Elizabeth Anderson, takes off the kid gloves and lays some knowledge on the city.

Elizabeth Anderson, takes off the kid gloves and lays some knowledge on the city.

Mrs. Anderson has not been on the board a year yet and where often board members are tentative out of the block she has hit the ground running and has been a fierce advocate for our schools. I wish all the new members would be more like her and primarily I am looking at Charlotte Joyce who has not only voted against everything of importance I am told has often been unprepared.  

Mrs. Anderson and the board have been put in a nearly impossible situation trying to defend the tax referendum and their jobs from a mayor, city council and state legislator who are more interested in serving their donors that the city’s children and citizens.

Well friends in that pursuit, Mrs. Anderson laid some knowledge on the city today something she read in the Times Union

Wow, mic drop.

To read the Times Union editorial, click the link,

https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190809/friday-editorial-we-dont-need-appointed-school-board

Shouldn’t the city council stay in their lane? Is that asking too much? I am sure their input on school matters would be listened to and respected but being a defacto super school board is not in their job description. They have other problems one of which is the murder rate which is now twenty percent higher than its previous high.

I am impressed with Mrs. Anderson, not so much with other politicians and Mrs. Joyce I am looking at you, it is past time you stepped up and started to do the job you were elected to do and if rumors are true stopped listening to your husband and his business partner, you have been disappointing but sadly you have plenty of company on the the city council.   

Hollywood called and said what was happening in Jacksonville was unbelievable (draft)

I hope people understand what has happened, a political thriller to wild for even Hollywood

If what has happened over the summer was put into a movie script people would say it was to unbelievable.  

The school board decided that inaction was no longer a strategy and began the process of documenting our district's needs and informing the public.

They had over 20 community meetings, conducted an on-line survey and developed a plan they put on their web-site.

They then decided they need a half cent sales tax to help fix the issues and passed a resolution calling for a referendum to be put on the ballot in November. I thought we should have done a millage increase because lost in this is that our staff are some of the lowest paid in the nation, but at the end of the day I acknowledged that more resources are better and the school board had the final say.

Unfortunately, the city council disagreed with the school board and most of the city who support the referendum and used a memorandum from a junior attorney in the office of general council to usurps the school boards authority where they ignored statutes and changed the meaning of the word they.

When they did so many council members would say things like, we acknowledge the money is desperately needed and the school board should control what happens in our schools, but…

Later it turned out the memorandum was just an opinion that the OGC let people believe had the force of law and when this was revealed the lead city attorney promised to come up with an official ruling at some point.  

The mayor, the city council and a group of influential donors called the civic council with close ties to charter schools then engaged in delaying tactics and specious arguments to try and derail the referendum, catching most people off guard because who wouldn’t want to improve our schools? The major sticking point was the civic council wants a proportional share of the tax revenue guaranteed to charter schools an ammount that would be in the hundreds of millions.  

While this was going on two top lieutenants of Mayor Curry arguably tried to extort nearly a half million dollars out of the school district in the guise of lobbying. They offered the school board things they did not want, the referendum moved to 202o and hundreds of millions for charters. Later Mousa after this came out, received a no bid, no outlined responsibilities six figure gig from the city.

Did I mention while all this was going on the city was engaging in several municipal projects costing millions of dollars (the sale of fire house 5, the closing and demolition of the landing and lot J) that had little public input and it would be charitable to say were light on details.

Back to the referendum. The district despite being  told by the OGC they couldn’t hire an outside attorney, in a blatant conflict of interest because OGC represents both them and the city and they have competing interests, hired three of the most respected lawyers in town who disagreed with the OGC's original memo. The mayor in response then tweeted that these liberal lawyers were trying to usurp the city, pretty ironic when you consider what has happened, and implied the city attorney who is beholden to the mayor for his job better come up with a ruling he likes.

Finally, if all that wasn't enough, a local state legislator proposed taking away the citizens right to vote and making so the school board appointed by the mayor. He was also a former school board member and also takes tons of money from the same donors, the civic council who support the mayor and several members of the city council.

A movie producer would look at this and say, all that’s to unbelievable even for Hollywood.

This is where we find ourselves, this is us, this is Jacksonville.

Did city hall just pay off Sam Mousa

Um how is any of this legal?

While still with city hall Sam Mousa partnered with another top Curry lieutenant Tim Baker and tried to get nearly a half million dollars out of the school district by providing services they did not want. 

Senator Audrey Gibson, school board chair Lori Hershey and former city councilman and school board vice chair Warren Jones all likened what was happening to extortion. 

Now Sam Mousa retired for a little more than a month just got a six figure consulting gig from the city.

