Mini Blog, Council Meeting Lee Delivers Slapdown to Corrine Brown

[Cheshire Cat]

Never underestimate the power of "Coco".  She along with her new sidekick Kimberly Daniels have a new and "powerful" play book at their disposal.  Look out Jacksonville. Hurry on over to Walmart ya'll, get your copy and break that "Demon" barrier impacting our leadership.   

[Intuition Ale Works]

I see Ben.  Pardon me!   

For everyone's enjoyment.  Chicken Peace Keepers   http://www.wimp.com/chickenpolice/

No worries!

[tufsu1]

is it really appropriate to call her "Coco" Diane?

[Cheshire Cat]

is it really appropriate to call her "Coco" Diane?

Well gosh, considering this question is coming from someone going by the screen name tufsu it's hard to say.  Lol  Coco is Corrine's nick name, I hardly think that is offensive to her or anyone else.  Honestly tufsu, you focus on the weirdest stuff sometimes. 

[tufsu1]

I was just asking, as it could be seen as a racial term

and fyi...tufsu stands for Temple University - Florida State University

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I was just asking, as it could be seen as a racial term

and fyi...tufsu stands for Temple University - Florida State University

Being that CC actually has her real info posted that she'd probably be a little more PC with her posts?  Kind of petty to suggest it, and this coming from a guy who generally doesn't give two shits poo-poos what he posts.

Not that she, you or anyone else needs my opinion on the subject, but damn.  When did we become so sensitive to everything?

[sheclown]

I appreciate cc s local knowledge.   

[tufsu1]

^ Thanks NRW...I always appreciate your insight...in this case, I asked some co-workers before I posted the question....and I'm glad tgo hear it is a nickname that Corinne Brown is ok with

[Cheshire Cat]

^ Thanks NRW...I always appreciate your insight...in this case, I asked some co-workers before I posted the question....and I'm glad tgo hear it is a nickname that Corinne Brown is ok with

Lord have mercy.  lol, lol, lol   Tufsu1, you do put your own defensive and negative internal spin on things and it's really a very odd habit you seem to have.  Your comments about Coco's nickname (which she was not given by me but by her "girls") as being "racist" is really just over the top and rather bizarre to tell the truth.  I frankly don't know what to think about your commentary any more other than to say your perceptions of what I personally say are just way, way off the mark.   

[Cheshire Cat]

I was just asking, as it could be seen as a racial term

and fyi...tufsu stands for Temple University - Florida State University

Being that CC actually has her real info posted that she'd probably be a little more PC with her posts?  Kind of petty to suggest it, and this coming from a guy who generally doesn't give two shits poo-poos what he posts.

Not that she, you or anyone else needs my opinion on the subject, but damn.  When did we become so sensitive to everything?

Damn is right.  lol

[Cheshire Cat]

Here is a piece by Jim Bailey with regard to the selection of the SOE site.  He basically is saying time to move on.  I know what he means but the reality is that "Team Corrine" is just building steam to make a bigger to do about the selection of the site.  She currently has a group fired up over voter disenfranchisement and has a online petition to support her efforts to keep the SOE where it is.  She is talking lawsuits as well.  The problem as I see it is that the selection of this site was outside of proper city procedure which requires an RFP of some sort.  This is an issue the new owners of the Gateway center may take up in the courts.  While there is certainly an effort nationally, statewide and locally to purge voter records, this particular fight over the SOE location is really not about that.  There is no reason that Gateway cannot hold early elections if the city allows the funding to do so.  Sorry to say that this is not about keeping voters from the polls, it is about Corrine Brown's will, as it is in most things Corrine. 

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=540284

James F. Bailey Jr.
Much of the media coverage after a 13-6 Council vote to move an election center from Gateway Shopping Center to One Imeson Center focused on accusations of racial disenfranchisement by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and some Council members.

The remarks that didn't receive as much attention are those of several Council members who had plenty to say about the unusual process that led to the decision after almost two years of wrangling, maneuvering and negotiating.

"This is the worst way possible one can invest to purchase real estate," said Council member Bill Bishop, who voted for the move to One Imeson.

Bishop echoed others who thought the decision should have been made through a Request for Proposal, the normal procurement process, and handled by Mayor Alvin Brown.

Instead, Council members became engaged in the debate back in June 2011.

That eventually meant months of loosely monitored competition between three developers that included submissions of new proposals almost right up to the Council vote.

Finally, it came down to a choice between Gateway's new owner, Terranova Corp., and One Imeson landlord, GIV Imeson LLC.

