Alvin Brown to run for Congress

[tufsu1]

It appears you have chosen not to comment on the third elected official I asked about.

[Tacachale]

It appears you have chosen not to comment on the third elected official I asked about.

Because it's an irrelevant non-sequitur. Fant being a clown has nothing to do with the Democrats almost always fielding bad candidates (or no one). Other than the fact that Democrats' failure to compete makes the Republicans complacent enough to run people like Fant, and win.

[Snaketoz]

It appears you have chosen not to comment on the third elected official I asked about.

Because it's an irrelevant non-sequitur. Fant being a clown has nothing to do with the Democrats almost always fielding bad candidates (or no one). Other than the fact that Democrats' failure to compete makes the Republicans complacent enough to run people like Fant, and win.

The main reason that the Dem's can't compete of late is mostly due to the voter's we have, and the futility of running against ignorance in No. Fla.  I'm not anti-No. Fla.  I'm a 5th generation No. Floridian.  As I have aged I have finally noticed how the rest of Florida has passed us by.  It's not reasonable for a progressive, intelligent person to run for any office here.  The only things that matter to local voters is, "will this candidate raise my taxes?" Our city can crumble into the sea, just don't make us pay.  The Republican mayors we have had have squandered and raised taxes far more than Brown ever thought of, but he's a Dem.  The Republicans don't raise taxes, they just call it something else.  It's not a tax increase it's "Better Jacksonville".  Curry ran against Brown's record on crime.  Since he's been in office, crime is up. Doesn't matter though, he won't raise taxes. I think the candidates from both sides are pitiful, but the Dems don't have the propaganda game that the Repubs have.  Look at the states that are politically like Jacksonville and you can see why we are what we are.  We are the Mississippi of Florida.  Until we start electing people to represent us like the rest of Florida, we will stay more like the gerrymandered rural district 5 that we allowed these clowns to give us.  The Repubs will continue to run No. Florida until the voters finally tire of voting against their own interests.

[Tacachale]

It appears you have chosen not to comment on the third elected official I asked about.

Because it's an irrelevant non-sequitur. Fant being a clown has nothing to do with the Democrats almost always fielding bad candidates (or no one). Other than the fact that Democrats' failure to compete makes the Republicans complacent enough to run people like Fant, and win.

The main reason that the Dem's can't compete of late is mostly due to the voter's we have, and the futility of running against ignorance in No. Fla.  I'm not anti-No. Fla.  I'm a 5th generation No. Floridian.  As I have aged I have finally noticed how the rest of Florida has passed us by.  It's not reasonable for a progressive, intelligent person to run for any office here.  The only things that matter to local voters is, "will this candidate raise my taxes?" Our city can crumble into the sea, just don't make us pay.  The Republican mayors we have had have squandered and raised taxes far more than Brown ever thought of, but he's a Dem.  The Republicans don't raise taxes, they just call it something else.  It's not a tax increase it's "Better Jacksonville".  Curry ran against Brown's record on crime.  Since he's been in office, crime is up. Doesn't matter though, he won't raise taxes. I think the candidates from both sides are pitiful, but the Dems don't have the propaganda game that the Repubs have.  Look at the states that are politically like Jacksonville and you can see why we are what we are.  We are the Mississippi of Florida.  Until we start electing people to represent us like the rest of Florida, we will stay more like the gerrymandered rural district 5 that we allowed these clowns to give us.  The Repubs will continue to run No. Florida until the voters finally tire of voting against their own interests.

I think that rather than Democrats' ideas being simply too brilliant for the ignorant simps in the constituency, the issue is that the party doesn't have any ideas that fly outside Democratic districts.

Look at the Human Rights Ordinance. This is a Democratic platform issue that was also supported by a majority of the county, it should have been a decisive win for the local party. But the Democratic Party (the party, not necessarily the voters) took a back seat to Republican council members, the LGBT advocates and the business community. Only one council Dem (Hazouri) co-sponsored the bill. That was a sad showing, but at least it was better than 2012 when Mayor Brown torpedoed the bill with backstage shenanigans.

Clinton came within 6000 votes of Trump in Duval County. There is *no reason* the Democrats shouldn't be more competitive than they are in the countywide races.

[carpnter]

I preferred Brown to our current mayor.  Do you remember Curry constantly talking about crime while running for mayor?  He was going to solve the crime problem that Brown had overlooked.  How is that working out?  I think Brown would make a competent Congressman, and hopefully counter the reps we have now.  Rutherford is nothing more than a Trump rubberstamp.

