There's nothing "bipartisan" about Yes for Jax

[benmarcus]

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2016-08-07/story/pension-storm-while-campaigning-bipartisan-mayors-talking-points-rankle

The Pension Storm: While campaigning is bipartisan, mayor's talking points rankle some

Mayor Lenny Curry doesn't go out much in public anymore without plugging his pension-tax plan. Not even a Donald Trump rally will stop him.

He doesn't put on a Ross Perot-style show with graphs and pie charts. There is no PowerPoint presentation. It's more like a detailed stump speech that Curry can recite with remarkable consistency.

He doesn't shy away from taking questions, though he rarely moves off familiar talking points.

Here is what Curry will not say, in public or private: If his plan frees up money, what will he spend it on?

That is a major contrast from the last time a Jacksonville mayor asked voters to approve a sales tax. Former Mayor John Delaney laid out in exhaustive detail what each constituency group across this sprawling city could expect under his Better Jacksonville Plan, which voters ultimately approved in 2000.

Not so, this time. It's all stick and no carrot. Curry instead talks about his plan as "tough medicine," or that it addresses an elusive problem "once and for all."

This approach has rankled some residents, some of whom have shown up for months at City Council meetings to voice their displeasure and suspicion that their neighborhoods would be excluded from any windfall of cash.

And yet, Curry has been able to line up most of the city's business and civic establishment behind his plan. The politically potent police and firefighter unions back it. Prominent Republicans and Democrats support it. All 19 members of the council co-sponsored the legislation putting the plan on the Aug. 30 ballot.

"Inclusivity and a broad base of support is what the mayor wants, and it's what I think this initiative deserves," said Susie Wiles, a consultant who co-chairs Yes for Jacksonville, the political action committee backing Curry's plan.

Curry chairs Yes for Jacksonville, giving him a political vehicle to sell his plan in addition to the bully pulpit of the mayor's office.

"The big advantage is there hasn't been any funded opposition," said Matthew Corrigan, a University of North Florida political science professor.

That means Curry has been free to largely define the debate around his plan.

He wants to enact a half-cent sales tax that would begin after the Better Jacksonville sales tax expires in 2030. The new tax, by state law, can only be dedicated to paying off the city's $2.85 billion pension debt. Curry has insisted that this arrangement means his plan amounts to a tax "extension," rather than a new tax, because residents would see no change in what they pay now.

The distinction has rarely been challenged in public forums.

Another component Curry has often emphasized is that the city would also be required to close at least one of its three pension plans — police and fire, general employees and corrections — if it wants to use the sales tax.

Curry says he wants to close all three during collective bargaining talks after the Aug. 30 vote, and he has expressed confidence he can get that done. The public-safety unions, whose retirement costs make up the bulk of the city's pension debt, have echoed that belief.

"There has been almost eight years now of pure craziness, and it would be a relief for our members to stop this from being in the headlines," said Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters.

A BALANCING ACT

Curry's approach to the Aug. 30 referendum is in some respects a departure from his campaign for mayor last year, in which he defeated an incumbent Democrat in a highly partisan race. In particular, Curry's push to court Democrats — his chief administrative officer made a pitch to the Jacksonville Young Democrats last week — and other groups not typically in his political orbit, like Northside pastors, is a notable shift for a man who once chaired the Republican Party of Florida.

But partisanship has been hard to escape in this presidential election year, and Curry has found himself trying to balance his political role with his governing one. For example, outside Trump's downtown rally last week — for which Curry served as master of ceremonies — some protestors began chanting, "No justice, no pension."

"Showing up at the Trump rally ... that casts you in a pretty partisan light," said Michael Binder, a UNF political science professor who runs the school's Public Opinion Research Laboratory. "He needs to be careful with that because he's going to alienate voters. He's going to need Democrats in order for this to be able to pass."

SOME SIMILARITIES

Despite Curry's bipartisan approach to the referendum, the campaign carries some characteristic similarities to the way he captured City Hall in last year's mayoral campaign.

