I would say it was quite ingenious if it wasn't so disgusting.
Back in early May a junior attorney ignoring statute and changing the meaning of the word "shall" said the city council was in charge of "if" and "when" a special tax referendum to benefit Duval County Public schools would be put on the ballot.
I imagine at first this didn't resonate that much with the board because of its ridiculousness.
The city council however working on behalf of our mayor and a handful of donors ran with it.
Then in mid July councilmen Dennis figured something out and that was the memorandum was actually worthless and he demanded a ruling from Jason Gabriel the city's attorney and as close to a living God, power he asserts was given to him in the city charter, as we are likely to meet.
So now Gabriel had to give a ruling but instead of working hard to clear it all up after letting the city for six weeks think the matter was settled, he did what corrupt and incompetent attorneys do and waited weeks before issuing his ruling, which its hard to believe was even worse and more tenuous than the original, though it made official that words had no meaning and decency was dead in Duval.
He did say however that he will ask the state attorney general to weigh in, well if the city council gives him permission.
From the Times Union,
Gabriel is scheduled to discuss his opinion at the Tuesday night meeting of City Council. He also will ask the council to approve an emergency resolution to ask state Attorney General Ashley Moody to weigh in with her own legal advisory opinion on Gabriel’s interpretation of state law.
If we lived in a decent state where the rule of law meant anything, that review from the state attorney would take five seconds but we don't, we live in Florida so I would guess weeks at a minimum effectively running out the clock. It won't matter if Moody comes back and says Gabriel is an idiot, if it doesn't happen in the next few days.
The referendum could still be put on the ballot for Dec. All it would take is for the city council to grow a conscious, reject the OGC ridiculous ruling and approve putting the referendum on the ballot. Sadly the odds of winning the lottery would be better Though if we are being honest the board would have better odds of getting the money they need by putting a dollar on the power ball.
Back in early May a junior attorney ignoring statute and changing the meaning of the word "shall" said the city council was in charge of "if" and "when" a special tax referendum to benefit Duval County Public schools would be put on the ballot.
I imagine at first this didn't resonate that much with the board because of its ridiculousness.
The city council however working on behalf of our mayor and a handful of donors ran with it.
Then in mid July councilmen Dennis figured something out and that was the memorandum was actually worthless and he demanded a ruling from Jason Gabriel the city's attorney and as close to a living God, power he asserts was given to him in the city charter, as we are likely to meet.
So now Gabriel had to give a ruling but instead of working hard to clear it all up after letting the city for six weeks think the matter was settled, he did what corrupt and incompetent attorneys do and waited weeks before issuing his ruling, which its hard to believe was even worse and more tenuous than the original, though it made official that words had no meaning and decency was dead in Duval.
He did say however that he will ask the state attorney general to weigh in, well if the city council gives him permission.
From the Times Union,
Gabriel is scheduled to discuss his opinion at the Tuesday night meeting of City Council. He also will ask the council to approve an emergency resolution to ask state Attorney General Ashley Moody to weigh in with her own legal advisory opinion on Gabriel’s interpretation of state law.
https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190813/opinion-says-city-council-can-reject-sales-tax-referendum
If we lived in a decent state where the rule of law meant anything, that review from the state attorney would take five seconds but we don't, we live in Florida so I would guess weeks at a minimum effectively running out the clock. It won't matter if Moody comes back and says Gabriel is an idiot, if it doesn't happen in the next few days.
The referendum could still be put on the ballot for Dec. All it would take is for the city council to grow a conscious, reject the OGC ridiculous ruling and approve putting the referendum on the ballot. Sadly the odds of winning the lottery would be better Though if we are being honest the board would have better odds of getting the money they need by putting a dollar on the power ball.
Speaking of delaying tactics Scott Wilson said the school board's responses to the city council's questions were too complex while Leeann Cumber said they were too simplistic. Not that it really matters either way.
ReplyDeleteLenny Curry came out today and said he was always in support of Nov. 2020 referendum date. Lori Hershey said as much after meeting with Wilson and Curry a month ago. But Lenny told reporters that this was mischaracterized. Which one of these people has more credibility? I would love to vote for superintendent when we can vote for CEO of JEA. I suspect the latter will take place when hell freezes over or when Lenny leaves office...whichever comes first.