Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiNovember 23, 2015

The fifth meeting of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority Skyway Subcommittee and Skyway Advisory Group happened on Monday, as the JTA gets ever closer to divining an action plan for the 30-year-old people-mover. Options run the gamut, from decommissioning the structure and leaving it subject to its own obsolescence, to replacing the cars, to expanding the […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 23, 2015

The Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County have arrived at a “semi-settlement” of their “Text-ghazi” lawsuit against the Jacksonville City Council members involved in forbidden texting during budget deliberations Sept. 21. Scott Wilson, Tommy Hazouri, Joyce Morgan, and Aaron Bowman agreed to terms. “Four of the nine city council members who were being sued over texting about […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 20, 2015

The big story from the Friday meeting of the Jacksonville Police & Fire Pension Board of Trustees: the appointment of an interim executive director and administrator: Beth McCague. McCague, a veteran finance professional, was approved by a vote of the board to start on Dec. 1, and to serve for up to a year, or […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 17, 2015

Jacksonville City Council’s Rules Committee considered a number of bills and appointments Tuesday. The big issue on the agenda was the Jaguars amphitheater bill, which CFO Mike Weinstein said “has been filed” but is not yet up in the city’s bill search system. The proposal, which has had copious substitutions, will be scrutinized this week […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 10, 2015

At the end of the Jacksonville City Council meeting on Tuesday night, Councilman Bill Gulliford pressed for executive branch cooperation on getting PFPF reform, which would start with getting a new director in place and putting the controversial tenure of former director and current consultant John Keane into the history books and out of the present tense. […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 10, 2015

In the third to the last Jacksonville City council meeting of 2016, the agenda had a couple of interesting items. Perhaps most interesting: two bills that would restore a pay cut made in 2010. As council went through some lengthy recognition ceremonies, a phalanx of police officers stood in the back of the room. Police […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 4, 2015

An interesting power struggle on Jacksonville’s City Council right now revolves around the question of whether or not the Finance Committee has too much power over the budget process. On one side, freshman councilwoman Katrina Brown; on the other, statute and accepted tradition. To that end, Brown has scheduled public notice meetings to gin up […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 4, 2015

The one scheduled public notice meeting at Jacksonville’s City Council on Wednesday: Councilwoman Katrina Brown meeting at 3:00 p.m. with Councilman Tommy Hazouri on the subject of having the city’s annual budget bills considered by the whole Council for deliberation and vote. This would significantly alter the process, which involved seven day-long deliberations by the Finance […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 3, 2015

Tuesday’s meeting of the Jacksonville City Council Rules Committee drew a less robust crowd than the one two weeks ago, both in terms of interested parties and interested media. The highlight: Jacksonville Ethics Commission Chairman Joe Jacquot came to discuss the pending legislation barring texting during Council meetings. Jacquot noted that, during the Ethics Commission […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 30, 2015

Hours after former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney threw some cold water on the heated coverage of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund “forensic audit,” another former mayor gave FloridaPolitics.com brief comments on the audit released this week. Tommy Hazouri said he’s “going to thoroughly read the forensic audit,” all 143 pages of it, ahead […]

JTA moves toward final Skyway plan

“Semi-settlement” reached on Jacksonville council’s “Text-ghazi”

Jax pension board’s interim director called “breath of fresh air”

Highlights from Tuesday’s Jax Rules Committee meeting

Jax Council tensions on post-audit PFPF come to light

As police officers look on, Jax City Council punts on its own pay raise

Katrina Brown pitches Jax budget process changes to Council veterans

Katrina Brown attempts to build momentum for Jax budget process reform

Ethics Commission chairman talks texting ban with Jax City Council Rules Committee

Tommy Hazouri on Jax PFPF audit: “We need to get to the truth”