From the Times Union,

Sam Mousa, Jacksonville City Hall’s recently retired top administrator, won a no-bid consulting contract on Thursday with Mayor Lenny Curry’s office that will pay him $120,000 a year.

Curry hired Mousa’s company, Mousa Consulting Group Inc., to provide an open-ended list of services, including developing policy, overseeing special projects and providing support to departmental directors and other employees...

...It’s unclear whether Mousa has solicited or has been hired to work for any other clients to lobby City Hall. He isn’t registered as a lobbyist with the city’s ethics office, which is required once a person has accepted payment to lobby council members on active legislation.

Mousa didn’t respond to a request for an interview.

City spokeswoman Nikki Kimbleton wouldn’t explain why the city needed Mousa’s services. Instead, she provided a written statement attributed to Hughes that said Mousa was hired according to “every legal and regulatory requirement.”

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190808/sam-mousa-gets-120000-consulting-contract-with-jacksonville-city-hall-month-into-retirement

Um the ^%$&ing city can't even explain why Mousa's services were needed?!? Just that he met the requirements and they were going to pay him six figures. I imagine the city spokesperson then took a bite of an apple and said lump it.

Friends does this smell like a payoff to you? Hey keep quiet about that one thing and I will get you back. We aren't being led, we are being ruled.

Lenny Curry's lawless city hall.

When three respected attorneys hired by Duval County Public schools to assist them with the special tax referendum disagreed with the city attorney's assertion that the city council could determine whether and when the referendum was placed on the ballot Mayor Lenny Curry sent out an inflammatory and chilling tweet.

He said, Local liberal lawyers attempting to usurp the city @Jason_R_ Gabriel Do your homework on this crew. 

Lets forget that along with all being well respected one of the lawyers W.C. Gentry is a bastion of local conservative politics who has even give Curry's election campaign thousands of dollars and focus on who he tagged in his post. Jason Gabriel, this is the city's attorney who is supposedly working on his final opinion on whether the school board is subservient to the city council or not, talk about being usurped.

Curry is telling the city attorney not only to investigate, do his homework on people he considers opponents, but he is also telling the attorney he better not come to the same conclusion they did. He isn't letting the law take Gabriel to his conclusion, he is telling Gabriel who is beholden to Curry for his job, what his conclusion better be.

Throw in two of the mayors top lieutenants Sam Mousa, while still a city employee and Tim Baker's attempt to arguably extort the school board out of nearly a half million dollars and it looks more and more like we have an administration that not only thinks it is above the law but can dictate what the law is.

The city attorney should immediately recuse himself from any further decisions about the referendum. After this curry text his impartiality cannot be trusted. Then the city again not the city attorney should investigate what Curry knew and when about Baker and Mousa's scheme.

We deserve a city government we can trust and right now we don't have one.  

Jason Fischer is right about one thing, the worthlessness of the Florida Constitution. (draft)

Jason Fischer says a special carve out in the state constitution, the result of Jacksonville's consolidation, gives him the ability to propose legislation that strips Jacksonville voters of their right to vote for their school board members. Most people outside of Jason Gabriel's OGC office (the ones that wrote Fischer's J-1 bill) in city hall think that is a laughable argument. Here is the thing Fischer must think the state constitution is a joke to even propose the bill and on that he is correct.

Here is what it says about school boards,

Text of Section 4: School Districts; School Boards (a) Each county shall constitute a school district; provided, two or more contiguous counties, upon vote of the electors of each county pursuant to law, may be combined into one school district. In each school district there shall be a school board composed of five or more members chosen by vote of the electors in a nonpartisan election for appropriately staggered terms of four years, as provided by law. (b) The school board shall operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district and determine the rate of school district taxes within the limits prescribed herein. Two or more school districts may operate and finance joint educational programs.[1]

Um we still do the voting, for now anyways but the school board has nominal control over charters and zero control over voucher schools.

Then unless you have been under a rock for the last two months you know the city council has tried to strip away their ability to tax.