Brown was out and out incompetent as a mayor.

If you look back at our history you'll see that's a job requirement.  Some are just more incompetent that others.  Both parties are pitiful.

No, not all our mayors have been incompetent. And virtually all had at least some accomplishments. Brown was a special case in that he didn't. There's nothing on his record that indicates he's fit for a federal office.

Local Democrats don't like to acknowledge this, but they have certainly been the weaker party, with much weaker candidates, for over two decades now. There's a reason one of our congressional seats is held by a guy from another city.

You are evidently a Republican.  Gerrymandering has a tendency to make finding a viable candidate more difficult.

Gerrymandering doesn't affect the countywide races. The bigger issue is that the party is dysfunctional and doesn't/can't consistently recruit good candidates.

What?!  He's running for Congress!  The district in question is a narrow strip across north Florida through many counties.  I believe from far western Duval to Gadsden.

Yes, and it's actually less gerrymandered now than it has been since the early 90s. But I was talking about the mayor's office. There's no excuse for the democrats fielding such poor candidates in county races. They may not even run anyone at all next year, for Mayor, Sheriff, the at large council seat they're losing to Crescimbeni's term limits, etc.

The district isn't too badly Gerrymandered except for the section where it jumps across the river into Arlington and the Southside to pick up certain neighborhoods.

[Kiva]

I am a Democrat and voted for Alvin Brown, but was very disappointed in him. He really did not accomplish much. Instead of political affiliation to me the important thing is did you improve Jacksonville? With Alvin Brown I would say not much.

[Snaketoz]

It appears you have chosen not to comment on the third elected official I asked about.

Because it's an irrelevant non-sequitur. Fant being a clown has nothing to do with the Democrats almost always fielding bad candidates (or no one). Other than the fact that Democrats' failure to compete makes the Republicans complacent enough to run people like Fant, and win.

The main reason that the Dem's can't compete of late is mostly due to the voter's we have, and the futility of running against ignorance in No. Fla.  I'm not anti-No. Fla.  I'm a 5th generation No. Floridian.  As I have aged I have finally noticed how the rest of Florida has passed us by.  It's not reasonable for a progressive, intelligent person to run for any office here.  The only things that matter to local voters is, "will this candidate raise my taxes?" Our city can crumble into the sea, just don't make us pay.  The Republican mayors we have had have squandered and raised taxes far more than Brown ever thought of, but he's a Dem.  The Republicans don't raise taxes, they just call it something else.  It's not a tax increase it's "Better Jacksonville".  Curry ran against Brown's record on crime.  Since he's been in office, crime is up. Doesn't matter though, he won't raise taxes. I think the candidates from both sides are pitiful, but the Dems don't have the propaganda game that the Repubs have.  Look at the states that are politically like Jacksonville and you can see why we are what we are.  We are the Mississippi of Florida.  Until we start electing people to represent us like the rest of Florida, we will stay more like the gerrymandered rural district 5 that we allowed these clowns to give us.  The Repubs will continue to run No. Florida until the voters finally tire of voting against their own interests.

I think that rather than Democrats' ideas being simply too brilliant for the ignorant simps in the constituency, the issue is that the party doesn't have any ideas that fly outside Democratic districts.

Look at the Human Rights Ordinance. This is a Democratic platform issue that was also supported by a majority of the county, it should have been a decisive win for the local party. But the Democratic Party (the party, not necessarily the voters) took a back seat to Republican council members, the LGBT advocates and the business community. Only one council Dem (Hazouri) co-sponsored the bill. That was a sad showing, but at least it was better than 2012 when Mayor Brown torpedoed the bill with backstage shenanigans.

Clinton came within 6000 votes of Trump in Duval County. There is *no reason* the Democrats shouldn't be more competitive than they are in the countywide races.

I don't remember saying the Democrats ideas are too brilliant, I'm saying the people of our area are not interested in anything progressive.  We want low taxes and things done "like we've always done it."  I don't think Alvin Brown was great, but he did keep his promises of not raising taxes, and was a centrist.  I think Tommy Hazouri was near great.  His mistake was telling the truth too often.  He removed the tolls, helped air quality, and was trustworthy.  Too bad he told the citizens of Jacksonville there is no garbage fairy, and that they would have to pay to have their garbage picked-up and disposed of properly.  That sounded too much like raising taxes, and away he went.  The proper way to do that is to secretly raise 'revenue', without EVER mentioning you must pay for it.  I won't bash any one past mayor, but compared to Brown, we've had some doozies.  Better Jacksonville comes to mind.