Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiApril 12, 2016

Ten Council members, going into Tuesday, had made pledges in the Jacksonville City Council VP race: six for John Crescimbeni, and four for Doyle Carter. This left nine pledges to be fought over by the veteran Councilmen. After Tuesday, there were eight left. And Crescimbeni is closer to victory than he was at the beginning of the […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 11, 2016

Headed into Monday, Doyle Carter trailed John Crescimbeni in the pledge count in their Jacksonville City Council VP race 6 to 4. And Monday closed with the same tally. Carter held a half hour long meeting with District 7 Councilman Reggie Gaffney, whose pledge would have been seen as a bellwether for support from the nine Council members […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 22, 2016

In an attempt to put a “stronger focus on neighborhoods” and to impose “cost controls,” the Jacksonville City Council passed 17-0 comprehensive reorganization legislation Tuesday night that created a Neighborhoods Department. The legislation has been a priority of the Curry administration from before the inauguration, and would mitigate the effects of a reorganization in the previous […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 26, 2016

On Friday, President Barack Obama visited the Jacksonville Saft America Batteries facility, a success story from his first-term Recovery Act, and the stimulus dollars allocated to this facility and others like it. In what could be President Obama’s last visit to Jacksonville as President, he looked back at the challenges of the early months of […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 23, 2016

On Tuesday, the Jacksonville City Council’s big bill involved attempting to finalize its ongoing conflict with former Police and Fire Pension Fund head John Keane with a settlement agreement. Instead, they “postponed indefinitely,” after a long and tortuous process of discussion and amendments. The goal is to get answers to questions and, seemingly, to show Keane […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 18, 2016

On Thursday, the Jacksonville City Council met for its Committee of the Whole meeting regarding expansion of the Human Rights Ordinance. The expectation going in was that both the Tommy Hazouri and Bill Gulliford iterations of the legislation would be withdrawn. In the hours leading up to the meeting, an intriguing narrative surfaced: whether Hazouri’s withdrawal motion […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 17, 2016

The Jacksonville City Council Rules Committee, again, addressed Bill Gulliford and his bill prohibiting Council members from texting or exchanging other written communication with lobbyists, union representatives, or members of the Council on Wednesday. As was the case two weeks ago, there was pushback, including from Council members whose verboten texts in September led to the […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 13, 2016

12573197_10156453421390230_2554366252676157852_n-1024x1024.jpg

Despite Tommy Hazouri choosing to withdraw the HRO expansion bill (and taking the slings and arrows of character assassination from HRO expansion advocates in the process), the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality remains steadfast in its commitment to a fully inclusive bill. A long statement from the JCE had a couple of interesting sentences. One of them: “We […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 9, 2016

Highlighting the Jacksonville City Council agenda on Tuesday was “cure legislation” to address safety officer salary allocations from the September budget. The other looming issue was yet another round of public comment for the Human Rights Ordinance. The agenda meeting addressed both. Regarding the cure legislation, Garrett Dennis and Al Ferraro, during the agenda meeting, expressed concerns […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 9, 2016

Tuesday’s Jacksonville City Council meeting lacked a lot of punch when it came to legislation. The big bill of the night, the controversial term limits referendum measure, was said (H/t David Chapman) to be tabled ahead of the meeting. During agenda, Matt Schellenberg confirmed it. Schellenberg, in Tallahassee last week representing the City Council for the Florida […]

Tag: Joyce Morgan
Mike Johnson. Image via AP.

Joyce Morgan backs John Crescimbeni in Jax Council VP race

Doyle Carter pitches Reggie Gaffney in Jax Council VP bid, but Gaffney doesn’t come through

Jacksonville City Council passes Neighborhoods bill

Barack Obama visits Jacksonville, talks about progress made via 2009 Recovery Act

Jax Council “postpones indefinitely” John Keane settlement

Both Jax HRO bills withdrawn

Jax Council Rules Committee OKs ban on in-meeting written communications

On HRO, no compromise for Jax Coalition for Equality

Jax Council passes Safety Officer cure legislation

Matt Schellenberg to withdraw term limits bill