Oh, so NOW Councilmember Webb Wants to Prevent "Abuse" of Power?

Jack Webb is co-sponsoring a bill to prevent 'abuse' at City Hall. Seriously? Come on, Jack - pull the other one! We know how you really feel!

The set up:

Have you ever met a City of Jacksonville employee with the title "Assistant Management Improvement Officer"? No? That's surprising. There's 200 of them running around Jacksonville right now. What qualifies a person to be an 'AMIO', you ask? Well, most appear to be middle management types, such as risk management experts or budget analysts, although there's (apparently) at least one veterinarian among them, but I'll bet the number one qualifications is "pals with the Mayor or his campaign manager!"

These AMIOs salaries all get paid by the taxpayers, I'm sure you'll be happy to know. Due to some weird wording in the laws of the City of Jacksonville, when the Mayor appoints & hires a person to the city payroll, if they don't fit into a specific civil service category, they get labeled as an 'AMIO' where there's no real job description and some pretty loose rules about pay scales. Sounds kind of fishy, doesn't it? Well, yeah - because it IS!

The Florida Times-Union points out that this is a pretty obvious example of 'cronyism and waste'. This is exactly the sort thing I created the blog to speak out against - it's a prime example of the politicians finding ways to help out their pals and hook them up with cushy jobs while the rest of us wonder why we pay taxes but there's not a lot of progress to point to...

Now, for a small bit of good news, Councilmember Glorious Johnson - who has a heck of a smile AND the best name of any city politician, anywhere, ever - has started work on a bill to deal with this problem. Good for her! I'm 100% in support! Maybe we can finally see an example of an ethical politician who's working in the voters' best interest?

But now, here's the punchline...

That paragon of virtue and champion of ethical behavior, City Council VP Jack Webb has decided to chime in on the topic. He's co-sponsoring Ms. Johnson's bill...get this...because "without organization, there is potential for abuse." Well, he'd know all about that, wouldn't he? This is the guy who spent months shilling for Republic Services while pretending to be working for the best interest of the city's voters & taxpayers. This is the guy who took legal work from Republic Services while he was sitting on the committee that would determine who got to bid on a contract...that Republic wanted! Who is this guy kidding?

I'm all for Councilmember Johnson's push to make City politics a little cleaner. I wish her, and her bill, all the luck in the world. I really hope it passes, because this city could use a push in the right direction.

But Jack Webb is part of the problem. As long as he's running loose in the City Council chamber, he and his pals at Republic - and just about everyone else in town - know that our Councilmember's votes are for sale.

Please SIGN THE PETITION and let's send a message to City Hall that we won't tolerate unethical behavior!