It gets worse because this is what the constitution says about education,

Text of Section 1: Public Education (a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require. To assure that children attending public schools obtain a high quality education, the legislature shall make adequate provision to ensure that, by the beginning of the 2010 school year, there are a sufficient number of classrooms so that: (1) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for prekindergarten through grade 3 does not exceed 18 students; (2) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 4 through 8 does not exceed 22 students; and (3) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 9 through 12 does not exceed 25 students. The class size requirements of this subsection do not apply to extracurricular classes. Payment of the costs associated with reducing class size to meet these requirements is the responsibility of the state and not of local schools districts. Beginning with the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the legislature shall provide sufficient funds to reduce the average number of students in each classroom by at least two students per year until the maximum number of students per classroom does not exceed the requirements of this subsection. (b) Every four-year old child in Florida shall be provided by the State a high quality pre-kindergarten learning opportunity in the form of an early childhood development and education program which shall be voluntary, high quality, free, and delivered according to professionally accepted standards. An early childhood development and education program means an organized program designed to address and enhance each child's ability to make age appropriate progress in an appropriate range of settings in the development of language and cognitive capabilities and emotional, social, regulatory and moral capacities through education in basic skills and such other skills as the Legislature may determine to be appropriate. (c) The early childhood education and development programs provided by reason of subparagraph (b) shall be implemented no later than the beginning of the 2005 school year through funds generated in addition to those used for existing education, health, and development programs. Existing education, health, and development programs are those funded by the State as of January 1, 2002 that provided for child or adult education, health care, or development.[1]

Did you notice a few things that Florida ignores?

How about paramount duty? Nope not in Florida, here it is an after thought and a recent court ruling about funding said that was all right.

Uniform and efficient? Not with charters and voucher schools who play by different rules taking a bigger and bigger cut.

Then the class size amendment, well friends that has been spun folded and mutilated beyond all recognition.

Fischer knows the constitution is a joke and that's why he thinks he can get away with his proposal to strip the citizens of Jacksonville of the right to vote. The Florida constitution is not some hallowed document to be respected and revered, it's more like suggestions scribbled down on a cocktail napkin.

Jason Fischer attacks Matt Carlucci for wanting citizens to have the right to vote

I am just going to get right to it, from the Times Union,

“Look, the status quo isn’t working for the kids in our city,” Fischer told the Times-Union. “I’ve offered solutions and demonstrated a willingness to listen. Career politician Carlucci has spent the last three or four decades just being negative and the truth seems to be he’s more focused on grabbing headlines than helping people.”

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190808/council-member-matt-carlucci-opposes-appointed-school-board-with-resolution

Whoooaaaa

Um Jason Fischer ran for soil and water before he ran for the school board, which he quit to run for the house. Fischer desperately wants to have the career that Carlucci has had. 

Fischer calls Carlucci a career politician for the same reason Lenny Curry called W.C. Gentry a liberal. he thinks his base will salivate like Pavlov's dog and ignore that Fischer is trying to take away their right to vote.

Also if our schools are failing and I remind you the district was less than a percentage point away from being an A district, doesn't he deserve some responsibility?

While he was on the school board, again which he quit to run for the state house he was terrible but as bad as he was he has been worse while in Tallahassee, attacking public ed and teachers at every turn while giving charters and voucher schools the keys to the castle. 

Does everyone know he works for John Kirtley, the state voucher king and routinely votes for legislation that enriches him.

Do people also know he has millions inserted in the state budget annually for his mega donor Gary Chartrand's pet charter school?

Here is the thing I bet there are a lot of things I disagree with Matt Carlucci on but you can tell he is a decent guy who cares about people, Fisher on the other hand only cares about himself as he carries water for his donors. He is as bad as they come.

Shame on you Jason Fischer, shame on you and yes there were better pictures available, I just picked this one on purpose.

 

After throwing the city's schools and children, and W.C. Gentry under the bus, who will Lenny Curry throw next.

I hope the Jacksonville City Council understands that Lenny Curry does not have your back. That if he is willing to throw the city's children and schools under the bus on behalf of a handful of mega donors with charter interests, and then lifelong republican and locally revered lawyer W.C. Gentry for following the law, it's just a matter of time before one of them is next.

Now I don't think it will be Aaron Bowman, no he is Curry's attack dog, council president Scott "aww shucks" Wilson, while he is the president he is still needed or Rory "the only kids that have a chance are kids that go to charter schools" Diamond, his soul is just as black as Curry's but for all the democrats that have "gone along" with his agenda, there time is bound to come. Heaven help them if the have a bout of conscious.

Tommy Hazour, Jac'coby Pittman, Brenda Preistly Jackson, better not waiver for a second or they will have tread marks all over them like W.C. Gentry does.

Nate Monroe had a great tweet about this,

 

In Curry's world you are useful until you aren't and then the bus comes. 

W.C. Gentry goes from lifelong republican to liberal conspirator in one Curry Tweet.

I didn’t think much of W.C. Gentry when he was on the school board. He had run successfully for other offices a couple times before and getting elected to something, anything felt like it was just on his to do list. His four years there were relatively unremarkable.

That’s not to say he hasn’t done things.

From Florida Politics.

