Peyton's father wanted Craig runway extension

[Driven1]

By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton's father told the city more than seven years ago his company supported extending the runway at Craig Municipal Airport, an idea that nearby residents have furiously opposed for decades.

Now the residents are saying Gate Pet-roleum Co.'s push for a longer runway explains why the mayor went from saying he didn't support the extension to refusing to veto City Council approval of the plan. The recent discovery of Herb Peyton's wish also has a city councilman wondering if the company's actions present a conflict of interest for the mayor.

"It's his father's company. It's his company," said John Bigelow, a resident near the airport and one of the leaders in the fight against the extension. "It's the job of city government to avoid even having the appearance of impropriety. It's incredibly deceptive to say he wouldn't support it when he knows the company wanted it."

Mayoral spokeswoman Susie Wiles, however, said Peyton had never been involved in the company's aircraft policies and rejects the assertion that letters from Gate set up a conflict of interest. She said the mayor was on vacation and unavailable for comment.

The Jacksonville Aviation Authority began its latest push to add 1,600 feet to the length of one of the airport's two 4,000-foot runways last year. The city's comprehensive plan prohibits the expansion, which means the City Council would have to amend the plan for the project to proceed.

The council approved such an amendment in January. Peyton declined to veto it, saying that experts hired by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority had convinced him that a longer runway would be safer, information he said he did not have when he promised to veto it during his 2003 mayoral campaign.

In an Aug. 9, 1999, letter, Gate President Herb Peyton wrote that the extension "will provide a vast improvement to the safety of this airport's operations." About a year later, the company's chief pilot, Geoff Parnell, wrote that the company was looking to upgrade the jet it had at Craig but needed a longer runway to do so.

"If the runway extension were not available to us at the time a decision is to be made," his letter said, "we certainly would need to consider a move to an airport that can satisfactorily meet the balanced field length requirements of any larger aircraft currently available."

Shortly after, the Jacksonville Port Authority - of which the airport was then a part - passed a resolution in 2001 in which, bowing to political pressure, it promised to abandon the idea.

Councilman Clay Yarborough unearthed the letters several months ago when he requested from the city any documents related to the runway expansion. Yarborough said he held off on talking about them because he felt he could trust the mayor to follow through on his veto promise.

"I wanted to give him time to do that," Yarborough said.

Now, the council member said he plans to refer the letters to the city's ethics officer.

Bigelow, the opposition leader, said the letter shows that opponents are correct when they argue that a long-er runway would attract bigger aircraft.

"With the purchase of any larger aircraft," the 2000 letter said, "we would require at least 6,000 feet for takeoff and 6,000 feet for landing to ensure the safe operation of our aircraft."

The airport had pushed for an extension to 6,000 feet for decades; it recently pulled back to 5,600 feet as a compromise with opponents, JAA spokesman Michael Stewart said.

A woman who answered the phone in Herb Peyton's office at Gate on Wednesday initially said he was not available. When asked if anyone else could address the matter, she replied: "At this time, Mr. Peyton doesn't have anything to say about it." On Thursday she reiterated that "Mr. Peyton has no comment on the matter."

John Peyton left the office mid-day Wednesday for a trip to Montana, his staff said, and was unavailable to comment until next week. However, Wiles said, the General Counsel's Office advised that the letters raised no ethical issues and that Peyton, who was a vice president at the company founded by his father, was not involved in discussions concerning its jet.

"He was not a politician or a candidate at the time," she said .

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022208/met_249536114.shtml

[Lunican]

Here is a kind of defensive email from Councilman Art Graham.

From:      Graham, Art     Sent:      Wed 2/20/2008 4:24 PM
To:      'Katherine  --'
Cc:     
Subject:      RE: Craig: Peyton -Gate Ethics Conflict


Ms ----,

I saw the subject line in your email - “Peyton-Gate ethics conflict”, and I saw the two Gate letters that were attached from Herb Peyton and from the Gate Chief pilot. However, I do not understand the email’s purpose.

Since you didn’t write a message in the email I can only guess.

My guess is that you are inferring the mayor has an ethics conflict on the extension of the runway because his father’s company wants to land his plane there.

