhibit will feature paintings and other artistic renderings of famed African American musicians in the past 120 years.
The portraits of the local Black musicians were created by contemporary Jacksonville artists. The official title of the exhibit is “Artists Pick Artists in LaVilla.”
The artworks will be displayed in the windows of the former Lee & Cates building. The artwork is on plywood panels for viewing by those interested in taking in the exhibit.
The exhibit officially kicks off with a reception and unveiling of the artwork at 4:30 p.m. at the building on Forsyth Street.
The artist’s paintings feature nine African American musicians. All of them were born or raised in Jacksonville with the exception of Ray Charles who, though not a native of Jacksonville, received much of his professional start in music at the Ritz Theater which in the LaVilla area.
The list of musicians being honored with the paintings is diverse. Some of those artists include blues singer Blind Blake, opera composer and singer J. Rosamond Johnson, jazz drummer Von Barlow and hip-hop singer and composer Yungeen Ace, among others.
Socks & promise
A Jacksonville nonprofit is donating socks — one of the most in-demand items for homeless shelters — to four agencies around the region.
Family Promise of Jacksonville received 2,750 pairs of socks from Bombas Socks shared 1,750 pairs with four partner agencies. The socks are valued at $330,000.
“We want the socks to be out in the community, on people’s feet and not sitting in a storeroom,” Family Promise of Jacksonville development director Beth Mixson told the Florida Times-Union. “When your feet are warm and dry, you feel better.”
Bombas Socks is donating 50,000 pairs of socks to 25 Family Promise affiliates nationwide. For every sock purchased, Bombas Socks donates a pair. Family Promise helps the homeless population find stable shelter.
The Jacksonville agencies receiving the socks include Catholic Charities Workforce Development, for Workforce Development participants and others in the Catholic Charities programs; Changing Homelessness will include one pair in the 500 hygiene packets given out during the annual Point In Time Count; The Giving Closet Project will provide them to needy Duval County Public Schools students; UCom Jacksonville distributes socks to older citizens in the Meals on Wheels program as well as those experiencing homelessness.
Businesses honored
The list of top small businesses in North Florida has been announced by the region’s office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The awards recognize businesses that made a difference in the past year in the northern areas of the state. The awards are a chance for the SBA to point out some of the most proficient small businesses in the area in categories such as contractors, business partners, business advocates, minority-owned, veteran-owned and women-owned businesses among other areas of excellence.
The awards will go to recipients at the SBA’s Small Business Week Celebration Oct. 9 during virtual presentations.
The winners and recipients of the awards include:
— 2020 North Florida District small business person of the year — Sarah Blake, president of Elipsis Engineering and Consulting LLC, in Winter Garden.
— 2020 North Florida and national small business exporter of the year — Nick Nicholas, owner and technical Director of Genesis Water Technologies in Maitland.
— 2020 North Florida District woman-owned small business person of the year — Mary Jane Culhane, Culhane’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville.
— 2020 North Florida District veteran-owned small-business person of the year — John Burns, president and CEO of Eagle 6 Technology Services in Orlando.
— 2020 North Florida District minority-owned small-business person of the year — Viv Helwig, president of Vested Metals International LLC in St. Augustine.
— North Florida District small-business advocate of the year — Tillery Durbin, manager of Business Services at 121 Financial Credit Union in Jacksonville.
— North Florida District Community Partner of the Year — Santa Rosa County Economic Development Office in Milton which will be accepted by Shannon Ogletree, the executive director.
— Regional prime contractor of the year — Princess Ousley, president and CEO of EBS Leaders in Tallahassee.
Managing expectations
With the NFL season just days away, most of those following the Jacksonville Jaguars have realistic expectations. They do not expect the playoffs or a winning season, but they have every reason not to expect an 0-16 record, either.
Their plight is reminiscent of a comparable situation with the Miami Dolphins one year ago, when several talented players went elsewhere. People were actually betting that Miami would go winless in 2019.
Those same bettors were laying cash on the New England Patriots going 16-0. In the end, Miami went a surprising 5-11 and, by the way, defeated the Patriots in New England on the season’s final day.
When the season ended, Miami fans had reasons to feel much better than Patriot fans, something for which Jaguars fans can strive. It will be a tough year, but there is no reason why a few bright spots cannot shine through.
Gardner Minshew is an unpolished, yet exciting quarterback that fans can rally around. Joining him in the backfield is not Leonard Fournette, but a committee of running backs led by James Robinson, Devine Ozigbo and Chris Thompson.
Robinson is an undrafted rookie out of Illinois State. Rounding out the offense is a respectable receiving corps that includes D.J. Chark, Chris Conley and Keelan Cole.
On defense, Yannick Ngakoue is gone with Adam Gotsis now joining Josh Allen at defensive end, while former Florida Gator CJ Henderson, the team’s top pick in the 2020 draft, will start at left cornerback. Several rookies will get significant playing time on defense, with five first-year players landing second on the depth chart at their respective positions.
Both head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell know something positive needs to come with this team. When owner Shad Khan announced both would come back this year, he also added that he expects “results.” Despite a call to do more with less, Caldwell is happy with the assembled parts.
“I love this team,” he told the media earlier this week. “Let us play this season. Don’t count these players out.”
Without the benefit of preseason games, many of these players will have to learn on the fly. The learning process begins Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts visit TIAA Bank Field.
