Four More Years in Hemming Plaza

Last week, the Times Union reported that 12 current Jacksonville City Council members are ready to try for another run in their districts.  Candidacy filings will begin in earnest next spring for what is expected to be one of the more closely watched elections City Council has had in years.  Fresh off of millage rate increases, collective bargaining fights, ethics complaints and a grand jury investigation, many of these incumbents are sure to face some voter backlash.

This year alone, two of the council’s presiding officers have faced ethics commission complaints and its newest member came under investigation for his involvement in local land deals.  Traditionally, incumbents could look to their past record and name recognition to vault them into another term but that may not be the case in 2011. The notoriety that some members of City Council have garnered may actually work against them as they seek voter approval for another term.

Fruitless trips abroad, six figure consulting fees for land brokerage,  no-bid contracts, earmarked emergency legislation and blatant conflicts of interest are not exactly the actions that endear incumbents to voters.   At a time when core services have been threatened and taxes increased, voters are apt to pay particularly close attention to the performance of their leaders.  Alienating veterans groups, unions and senior citizens with threats to their services and payrolls (while unquestioningly opening the City’s Special Events Fund to support one Jaguar’s game) may just leave some of these candidate’s regular supporters scratching their heads at the polls.

The recent track record of City Council has been under scrutiny by not only the State’s Attorney and the City’s Ethics Commission, but by the citizens as well.  Times Union reader reaction to the re-election bids showed that every comment posted online had a markedly common “throw the bums out” theme.  If reader sentiment is that unanimous 16 months before the election, assuredly a grass-roots movement for sweeping change in Council Chambers in 2011 is inevitable.

Constituent email is usually a harbinger of what is to come and it is beginning to sound as if the 2011 election may be a challenging one for many City Council incumbents.   Voters have not been shy about letting their representatives know exactly how they feel and they haven’t been kind.  Burdened with new taxes and fees, with fewer services to show for it, many residents have already vowed to make sure their message is heard on Election Day.  Lack of genuine response and representative apathy in many districts has further fueled the call to oust some sitting legislators; many with aspirations beyond Hemming Plaza.

When times are as tough as they have been for Jacksonville, constituents look to elected leaders for hope and guidance to steer the City through turbulent times.  Voters have begun signaling that having some of these leaders around for another term will only result in an even rougher ride for four more years.

Tags: City of Jacksonville Ethics Commission, Councilman Jack Webb, Jacksonville City Council, John Meserve, Richard Clak

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 8:00 PM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.