W.C. Gentry is a man whose roots are deeply embedded in Jacksonville. He has been one of the leading trial attorneys in the area in the last half century. His contributions to the civic good, such as helping Mayor Tommy Hazouri as a Special Counsel to mitigate the noxious odors created by local paper mills, serving as Chair of the Jacksonville Journey Education Subcommittee under John Peyton, and winning a staggering $11B settlement over Big Tobacco, cannot be discounted either. He also served a 4 year term on the School Board.

Now Gentry is wading into the public arena again, via a Thursday endorsement of Lenny Curry in the Jacksonville mayoral race.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/183138-w-c-gentry-endorses-lenny-curry-for-mayor-decries-lack-of-leadership-from-alvin-brown

Wait what?!? Record scratch. He endorsed Lenny Curry? More than that however he gave him thousands of dollars too.

Gentry is also such a raging liberal that he was also appointed to the charter review commission.

Lenny Curry is willing to say and do anything to get his way. Just recently he lied about the sale of the JEA and did so again through ommision about all the lot J caveats. He bullied everyday citizens on twitter, has strong armed the city attorney into ignoring the law and giving him a favorable ruling, called a long time republican a liberal I guess in the hopes his base will turn against him and said he should be investigated, shrugged his shoulders at attempted extortion by two of his top lieutenants and sold out the city’s children and schools to benefit his mega donors. This man is not ethical enough to run a lemonade stand let alone a city but there he is.

Friends when Curry attempted to throw Gentry under the bus that was bad but he also directed the city attorney to ignore the law and give him the ruling he wants and that’s chilling.

We are not being led we are being ruled.

After Lenny Curry’s tweet the OGC should recuse themselves from any referendum business

In a late night tweet Lenny Curry basically ordered the office of general council to come up with a ruling favorable to the city about the sales tax referendum. Such hubris on Curry’s part, he may think he is king but he is not. He may think he is the city but he is not.

The OGC is already seen as being in the pocket of Curry for its recent decisions on the tax referendum. In order to allow the city council to usurp the school boards authority, a junior attorney in the office ignored statutes and changed the meaning of the word “they”.

From the Jaxson,

Historically, the school board would simply send a proposal of this nature to City Council to put on an upcoming ballot, and it would be up to the voters to vet it. Democratic checks and balances, what a time that was! Now, however, the City Council has decided it is the gatekeeper for when and whether the voters get a say at all. Their position was bolstered by a memorandum from the city’s General Council, Jason Gabriel, who is not a human lawyer but rather a sentient weather vane that moves in the direction of the prevailing winds blowing out of the mayor’s office. Apparently, none of Florida’s other, human general councils have made such a judgment in their jurisdictions.

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/forward-school-issues-directly-to-the-mayor-council/

First if you haven’t subscribed to the Jaxon you should and second Gabriel has to see the writing on the wall. Unless he thinks he is going to be able to ride Lenny Curry’s coattails until he hangs up his shingle he has to see the damage all this is doing to his reputation.

Anyway all that referendum stuff was bad, but Gabriel somehow found a way to make it worse. It turns out the initial memo that through the city into disarray was just a memorandum, that had zero force of law that the OGC allowed the city to think had the force of law until councilman Garett Dennis called them on it and demanded an official ruling.  

Only then did Jason Gabriel announce he would have a ruling by mid-august dragging his feet in an obvious attempt to run out the clock in an effort to permanently stop the referendum process.

Jason Gabriel’s opinion should now be rendered moot after the mayor’s tweet and he should immediately recuse himself.  

Instead of saying to city attorney, let the law take you where it takes you, the mayor implied there were two different types of law, his and those, liberals, who dared disagree with him.

We are here because of a dubious reading of the law and an OGC office that let a memorandum stand for weeks. Now with this tweet how can there be any confidence that this OGC office won’t just do the bidding of king Curry.

If Fischer and the mayor have their way you can follow the tax referendum money right to city Hall

The tax referendum fight has nothing to do with what's good for our schools, children and city. It's all about who will control the 1.4 billion the money half cent sales tax would bring in. City Hall wants it and woe to anyone including children who get in their way.

Want proof of that? Well look no farther than Jason Fischer's proposal to strip the people of their ability to elect their school board representative and he is doing so with a parliamentary trick that excludes the people of Jax from even voting on it.

Who would control the school board and that 1.4 billion dollars if Fischer got his way? The mayor and his mega donors on the civic council.

Greed runs this city with whats right and decent thrown out with the baby and the bath water.

As despondent about this as I am, I am loving Warren Jones who has finally taken the filter off. More of us should follow his lead.