Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiAugust 4, 2017

In a sense, Jacksonville’s City Hall these days is like an extended game of poker between Mayor Lenny Curry and Finance Chair Garrett Dennis. We have seen a few examples of jousting between the GOP Mayor and the Democratic Councilman of late. Dennis’ play for $200,000 of emergency money for swim lessons earlier this summer fell, in part […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 4, 2017

The dispute, at least in theory, was over window tint. However, what one Northeast Florida pastor experienced has brought new attention to old conflicts between Jacksonville police and African-American residents. Rev. Darien Bolden of Fernandina Beach had stopped with his nephew on 19th Street in Jacksonville to look at investment properties. That’s when an officer expressed […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 26, 2017

As the old saw goes, victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan. In that context, a decision to postpone a decision — such as that made by the Jacksonville City Council during yet another attempt to push through a referendum that could scuttle current term limits (changing limits from two consecutive terms to […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 25, 2017

A major selling point in Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s new budget — 100 more police officers on Jacksonville’s streets — is under fire from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. However, JPC is attempting a ricochet approach; rather than target the Mayor, JPC is aiming its rhetorical broadside at City Council Finance Chair Garrett Dennis. Dennis’ committee […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 20, 2017

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry introduced the City Council to his proposed FY 17/18 budget Monday, a $1.27B plan heavy on spending on infrastructure and public safety. Council Finance Chair Garrett Dennis is arguably the most important person in the process going forward; Finance will review the budget in August, tweaking it before the full City Council gets a […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 18, 2017

Nothing like starting off a new committee by voting to gut term limits. Yet that’s what the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee did Tuesday. Tuesday saw the newly-reconfigured Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee approve a bill that would authorize a 2018 referendum to give City Councilors, constitutional officers, and School Board members a three-term limit. The […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 17, 2017

Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham was in Jacksonville Monday, and while she was in town she snagged a couple of pivotal endorsements. One of those endorsements: from the most powerful Democrat on the Jacksonville City Council, Finance Chair Garrett Dennis. And the second endorsement: from the most popular Democratic Mayor in Jacksonville history, Jake Godbold. Dennis, on hand […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 17, 2017

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On Monday, the cycle begins anew for the relationship between Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and the City Council. Curry drops his third budget — and this time, there is more room to maneuver than there had been the previous two years, in which pension obligations choked out most of the room for discretionary spending. The hit […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 27, 2017

Jacksonville is in line to receive just over $11M in money from Housing and Urban Development for FY 2017, per a letter from HUD dated Jun. 15. Over half of that sum — $5.661M — will come in through Community Development Block Grants, a category that the Donald Trump Administration has questioned. This is down significantly […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 21, 2017

After committee stops for the legislation that seemed, at times, like outtakes from an Edward Albee script with all the personal attacks, Councilman Bill Gulliford‘s bill to slot $1.5M into a 6 month pilot program to treat opioid addiction cleared its final committee Wednesday. Less successful: Councilman Garrett Dennis’ bill to allocate $200,000 for swim lessons for […]

Tag: Garrett Dennis

Garrett Dennis, Lenny Curry ‘on two different pages’ regarding afterschool funding

After cop points gun at preacher, calls for ‘diversity training’ in Jacksonville

How the Jacksonville City Council effort to scuttle term limits went wrong

Jax progs, City Council members spar over police hiring

Equal Opportunity criteria to be part of Jax budget review in August

Jax Council Finance Committee votes to gut two-term limit

Gwen Graham lights up Legislature over MMJ, grabs Jax endorsements

Lenny Curry’s third budget: Another year of ‘winning’?

$11M in HUD money for Jacksonville for FY 2017

Jax Council bad blood spills over into fractious Finance Committee meeting