If the above is the purpose of your letter then my reply to you would be - the mayor has nothing to do with the extension of the runway at Craig. He didn’t vote on it, he doesn’t pay for it (FAA funds), and he doesn’t have to build it. Actually, he chose not to take a position on the issue and deferred to the will of the City Council. So therefore I am confused.

If my guess above was not the intent of your email â€" then please help me understand so that I can reply to you with an answer.


Thanks for being involved in the process,

Arthur Graham

[vicupstate]

Gee Art,

What kind of idiots, do you take the public for.  We all know damn well, that Peyton could have vetoed the legislation, which is what he promised to do in 2003. 

If Peyton believed in the legislation, he should have signed it, if he didn't he should have vetoed it.  What he did was simply allow it to become law WITHOUT his signature.

BTW, how often does Peyton, defer to council's judgement on other issues?  Does he do it often, or only when he is 'feeling heat'? Just wondering.

And to think, that you are paid quite handsomely (by elected official standards), to insult our intelligence.

[Steve]

And to think, that you are paid quite handsomely (by elected official standards), to insult our intelligence.

While I completely agree with your point, City Council members aren't really paid that well when compared to other elected officials.  For example, Peyton is around 170K, the council member are around 45K.

Still not anywhere near poverty level, however.

[vicupstate]

And while I also completely agree with your point as well, Vic.

According to our laws, abstaining is the only ethical thing he could have done.

Unsurprisingly, it dovetailed nicely with his dad's stated preference.

I suppose he could have vetoed the measure, and it would have only been a grey area of conflict.  In that case it would have been the developers who cried foul----although I think there would have been a problem proving he was acting in his own or his father's interest in that case.

legal?  yes.  ethical?  yes.  a bit too godamm convenient?  lol  obviously yes.

So Peyton abstained from voting, based on a stated conflict of interest that was entered into the record?  If so, I missed that.  What I read was that he allowed city council to decide the issue (ie let it become law without his signature).    I don't remember him mentioning a conflict when the issue was being voted on.  Albeit, there obviously is one.

[adamh0903]

I have mixed feelings about this, on one hand you can throw stones, but I think most people would do the same thing when family is involved, if I was in the same situation Im not sure I could go against something my father wanted, but on the other hand, I dont think my father would put me in a situation where I had to go against him.

[vicupstate]

And to think, that you are paid quite handsomely (by elected official standards), to insult our intelligence.

While I completely agree with your point, City Council members aren't really paid that well when compared to other elected officials.  For example, Peyton is around 170K, the council member are around 45K.

Still not anywhere near poverty level, however.

Peyton's salary is higher than any US senator ($162,000), except the Majority and Minority Leaders ($180,000).
His salary is $50,000 higher than Governor Crist ($120,000).
His salary is higher that ALL US Governors except three (MI - $172,000, CA - $175,00, NY- $179,000).  
His salary is higher than the Supreme Court members of 49 of 50 states.
The President made $200,000 up until 2001.  


Members of the FL legislature make $29,328.
Jax City Council memebrs make more than state legislators in 42 states.


Most cities I know of pay their council members less than 20,000.  

[thelakelander]

How does his salary compare to those of Mayor's in other major cities across the country?

[Driven1]

too bad Peyton's salary is not based on performance...he would've had to resign for personal financial reasons a long time ago.

[Pavers]

Peyton's salary is comparable to that of other major city mayors and city/county executives in the state of Florida.  $150K-200K is about the norm.

Frankly, one can make an argument that the mayor and his staff should be paid much more, considering the importance of leadership.  If you want the best, you gotta pay for it.  I never quite understood Ron Littlepage's seemingly annual op-ed that highlights the salaries of the mayor's staff.  Generally speaking, Higher pay = higher quality, lower pay = lower quality.  Do you think the quality of city government will improve if you shrink the candidate pool by offering a lower salary?  We argue that teachers (rightfully) should be paid more and that will increase teacher quality, but the reverse won't hold true for city executive leadership?

Now for city council - different story; it's a part-time job (although it's creeping to be a full-time job so it seems) and one can hold outside employment, so $45K, translated into 10-20 (?) hours per week seems fair.  The best place to be is Chicago - 50 alderman, each making nearly $100K per year.  And that's not counting under-the table kickbacks and bribes!   