For one thing, he is a prolific fundraiser and has used his connections to keep Yes for Jacksonville flush with cash.

The political action committee has been airing TV ads and sending out mail pieces, though its web presence appears to be somewhat limited. But there is evidence the group plans a final blitz in the final weeks of the campaign.

The group has so far taken in more than $1.3 million in donations but has only spent about $538,000, according to finance reports through June 22.

Yes for Jacksonville is also being run by two political consultants who ran Curry's mayoral campaign and remain among his closest confidants: Brian Hughes, from Tallahassee, and Jacksonville-based Tim Baker.

Curry rarely lets criticism go unanswered.

For example, he called a news conference the day after a news report last month detailing a task force report that lauded Curry's pension-tax plan but said the city would still need more revenue — likely in the form of a property tax — to adequately take care of its cops and community needs in the future.

"It's easy for people to sit in corporate board rooms and say a mill increase won't hurt anyone," Curry said at the time of a suggested property tax increase.

DISSENTERS EMERGE

There are skeptics of Curry's idea, and they chide the mayor for refusing to delve into details they believe undermine his plan.

"That's the risk you run when you put out plans," Binder said. "Some details can alienate certain potential voters. There's a fine line to walk."

For his part, Curry acknowledges that his plan is not perfect — he says there is no perfect solution — and that critics can nitpick it. But he never wavers: This is the city's best option going forward.

John Winkler, who is president of the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Curry's plan.

Winkler's started a Just Vote No political committee, but it has only raised $806, according to the latest finance report, an amount dwarfed by the donations to Curry's well-funded operation.

Among Winkler's major criticisms is that part of Curry's plan involves deferring the bulk of the city's pension-debt payments.

The tax, which would begin in 2031, does not by itself offer the city any financial relief. Deferring much of the debt payments until later years when the tax begins, however, could offer the city financial relief ranging from $40 million to $68 million per year.

But that comes with a cost. Deferring payments would add about $1.5 billion more in pension payments through 2049.

"Few in this community would disagree that the (pension debt) is an issue demanding attention," Winkler wrote to Curry. "Unfortunately, you have chosen to champion a future sales tax, potentially imposed from 2031 to 2060, as the 'only option' as well as the 'solution' to the (debt) problem 'once and for all.'"

Winkler challenged Curry to a debate scheduled Tuesday.

"We have not engaged in any debates about pension reform. Mayor Curry has developed a comprehensive solution that provides a dedicated revenue source to address and resolve the city's pension debt," said mayoral spokeswoman Marsha Oliver in a written statement. "I will be sure to share Mr. Winkler's request for the mayor with our scheduling team for review and determination. It is our standard process and practice for all event requests."

CURRY: NO OTHER OPTION

What happens if Curry's pension plan doesn't pass?

When asked, he usually has two answers:

"It will pass."

And: "There is no other option."

Curry has staked much of his first term on a referendum issue that is complicated and asks voters to pay for something that they can't see or use. The outcome of the Aug. 30 vote will loom large over his remaining time in office.

"This is a complicated policy problem that you're taking to the people in the form of direct democracy," Corrigan said. "There are a lot of challenges with that."

Where to start with this...

Funny how the Yes for Jacksonville people are trying to frame this as some sort of nonpartisan/bipartisan campaign when they basically declined to hire any Democrats to work for it and it's co-chaired and run by the same people who elected Curry.

Calling a tax on future gens "tough medicine" is like slapping a bandaid on a deep gash when it needs a tourniquet and patting yourself on the back.

I also find it fascinating they've raised $1million but their field program is complete garbage.

[Charles Hunter]

He's got Denise Lee on the Yes team. She who "resigned" from her job in the Mayor's Office.
Isn't she a Dem?

[benmarcus]

He's got Denise Lee on the Yes team. She who "resigned" from her job in the Mayor's Office.
Isn't she a Dem?

Hahaha, sure. There's one.