Leanna Cumber fails to mention her anti-public education bonifides in her run for mayor

 Leanna Cumber is running for mayor, and she would be a disaster. Never one for following city politics beyond whom to vote for mayor, all that changed in 2018 as the mayor and city council rallied against public education, read that again, rallied against public education, all so some of their mega-donors who had invested in charter schools could get paid. Their depravity sunk so low that the office of the general council changed the meaning of the word shall to, do whatever the 4%@# you want, and it was around then I first heard of Leanna Cumber.

Many city council members fought against the referendum that would benefit the severely underfunded public school system, including members Tommy Hazouri (who sold his soul) and Brenda Priestly-Jackson, who should have known better. There was something about Cumber, however that made her stand apart. She not only fought against the referendum but was often, and seemingly gleefully so, against public schools in general, talking about school grades and reading rates and anything she could to put public education in a bad light. It didn’t matter to her that public ed, especially public ed in Jacksonville, which has never benefitted from impact fees, as every other city provides, was grievously underfunded.  

There was even a city council meeting where she started her comments, accusing the school district of being disrespectful to the city council, and I remind you that the council’s role was supposed to be purely ceremonial, which led to a ruckus and the eventual clearing of the meeting which was packed.

Okay, that’s bad enough, but it doesn’t stop there. Her fighting against our schools which will ultimately cost the city’s taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and shrugging her shoulders at the OGC changing the meaning of the word shall to defend their indefensible position, both should be disqualifying, but she said hold my beer and has sought the endorsement of Mom’s for Liberty, a small fascist group seeking to redefine public education.  

Mom’s for Liberty has spent the last year calling teachers pedophiles and groomers, claimed teachers are actively trying to get small children to switch genders, attacked the LGBTQ community, supported the whitewashing of history, and banned books. They are led locally by school board member April Carney who won’t say if she was at the insurrection one way or another. This is Cumber’s base; these are the people she is depending on to get her elected. This basket of deplorables is her go-to.  

There is a commercial painting Cumber as a liberal, she’s not, but neither is she a conservative; what she is, is a parasite pretending to be whatever she thinks will help her advance, and I have to say, I believe that dream is about to come to a crushing end.

The city can do a lot better than Cumber, and after looking at her record, we can’t afford not to.