Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Melissa RossJune 12, 2015

During his successful campaign for Jacksonville mayor, Lenny Curry made public safety a key campaign issue, and repeatedly pledged to bring back the city’s Jacksonville Journey anti-crime initiative. The “Journey,” as it was known, began under former mayor John Peyton as a response to Jacksonville’s skyrocketing violent crime rate. A series of interlocking initiatives focusing on […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 12, 2015

File this under: Sam Mousa gives a budget lesson. Though the transition between the Alvin Brown and Lenny Curry administrations has been (for the most part) free of tension, matters of professional pride can and do become personalized. That was proved true once again during the Fiscal Responsibility meeting at 3 p.m. Thursday, when Brown’s […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 11, 2015

Florida Politics has obtained a cache of emails related to Jacksonville Mayor-elect Lenny Curry’s transition. The emails date back to May 22. They provide an invaluable record of the transition, as the self-styled “transformational mayor” moves quickly from the seemingly perpetual candidate to the city of Jacksonville’s chief executive. To highlight the nature of the […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 10, 2015

Way back in April, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan issued a provocative statement that some might consider an example of foreshadowing. “As someone who is committed to Jacksonville, as a citizen, businessperson and owner of the Jaguars, I am going to be active in the political process here,” Khan said in a statement. That wasn’t all he said, […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 10, 2015

The big news that came out of Jacksonville’s City Council meeting on Tuesday night is the passage of 2015-304: the Police and Fire Pension Deal, by a 14-4 margin. Those against it (Lori Boyer, John Crescimbeni, Bill Bishop, and Matt Schellenberg) made their arguments. But the fact was that Councilman Bill Gulliford and his impassioned […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 8, 2015

If I had to write my “Winners and Losers” column about the Jacksonville election again, I would put E. Denise Lee on the winners side and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown among the losers. Neither ran in 2015, yet both might as well have, given the amount of time each spent with the campaign. My reasoning? […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 5, 2015

A major impediment to Jacksonville city government reaching resolution to the ongoing Police and Fire Pension Fund crisis was pushed aside Friday afternoon. The “motion for Preliminary and Final Injunctive Relief came before the Court for hearing on June 5, 2015. Having heard argument of counsel and being otherwise fully advised, the Court finds that Plaintiffs’ motion should […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 5, 2015

In one of the long form pieces where he truly shines as a writer, Nate Monroe had what amounts to an exit interview with outgoing Jacksonville mayor Alvin Brown in The Florida Times-Union. As these things go, it wasn’t exactly a thorough debriefing. Mayor Brown took Monroe to the Corner Bakery in Riverside, and the memes were […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 2, 2015

On Tuesday morning, the Finance Committee of the Jacksonville City Council met and deliberated a number of key bills, including the Police and Fire Pension Deal and the funding for the much-advertised “90 Day Audit” that Mayor-elect Lenny Curry promised during the campaign. The pension deal was the main event, of course, and it passed through committee […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 1, 2015

The big news out of the first Jacksonville City Council Rules Committee meeting of June is that 2015-304, an iteration of the Police and Fire Pension Deal (one which is in many respects similar to the deal that was spiked by the full council 9-9 in March) passed 5 to 2, and will hit the […]

Tag: Alvin Brown

Under Lenny Curry, Jacksonville Journey anti-crime effort set to make comeback

Fiscal Responsibility meeting reveals tensions between Alvin Brown, Lenny Curry camps

Emails provide fly-on-the-wall perspective inside Lenny Curry’s mayoral transition

Shad Khan flexes his muscles

Bill Gulliford wins: Jacksonville passes police and fire pension deal 14-4

Corrine Brown, Denise Lee, and “the politics of personal destruction”

Jacksonville pension deal injunction denied, clears it for city council decision

Is Alvin Brown’s travel justified?

Jax Police and Fire Pension deal moves through Finance Committee

Bill Gulliford police, fire pension bill clears Jax Rules Committee