During the most brutal and hostile primary for Mayor in Jacksonville’s history, City Council President at the time, Terrance Freeman, assigned council members Rory Diamond, Nick Howland, Sam Newby and Michael Boylan to serve on a Special Investigatory Committee to probe Mayoral Candidate, LeAnna Cumber’s “possible” involvement in the 2019 JEA scandal.
This tactic of “investigating” your opponent is right out of the playbook of the radical Dems who just this week used the very same tactic and indicted former President Trump on false and outlandish charges in hopes it would take votes away from him in the 2024 election.
When challenged on why they would set up this committee in the middle of the Mayor’s race, Terrance Freeman and the Republican committee members cried out in defiance and were aghast that anyone would think anything nefarious was going on. But those of us on the outside looking in knew it was a political hack job to ensure their favorite guy, Daniel Davis won. It was obvious and it destroyed the Cumber campaign. She could not recover from the innuendo that somehow she was involved in the scandal.
The “charges” had been handed off to the Ethics Commission but they chose not to take up the case. The Special Investigatory Committee shut down yesterday and City Council Member Nick Howland said, “They (Ethics Committee) chose not to investigate it. We chose then to focus on the third charge for the special investigatory committee which was to propose legislation and make sure this never happens again.”
Eye finds the statement hysterical because the word “this” in Mr. Howland’s world means the council will look into legislation that would require members to comply with future investigations and determine a clearer process for investigating its own members.
Eye believes this statement is simply said to make them look like the good guys. We call “whatever” on them and believe the city council SHOULD PASS legislation but not the kind they want to pass. We believe legislation should be passed that states the City Council will never use their power and influence to shut down a political opponent in the middle of a campaign.
Election interference is a big deal in the world today and it doesn’t sit well with people. This committee interfered with the election – prove us wrong.
Eye reached out to Ms. Cumber for a statement. She stated…
“Today, the Special Investigatory Committee on JEA Matters voted to close its investigation. Knowing my innocence in the matter, I anticipated this decision by the SIC and note that this action is far past due. I appreciate the continued commitment by the Ethics Commission, with the collaboration of the Office of General Counsel and members of the City Council, which will work toward determining what, if any, amendments to the City’s policies and procedures are appropriate going forward to ensure that special committees are not used as political weaponization against public officers.”
On behalf of our city, we apologize to Ms. Cumber and all the other opponents and candidates in other races who endured political hack jobs, threats and lies. This is un-American and uncalled for and hopefully the results of this election will put a stop to it.
For those who played a part in the hack job and were manipulated by campaign consultants to play dirty – remember this – your guy didn’t win. And you may not either if you don’t get back to doing good work on behalf of those who put their trust and faith in you.
Fair warning.
