Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiDecember 28, 2016

Subpoenas with a side of sauce. That’s one way to sum up the year. In Jacksonville politics, 2016 started with subpoenas being delivered to Rep. Corrine Brown and her clique at a barbecue place on the Northside. And it ended with a raid on Councilwoman Katrina Brown’s familial barbecue sauce plant on the Westside. Katrina […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 20, 2016

The saga of Jerome Brown BBQ, the family business of Jacksonville City Councilwoman Katrina Brown, took a turn for the legalistic Tuesday. Action News Jax and News4Jax report that the BBQ company’s warehouse on Jacksonville’s Westside was raided Tuesday morning. The raid appears to be multi-jurisdictional, involving the FBI, the IRS, HUD, the Small Business Administration and […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 2, 2016

Jacksonville City Councilwoman Katrina Brown renewed her push for citizen review boards for police shootings on Friday morning. It’s a heavy lift, as charter precludes such a board; however, a sheriff’s office reform task force last month suggested that such a mechanism may be a worthwhile reform, even as the police union opposed it. Brown has prioritized […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 15, 2016

At a press availability Tuesday afternoon across the street from the Cleveland Arms apartment complex, a group of Jacksonville City Council members united to declare that enough is enough when it comes to gun violence. To that end, they are proposing solutions to an epidemic that has seen multiple people shot — most in Northwest Jacksonville […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 26, 2016

Jacksonville City Councilwoman Katrina Brown, a member of the Finance Committee, continues to be plagued by financial issues related to a family businesses. In September, the Florida Times-Union reported that the Brown family company, “Cowealth,” was looking to sell a building bought to house a barbecue sauce plant in Northwest Jacksonville, in the wake of non-performance […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 27, 2016

On Tuesday, the Jacksonville City Council passed a $1.18 billion budget that will add more and better-equipped police officers to city streets. However, the big talkers were swimming lessons, travel budgets, and special events allocations … adding up to a picayune $115,000 out of the council contingency budget. And another big talker: a failed but audacious […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 20, 2016

In the Tuesday morning meeting of the Jacksonville City Council Public Health and Safety Committee, the panel voted to hold the funding level at $26.275 million for fiscal year 16/17. But there will be changes this year. Penny Thompson, vice president of government affairs for UF Health, noted that the money will be sent directly […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 1, 2016

During his campaign for mayor in 2015, Lenny Curry‘s push from being slightly behind in the polls to winning the election coincided with concerted outreach to areas of Jacksonville for which the promise of consolidation was never fully delivered. Curry, last spring, made forays to Grand Park and other struggling neighborhoods to meet voters who were […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 27, 2016

On Monday, FloridaPolitics.com caught up with Jacksonville City Council President-Designate Lori Boyer. Among the topics: the recent council auditor report that said $317,000 was improperly allocated to Infinity Global Solutions, a lobbying firm which benefited from a “no-bid” contract when current Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart was head of the Housing and Neighborhoods Department and John Peyton was mayor. […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 21, 2016

The passage of the revamped Public Investment Policy (PIP) was the big news to come out of Tuesday’s meeting of the Jacksonville City Council Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee. This was the final meeting of the combined RCDPHS committee, which will be split up and given sharper individuation and focus under incoming Council […]

Tag: Katrina Brown

Subpoenas with a side of sauce: The 10 biggest #JaxPol stories of 2016

Family business of Jacksonville City Councilwoman raided

For citizen review board in Jacksonville, a charter change is necessary

Jacksonville City Council members grapple with recent wave of gun violence

Tax travails continue for Jacksonville Councilwoman’s family businesses

Jacksonville City Council passes big budget after robust discussion of small details

Jacksonville City Council panel OKs UF Health allocation

Lenny Curry talks first year in office, and the path forward

Lori Boyer talks Kerri Stewart and the ‘perception issue’

Public Investment Policy clears final Jax Council committee