A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville’s Mayor managed to find some pleasure even on a trip billed as strictly business.
Florida Politics can report that Mayor Donna Deegan stayed in Europe earlier this month after leaving London, where the city was on its vital yearly trade mission to London as the Jaguars played a couple of games in the city.
The first-term Democrat elected in 2023 had what spokesperson Philip Perry called a “pre-planned vacation to Italy” that occasioned a reshuffling of the schedule to shift priority events to facilitate the Roman Holiday.
JAXUSA, the offshoot of former mayoral candidate Daniel Davis’ Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce that handled a lot of logistics for the trip, was “aware of this and arranged the most important meetings and events on the days she was always scheduled to be in London, Oct. 12 to Oct. 15.”
Deegan found time in London to make news for other reasons, including a controversial interview with the London Times Radio where she told a foreign audience that she thought Donald Trump would set up concentration camps for illegal immigrants.
JAX USA President Aundra Wallace said his organization “knew” Deegan’s schedule when “planning the agenda” and frontloaded the meetings out of respect. He described the “London mission” as “critical as we collectively sell Jacksonville.”
How much did the trip cost taxpayers? And which city staffers made the annual journey to “sell” the city to a place the same group of people has gone to every October for more than a decade?
That’s a question yet to be answered.
The Mayor’s Office, per Perry, is “tracking down some final costs from JAXUSA” and promises to deliver some answers “early next week.”
Perry also addressed Sheriff TK Waters’ claim that Deegan didn’t “make time” for a cop’s funeral last week, saying the administration isn’t “commenting further out of respect for the family and to keep this from becoming a political football.”
11 comments
I Am Speaking.
October 26, 2024 at 1:12 pm
I’ll bet she flew business class at taxpayer expense. Probably stayed in hyper expensive European Hotels as well. Jacksonville, get rid of this moron.
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October 27, 2024 at 2:14 am
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Bill Pollard
October 26, 2024 at 2:46 pm
Side trips on business trips are done frequently. The individual is required to pay all the costs of going to the location for personal leisure. I’m sure this will come out soon in this case.
Declan
October 26, 2024 at 2:47 pm
“I’ll bet” and “probably” present opinions. Yet, with no evidence they are only your opinion So what. Other than more pointless gas to the blab-o-sphere.
I Am Speaking
October 26, 2024 at 4:14 pm
Well a mayor in a big city, my home by the way, and a Democrat got caught jet setting around the world. Business Class or First Class. She didn’t want to pay up initially because it was for her safety and security. Uh huh. 99% of the people would walk right by her and not know who she is.
MH/Duuuval
October 26, 2024 at 4:27 pm
Declan, meet Peachy — the site’s purveyor of MAGA nonsense and insults.
Frankie M.
October 26, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Bless his heart. AG is like a dog chasing his own tail. Deegan extends her Euro vacation. Meanwhile Rory Diamond double dips during “maneuvers” but we don’t hear a peep from AG. Who says you can’t have taxation without representation in Rory’s special taxing district? I’m giving you headline 🥇 AG but then again it’s all about the clicks isn’t it?
MH/Duuuval
October 26, 2024 at 4:26 pm
Some malicious soul is spreading the rumor that Rory wants to be Mayor.
First, RD needs to decide what he wants to be when, and if, he ever grows up.
Second, he may have to face an actual opponent if he runs for Mayor, which will be a first for him.
the Truth
October 26, 2024 at 5:41 pm
Deegan is an embarrassment to Jacksonville, the only reason she won, is because some Republicans did not like Daniel Davis, because he attacked Al Ferraro for no reason.. Davis was a terrible candidate,,, next time, I hope the Republicans will put up a good one and Deegan will be gone,,,, lets put up Nick Howland!!!
Wake up people
October 27, 2024 at 1:26 am
The real story here is the mayor gave nearly $1B with a B of taxpayer dollars to the billionaire owner of a private sports enterprise and a lot of other unnecessary spending but then! Then! She just told her constituents there is no money in the budget for infrastructure repairs and will also not be in the future, so the neighborhoods that continue to flood every time it rains and they know they have crumbling sewers and broken pumps and roads like a war zone can go pound sand. She literally left during a hurricane while the city was still flooded to jet set to LONDON and party with said billionaire and private sports team. While she was there she denigrated actual survivors of the Holocaust and spread disgusting slander lies about a presidential candidate which at least half her constituents support, giving those constituents her middle finger. So much for the candidate for all the city and unity. She then dumped her barely veiled “agenda” (bringing jobs from London to Jacksonville because things are going so well over there right now and gosh they should want to come to the Detroit of the South–where are those deals, Daniel Davis and Donna Deegan and oh wasn’t the affordable housing secretary on that trip? What is London going to do for Jax housing insecurity? buy what’s left and drive up prices?), and then she furtively jet sets off to Italy. Because Atlantic Beach isn’t good enough. Will taxpayers also have to pay her expenses in both foreign cities? Did I mention this was while her city was still flooded and damaged from the hurricane? This woman is not just guilty of taxation without representation, gross mismanagement, breaking every single promise she made during her campaign (except the $billion for the billionaire), but now this just smacks of grift and waste. If someone did this in the private sector they would face real scrutiny and consequences. Why did she take staff who should have been taking care of the city but were busy bragging about their amazing taxpayer all expenses paid luxury vacation on X? Do these people think we are this stupid? The answer is yes, and with good reason. Because no one is allowed to criticize and all must cover and apologize like a blessed cult. Especially not the press, which apparently there’s only one honest journalist left in jax based on the way he’s attacked for asking the SAME questions any would be shrieking if the previous or ANY OTHER mayor had pulled this $h1t. Ya’ll are unbelievable and just WOW. Use your eyes and brains for once. And yes, RD should not have been elected due to his inability to fulfill his obligations (you don’t get a pass for that no matter what the reason) and is about as useful and accountable as a half dollar bill. I will enjoy watching these 2 tear into each other going forward. Neighborhood crime is up, property values down, taxes maxed out for 2nd year in a row! Since she was elected. More businesses are being attacked and fleeing citing safety concerns, (15 downtown, five points looks like a war zone, neighboring areas affected), neighborhood infrastructure crumbling with more broken promises, and this woman goes on taxpayer paid luxury vacations to enjoy her newfound taxpayer paid partnership with a private sports team owned privately by a billionaire. And ya’ll sit back and just defend her. Enjoy your broken city, your high taxes, and your politicians who are only a degree smarter than your voters. Yeah I’m sure there’s an explanation for everything. Funny how the mayor’s administration doesn’t even seem too concerned about explaining it or how it looks. And why should they be when they have you to do it for them. Amazing.
MH/Duuuval
October 27, 2024 at 10:38 am
Wealthy white men control the city, always have, and they determine the city’s spending. It wouldn’t have mattered who became the latest mayor, including Al Ferraro: The stadium would’ve been funded.
A majority of us opposed selling our fiscal future for the Great Yachtman’s benefit. We lost.