Senate District 8 Profile: Art Graham

Few local politicians have been as successful in lining up big-name political endorsements as Art Graham has during his runs for office.  Graham, a former Jacksonville Beach Councilman, capitalized on endorsements from Mayors of the beaches communities and Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney in his 2003 race for the Jacksonville City Council.  Before the untimely death of Jim King, Graham had already announced his intention to seek the seat in 2010 and he had lined up many of those same political powerhouses to endorse his candidacy---John Delaney, Jake Godbold, John Meserve and the International Association of Firefighters.

Graham's chosen profession is slightly unusual for a politician.  He's an environmental consultant with a degree in Chemical Engineering.  His six years on the Jacksonville City Council have been relatively quiet, with a few exceptions.

City Council District 13 is one of the more oddly shaped districts in the City.  The base of the district are the three beaches communities of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach, but the district also includes parts of Baymeadows. Early into his first term in office, Graham tried to negotiate a compromise deal to head off public opposition to the sale of the old Baymeadows Golf Course.  The course, which was being sold to national developer D. R. Horton, was to be closed and the property developed for 1,400 homes.  Baymeadows residents, who had struggled with traffic gridlock for years, were outraged.  Graham successfully lobbied Horton to commit to turning half of the development into a park, but residents were far from appeased.  At a boisterous town hall meeting in 2004, Graham told residents they would have his full support in fighting the development, but cautioned that their failure to compromise could come back to haunt them.  "You're going to take a chance and roll the dice if you're not successful at stopping him," Graham told the Times-Union at the time.

Despite Graham's best efforts, the full City Council approved D. R. Horton's plans for the site on an 11-8 vote.  Despite that defeat; however, Baymeadows residents emerged victorious after a surprise veto from Mayor John Peyton.  Peyton's veto--his first--was widely derided by some members of the City Council, with former Council Member Suzanne Jenkins telling the Times-Union that it showed a lack of respect for the Council.  Graham, on the other hand, was thrilled with the veto.  His efforts on behalf of Baymeadows in fighting that development most certainly went a long way with increasing his name recognition in that portion of the district, and was likely a factor in the fact that he went unchallenged in his 2007 re-election bid.

Of course, not everyone was a fan of Graham's efforts in fighting the Baymeadows development.  The developer filed suit against the City of Jacksonville shortly after the veto.  Today, the golf course remains closed and is largely overgrown.  Some might argue; however, that its fate would likely not be much different today--even if D. R. Horton had received the green light to develop the site.  After all, Horton purchased the famed Ponce de Leon Golf Course in St. Augustine at around the same time.  Despite the fact that Horton received all of the necessary permits to develop the site, that historic course is now an eyesore to anyone travelling along US1.

Graham is well aware that he is facing three powerful foes in the Republican primary.  A likeable man, he has tried to position himself as an alternative to Stan Jordan and John Thrasher, the two Tallahassee veterans in the race.  In an interview with the Times-Union, Graham said now wasn't the time to send either of them back to Tallahassee. "It's time for them to move on to something else. ... It's time to switch coaches," he said.  At the same time, he argued, there is too much at stake for voters to take a risk on an untested candidate like Dan Quiggle who Graham worries would look to use the Senate as a "place to come learn to play politics."

Despite a grass-roots campaign that has sought to capitalize on social media to spread his message, Graham is facing an uphill battle.  Seen as one of the early favorites in the race, he has seen much of the media focus shift to his three opponents in the last few months, largely because of the various 527 groups that have lined up to either support or fight them.  In an interview with Melissa Ross of WJCT's First Coast Connect, Graham acknowledged that fact by quietly noting that he was the only candidate in the race who had no mysterious groups bankrolling ads for or against him.  Whether that distinction will be one the voters of District 8 reward remains to be seen on Sept 15.

Tags: Art Graham, Dan Quiggle, Jim King, John Thrasher, Stan Jordan

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 6:25 AM and is filed under Local Politics, State Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.