Melissa Ross
The Lenny Curry campaign is pushing back against complaints about mailers its Together for a Greater Jacksonville PAC have sent to Republican and independent voters as the March 24 unitary election draws near. The mailings have been criticized as inflammatory in their messaging against incumbent Mayor Alvin Brown.
Curry campaign manager Brian Hughes has quickly pointed out that the other Republican in the race, former City Council President Bill Bishop, faced a racially tinged flap early in his tenure running the Council when he chose an all-white tier of committee chairs. That decision led four council members to resign from committees in protest, citing tokenism and “non-inclusion.”
“As we’ve seen on issue after issue, career politicians like Brown and Bishop will say one thing while doing another,” Hughes said.
“Today Bill Bishop claims he is all about diversity and inclusion, but when he had the chance to lead and demonstrate his actions, he created a racial divide in city government. Lenny Curry, in his life, his work, and in this campaign, has demonstrated that diversity isn’t something to simply talk about, it’s a necessary part of of leading. He welcomes counsel from all people in Jacksonville and wants a city where every person in every neighborhood has an opportunity to follow their dreams.”
Bishop was eventually able to resolve the bad feelings on the City Council with greater minority inclusion, including appointing African-American Councilwoman Denise Lee to a committee addressing the then-current controversy of noise ordinance violations in Metropolitan Park in downtown Jacksonville.
In December, he told Florida Politics the controversy was “ancient history” and “race-baiting smears.”
Meanwhile, the Bishop campaign, while still far behind both Brown and Curry in terms of fundraising and big-name supporters, has picked up the endorsement of Neptune Beach Mayor Harriet Pruette.
“I sincerely appreciate the support and endorsement from Mayor Pruette,” Bishop said in a news release. “The beaches communities are a vital, vibrant, and treasured part of Duval County. Mayor Pruette is a tireless advocate for Neptune Beach and she has my commitment to work equally as hard to improve relations between Jacksonville and Neptune Beach to solve our outstanding issues for the betterment of both.”