Council member Warren Jones, who favored the center staying at Gateway, called the process "convoluted" and said, "This is not the way we should be doing business in the City of Jacksonville."

Council member Robin Lumb voted for the move to One Imeson, but not before criticizing, "This whole entire process is completely improper."

In response to a question from Lumb, Terranova Chairman Stephen Bittel said he thought Council's action was outside the RFP process and might violate state purchasing laws.

Even Corrine Brown was critical of Alvin Brown, saying "he should have handled it. It's not the Council, it's the mayor's job."

She intimated a lawsuit might be in the making.

Chris Hand, Alvin Brown's chief of staff, said the process was "contaminated" when Council members became involved and legislation was filed.

Council member Reggie Brown said Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland, who wanted to move to One Imeson, "steered this process."

"I don't know if this looks like murky water to you guys, but it looks like it to me," Reggie Brown told his Council colleagues.

The real question: Why did Council have to insert itself into an issue that normally — and rightfully — is handled by the mayor's office?

Were Council members being meddlesome or were they filling a leadership vacuum?

The ball is now back in Alvin Brown's court.

He can sign the legislation, let it become law without his signature or can veto what the Council passed, which could be a big political risk.

This Council already has handed Brown three big defeats in its first two meetings of the new Council year. It killed his pension reform plan, voted for a tentative property tax increase in the new budget and moved the elections center from Gateway.

An override of his veto is predictable. It would take a 13-6 supermajority vote — the same vote that passed the legislation last week.

[duvaldude08]

Speaking as an Africian American, Corrine sickens me sometimes. This has nothing to with race or the "black vote". Gateway is a dump and they dont want to do nothing to the building. And the settle is just supposed settle for that? Imerson is still on the Northside, and we have the SOE downtown as well. Im sure they will not have an issue going to vote. She is such a wig wearing idioit sometimes 

[Cheshire Cat]

Duval, You are correct.  This is not about voter disenfranchisement.  The facts are this.  Folks can still vote at Gateway should there be early voting sites set up, it can certainly be one of those sites.  The City needs to reinstate funding again this budget for all early voting sites.  If voters can still vote at Gateway to say they are disenfranchised is a bunch of "hooey".  The reality is that no one who want's to vote can be disenfranchised in Duval because they can vote via the mail.  In fact almost any services one needs via the SOE can be done online, over the phone or by mail.  Transportation or lack of access to a structure does not stop someone from voting.  That's the reality.

What Corrine is doing has to do with Corrine's own agenda, which in part revolves around some assurances she made to those now owning the center that they could count on her keeping the SOE office in the Gateway, which translates to a sizable monthly rental fee paid by the City which is "sure" money.  She is so dadgum mad because she did not get her way and as such was unable to make good her promises to some business individuals.  Corrine is not however the only local politician to benefit from having influence at Gateway.  With the removal of the SOE and that fat monthly payment to Gateway, Corrine's influence there has been seriously impacted.

There is definitely an effort at the national, state and local levels by partisan politicians to "purge" voters.  Most of those actions are to my eye, highly questionable and need to be given a very serious look. Rick Scott for instance is up to no good and would love to lose some of the impact of the minority vote.  This situation however is not about purging voters or disenfranchisement.   It is rather Corrine using her long standing method of doing political business which is when things don't go her way, she cries racism.  It's like the little boy who cried wolf all the time in that old fairy tale.  After awhile, people just stop believing in the sincerity of the person making the claim.

[Cheshire Cat]

I will say this much about Corrine Brown.  She will pull out all of the stops and fight like crazy to get her way.  There was already a lawsuit filed by the Gateway people against the City/SOE because the city council voted to give the contract to the folks who own a building on Emerson.  While that case is currently being heard, Corrine Brown's good friend, Pastor Gundy has filed another suit along with a group of black voters claiming the move has disenfranchised the Black community.  The case is supposed to be heard this Thursday.  I don't expect this suit to go very far though as the SOE has already gone on record to say that Gateway will definitely be an early voting site.  I am going to go out on a limb here and say this will not make Denise Lee happy but in the end, I think the complaint will be thrown out.  If voting takes place at Gateway it is hard to claim disenfranchisement.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-10-02/story/black-voters-file-federal-suit-over-gateway-elections-move

[Cheshire Cat]

This just in.  Gateways request for an injunction to stop the SOE from relocating to Emerson has been "denied" by the sitting Judge.  I expect the Gundy complaint to meet the same fate.