A.G. Gancarski
A Republican member of the Jacksonville City Council wants answers on Mayor Donna Deegan’s trade mission to London, which included a visit to Italy on what her office called a “pre-planned vacation.”
“It’s time to throw open the blinds and let the sunshine in,” Terrance Freeman posted on X.
Freeman suggests that Deegan was “skipping out on official business,” which “raises serious questions” about the use of public funds on the now-annual international trip to recruit businesses while the Jaguars play games in the British capital.
The Councilman wants answers about costs to taxpayers, including “airfare, lodging, and meals,” about how many staff members and “accompanying guests” were on the trip, what other locations they went to, and whether “donation, reimbursement, and travel policies” were violated between Oct. 12 and Oct. 21.
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 Italy trip.
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.
Freeman called that interview “inflammatory political statements” that distracted from city business.
5 comments
Dont Say FLA
October 28, 2024 at 12:56 pm
‘It’s time to throw open the blinds and let the sunshine in…’ Now that know all about Rhonda’s taxpayer-fund, pointless and witless gallivanting around the whole entire world for their personal political cam-pain that didn’t even win one solitary county in Iowa?
Well okay then. Since we got some sun shined in on Rhonda’s World Tour, let’s move on to the next politician and the next taxpayer-funded trip they took
LOL. Ain’t nobody shining no sun on Rhonda. Yet. GOP’s still in charge. Only way to learn about Rhonda’s Travels is to give control of Florida back to the Democrats like when Florida was great and people wanted to go there.
George Greenfield
October 28, 2024 at 1:08 pm
Working part-time, I earn more than $13,000 per month. I kept hearing how much money people could make online, so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true, and it completely altered my life… This is what I do; you can learn more about it by visiting the website listed below.
Begin here>>>>>>>>> Payathome9.Com
Frankie M.
October 28, 2024 at 1:39 pm
Just like he did with Curry. If you’re a hypocrite just admit it Rory.
MH/Duuuval
October 28, 2024 at 2:17 pm
Rory, Terrance, Howlin’, Carrico, and new boy Miller make up the COJ royal flush.
Bill Pollard
October 28, 2024 at 3:03 pm
ALL political leaders should have their travel expenditures audited; that includes the Jacksonville mayor and the Florida governor. If the Governor’s travel expenditures were seriously audited, he would be in serious trouble. I would hope the Mayor separated personal expenditures and paid for those herself, but an audit would show what was done.