Published on November 1, 2023 at 8:00 pm
The election of Mayor Donna Deegan was heralded as a sea change to business as usual in Jacksonville. Given the exuberance of her supporters in May and the following months, you’d think they took down Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.
However, we’ve seen time and time again how the adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same” should be this new administration’s motto. The mayor, who complained about Jacksonville’s “season of really high hyperpartisanship,” launched a divisive political battle with the City Council over two controversial and political appointees.
Deegan’s complaints regarding the previous administration’s lack of transparency at City Hall are the Spiderman pointing meme come to life. Recently, it took her three weeks to release the total cost to the taxpayer for the mayor’s – fairly lavish – London trip. If Curry or his team blocked a public record request for weeks, how would we have reacted? Additionally, the administration still needs to answer whether the city spent money for accommodations for family members of the mayor’s staff who accompanied them on the trip.
However, the starkest example of her administration’s “business as usual” mentality is the controversy swirling around her sole-source contract to the politically connected firm Langton Consulting.
Some background information: On August 28th, based on “exhaustive market research” online through various Google searches, Deegan’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Brittany Norris requested the City’s Procurement Division ignore the standard “request for proposal” (RFP) process and award Langton a $300,000 contract ($25,000 monthly) for lobbying and grant writing.
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No oversight. No public meeting. No competitive bid. Deegan gave her friends a backroom deal, plain and simple.
We’ve come a long way from saying it’s time to “throw open the blinds and let the sunshine in,” no?
According to the city of Jacksonville Ordinance Code 126.206, sole-source contracting is only legal if the vendor is the “only one justifiable source available to provide necessary goods and services to the City.”
Really? Are we expected to believe that Langton is the only company on planet Earth that provides lobbying and grant-writing services? Team Deegan should have Googled this a few more times. The Deegan administration claims that Langton was the only firm that can offer grant writing and research under a single contract.
A more likely reason for the no-bid contract is Langton’s political connections.
Langton Consulting, one of several grant-writing companies in Northeast Florida, is led by Michael Langton, a former Democratic member of the state Legislature. The firm’s former Senior Vice President Lisa King, who left Langton in Sept 2022, is a longtime Democratic activist and former chair of the Duval County Democrats. As reported by David Bauerlein in The Florida Times-Union, Langton Consulting contributed to Mayor Deegan’s political committee and hosted a fundraiser for her back in January.
Phillip Perry, chief of communications for the city, claimed the selection of Langton was A-OK: “Mayor Deegan has said repeatedly that she is not transactional.”
Well, I’m glad they cleared that up for us!
None of this passes the smell test. The city also said due to grant deadlines approaching, there was “critical work” that needed to be done quickly. That doesn’t pass the smell test either.
Imagine if Curry’s team tried this line with the public.
If former Mayor Curry hired a lobbying group with [insert name of advisor or donor] on a no-bid contract, we would see numerous opinion pieces about how “It’s easier here.” The Avondale cocktail circuit would clutch their pearls in disgust, and there would be a litany of statements from Council members and activists saying it’s time to “run the rascals out of City Hall.”
However, it appears that the rascals are indeed currently running City Hall. Donors and the politically connected come first, and the public is shut out. It does not matter how many times the administration fervently claims that Langton’s contract is not “transactional,” the perception is there.
In politics, once there is a perception of cronyism, it is difficult to remove it. Further, it becomes a reality for the voters. If I were advising Deegan, I’d cut Langton loose, respond to the media in a more timely fashion (not just the ones she likes), and consider starting a more dramatic reshuffle of her team. And I’d do these things quickly – before the perception of cronyism becomes an unfortunate reality for her voters.
Just look at what happened in Mayor Curry’s second term. Once the JEA sale debacle unfolded, the perception about its dealings unfairly stymied his ability to carry out a lot of second-term agenda items.
Deegan once talked about how Jacksonville is “renowned around the country for its level of corruption,” but it appears her recent dealings will only bolster its reputation.
Corrected: This column was corrected on 11/2/23 to reflect that Lisa King left Langton last fall and is not still employed by the consulting firm.