[Steve]

Frankly, one can make an argument that the mayor and his staff should be paid much more, considering the importance of leadership.  If you want the best, you gotta pay for it.  I never quite understood Ron Littlepage's seemingly annual op-ed that highlights the salaries of the mayor's staff.  Generally speaking, Higher pay = higher quality, lower pay = lower quality.

The problem is we are paying these people like they have experience but they don't

[Pavers]

Adam H had plenty of experience (CSX officer, worked for many politicos - it was it his promotion press release).  Steve D. was a partner (I believe) at Rogers Towers - you need some major skills to get to that level.  Susie W. had been chief of staff for Delaney.  Seems like experience to me. 

What type of experience are you looking for, out of curiosity?

And not to change subjects, but I can't resist.  Since you're so concerned about experience, I assume you've completely ruled out Barack Obama for consideration as POTUS, yes?   

[Steve]

Adam H had plenty of experience (CSX officer, worked for many politicos - it was it his promotion press release).  Steve D. was a partner (I believe) at Rogers Towers - you need some major skills to get to that level.  Susie W. had been chief of staff for Delaney.  Seems like experience to me. 

What type of experience are you looking for, out of curiosity?

Well, I think Susie Wiles does a great job as press secretary - she makes Peyton look pretty good, and she came up with a great line, calling Brad Thoburn "Uniquely Qualified" for a position he wasn't qualified for at all.  With that said, I have a problem with the Mayor's staff having almost no government experience (with the exception of Wiles and Hollingsworth - it goes down to his department heads and division chiefs as well).  In his 2003 campaign, Peyton said he would run government as a business.  Well, there is a huge problem, sicne the role of government is to do things that naturally don't make money (if they did, private industry would do it).

I have to point to Sam Mousa as the glue that held the Delaney Administration together (during his first administration, it was the late Lex Hester that functioned in the same role, with Mousa working for him).  When Sam Mousa left 14 days into the Peyton Administration, I knew we had a problem.

And not to change subjects, but I can't resist.  Since you're so concerned about experience, I assume you've completely ruled out Barack Obama for consideration as POTUS, yes?  

I probably won't vote for Obama, but not for that reason.  The leader is the leader, not the doer.  Now, if Obama were to get elected, and appoint a whole bunch of people that had no government experience, I would have an issue with that.

[vicupstate]

Peyton's salary is comparable to that of other major city mayors and city/county executives in the state of Florida.  $150K-200K is about the norm.

Frankly, one can make an argument that the mayor and his staff should be paid much more, considering the importance of leadership.  If you want the best, you gotta pay for it.  I never quite understood Ron Littlepage's seemingly annual op-ed that highlights the salaries of the mayor's staff.  Generally speaking, Higher pay = higher quality, lower pay = lower quality.  Do you think the quality of city government will improve if you shrink the candidate pool by offering a lower salary?  We argue that teachers (rightfully) should be paid more and that will increase teacher quality, but the reverse won't hold true for city executive leadership?

Now for city council - different story; it's a part-time job (although it's creeping to be a full-time job so it seems) and one can hold outside employment, so $45K, translated into 10-20 (?) hours per week seems fair.  The best place to be is Chicago - 50 alderman, each making nearly $100K per year.  And that's not counting under-the table kickbacks and bribes!   

I'm not sure how the argument is made that being Mayor of Jax is a more difficult job than Governor.  Oversight of 1 county versus 67?

NYC and Chicago are not in the same league in many respects including population.  Many months back, someone posted a listing of Mayor salaries across FL and the US.  I have had a VERY difficult time finding data on local government salaries on the net.  Maybe whoever posted it before, can find it again.   

[thelakelander]

Here's one I just came across on the net:

Municipality -- Salary

Atlanta -- $147,500

Charlotte -- $193,538

Cincinnati -- $131,904

Columbus -- $145,226

Fulton County, GA -- $219,300

Indianapolis -- $ 95,000

Jacksonville -- $172,823

Kansas City, MO -- $105,276

Memphis -- $160,000

Oklahoma City -- $174,995

Richmond -- $125,000

San Antonio -- $260,000

St. Louis -- $122,668

Current Average -- $153,735

http://politics.nashvillecityblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/staff-report-mayor_vice-mayor_-council-pay.pdf