TV campaign begins in mayor's race

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With the first election for mayor of Jacksonville just over two months away, two of the four candidates are now running TV commercials.

Republican challenger Lenny Curry has been advertising for more than a month, but Mayor Alvin Brown, a Democrat, just started running television spots.

In his first commercial, Brown says he kept his promise to not raising taxes. But one of his opponents and Republicans on Jacksonville's City Council take exception to that claim.

While it's true Brown did not propose raising taxes in his first term, his opponents claim that by submitting a budget that lawmakers couldn't balance with current revenues, the council was forced to raise taxes.

"Democrats are running a blatantly dishonest commercial trying to hide the facts," said a statement said Brian Hughes, spokesman for Lenny Curry's campaign. "If Florida Democrats have any sense of propriety they should pull this commercial off the air."

Curry's TV commercials have focused on his family and business background. But one spot in which Curry's father says, "He is not a politician, Lenny is a businessman," drew a sharp response from the Brown campaign.

Since Curry was chairman of the Duval County and Florida Republican Party before he ran for mayor, Brown's camp claims he was clearly a partisan politician. But Curry's staff says he's never been elected, so he can't be called a politician.

News4Jax political analyst Jennifer Carroll said ads the candidates are running now are tame compared to what we are likely to see as the March 24 first city election nears.

"You are going to have these independent groups coming in, particularly against the mayor, and other sources that say, 'You have not done enough,'" Carroll said.

Neither Brown nor Curry granted an interview Wednesday. The two other candidates for mayor, Republican Bill Bishop and independent Omega Allen did not want to comment.


About the Author:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.