John Meserve charged with a felony

[reednavy]

This stems from a land deal in Mayport from 2005.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/22215731/detail.html

[RiversideLoki]

This isn't to say that Angela Corey won't totally go tits up the whole thing and get him off the hook.

[CS Foltz]

Not sure what the penalty for a Third Degree Felony is but, that should remove him from his Council seat and should get him a fine and possibly jail time! He should know better and deserves what he gets! He represents my District and this would make me ask ................who will be his replacement? That also makes me wonder if his votes will count while on the City Council since he has been in on several!

[reednavy]

Just a few hours ago Governor Crist has suspended Meserve. No word yet if his seat when/if his seat will be filled.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-01-12/story/jacksonville_city_councilman_john_meserve_suspended_after_being_charged_

[stjr]

CS, I remember when Jabour's election to the council was invalidated.  His votes were still allowed to count so I don't see the outcome being different here.  On bills where the action has already been implemented it would likely make nullification impracticable if not impossible. 

[FayeforCure]

http://jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=530032

Normal procedure for public officials

An Executive Order from Gov. Charlie Crist was handed down Tuesday to suspend Meserve from office while charges are pending.

“We would suspend based on the felony charges,” said Sterling Ivey, spokesperson for the governor’s office. “Our normal procedure is to suspend based on the initial filing of charges.”

The charge against Meserve was filed after the State Attorney’s Office Special Prosecution Division’s investigation revealed that he did not disclose his private business relationship with the advisory board he held a leadership role with and he did not file timely financial disclosure forms with the State of Florida reporting his private interest in the matter.

.............If a conflict of interest was proven, then the governor would be required to select a special prosecutor for the case.

Here is the response of Meserve's Democratic opponent:

To Whom It May Concern,

Once again, leading Jacksonville figures prove that cronies count for more than constituents.

On the occasion of sluggish white-collar justice catching up with John Meserve, the Times-Union editors stand by their man, and where they previously published silly news of his "exoneration" by their staff and the police union, now they urge their readers to wait for the justice system to resolve his legal problems.

Similarly, council member Johnny Gaffney promotes this former councilman who has undermined democracy in District 13.

What about the people of District 13? We now have no district council member, and that is wrong.

I urge the citizens of District 13 to contact any or all of the at-large council members with their concerns and issues, and for those elected representatives to be especially aware and sensitive to the fact that these citizens are now denied full representation.  

Those at-large council members are: Glorious Johnson / gloriousj@coj.net / 630-1387; John Crescimbeni / jrc@coj.net / 630-1381; Ronnie Fussell / ronnief@coj.net / 630-1393;  Stephen Joost / joost@coj.net / 630-1396; Kevin Hyde / khyde@coj.net / 630-1398.  

Dave Smith

904-241-0949