In his freshman term, Councilman Johnson has been one of just a few Council members unafraid to take principled stands. He stood up to the scheme which enabled good old boy Jim “Big Stuff” Reeves to weasel his way onto the CMPA. He stood up against BP, pressing for a surety bond to cover any damages at their operations at Bayou Chico.

In a City Council that has for decades been filled with hacks, shills, scoundrels, cheats, and good old boys, Councilman Johnson is a welcome presence.

You can check out Councilman Johnson’s blog at http://pensacolad4.blogspot.com.

Mr. Nobles left office in January 2009 after serving on Council for fifteen years.

Confused about why a former Council member or his wife would be displaying such stickers eighteen months after he left Council, Progressive Pensacola spoked with City Manager Al Coby. Mr. Coby told us that the City issues the “official business” stickers only to new City Council members — no other City employees or dignitaries — and that when a Council member leaves office, “removal of the sticker is left to the individual.”

Is there some perk somewhere that the Nobles family enjoys by use of this sticker? Is Mr. Nobles planning a comeback in the near future? Perhaps he’s reconsidered his 2008 statement, given upon withdrawing from a potential runoff with challenger Diane Mack:

I sense, though, that [my] views are probably inconsistent with a majority of our new City Council in terms of the pace and direction of change. I see no real purpose for my community or myself in my continuing participation.

City Councilman Larry B. Johnson has asked City Attorney Rusty Wells to send Mr. Nobles a letter advising him to remove any “official business” sticker(s).

Video:

Transcript:

Matthews: Larry Johnson’s a councilman down in Pensacola, sir, thank you very much. What is your reaction on hearing the president say that he’s got a $20 billion commitment up front in an escrow account for BP to pay those hurt by this spill?

Johnson: Chris, I think that’s a step in the right direction. What I’m hearing in Pensacola and from people in the legal field is that $20 billion might not be enough.

Matthews: Yeah. Well, let me ask you about who thinks they’re in on this deal and this pie and who doesn’t? If you’re a guy or a woman who runs a small snack bar on the beach and the tourist season flags, and you just don’t have the customers or the sales you would have had in a regular season like this, will they … do they believe that they’re at the till here? … that they have a shot at some of this money?

Johnson: Well, I believe they think they have a shot at it, but i’ll tell you, BP has not been real straightforward in their claims. I’m hearing stories still, to this day, 58 days into this spill, that people aren’t getting paid.

Matthews: Well, what do you think the President … the President basically said today that he’s going to judge BP’s performance basically, by basically… it sounded to me like the noise level coming around here. If you people down there along the Gulf aren’t satisfied, the President is not going to be. That sounded like politically that’s what he was saying today.

Johnson: I hope so, because we’re not satisfied now. You know, Chris, one point I’d like to make is that there’s 2,000 skimming boats in the world. We’ve got 32 out in the Gulf of Mexico right now. 95% of every skimming boat in the world needs to be in the Gulf of Mexico and we need to be dealing with this spill out in the Gulf of Mexico, not in our waterways, inland waterways.

Matthews: You know, I keep bringing that up having talked to an expert, John Hofmeister, head of Shell, and I keep getting … I talked last night to Carol Browner who knows the environment issues, she said it’s being looked at … I keep getting pushback on this. What are they saying to you when you say there’s a lot of boats in the world? They’ve got them over in Holland and different parts of Europe, we’ve got private enterprise shipping that can come in here and help. What’s the White House folks saying to you when you push them on this need for more skimming?

Johnson: Well, I’ll tell you, I really didn’t get anything from President Obama yesterday. That’s one thing I wish he would address. I would hope that President Obama was on the phone four, five weeks ago asking for skimming boats, asking for everyone all over the world to get in here and get in the Gulf of Mexico and help us.

Matthews: Let me ask you about this weird thing. The President last night was very optimistic, and tell me if you’ve heard anything that backs this up. He said the next days and weeks, sounding like pretty soon, like within the month, we’re going to have 90% of what we’re looking at right now on this split screen shut off. Are you hearing anything that optimistic?

Johnson: I’m not hearing anything that optimistic.

Matthews: …that they are going to cap this spill?

Johnson: No, I’m not hearing anything that optimistic, and I’m wondering where President Obama is getting his numbers from. If they’re from BP, I don’t trust them. I hope he has somebody independent telling him this. 90% … and I’ll tell you, weeks, that’s unacceptable. We need this to happen in days. This oil spill must stop in days. 90%, I hope that he’s right.

Matthews: Okay. Let’s take a look at the record of BP to make your point, sir. The oil spill estimates coming from BP range from 1,000 barrels per day initially … Look, we have a chart here. You can watch it on the rerun tonight, actually better watch it now because we’ve got the special tonight at 7:00 on the “Rise of the Right.” Take a look. What we’re showing here is only 1,000 barrels a day was the initial BP estimate coming out of them, out of that company, and now it’s up to a high of 60,000 barrels a day just yesterday. This by the way is a reality. They’re saying this about the same reality, they’re getting it off by maybe 59,000 barrels a day. What do you make of why they’re so off, or on now or off now?

Johnson: Well, I’ll tell you what, what I’ve heard, numbers, that they’ll be fined $4400 per barrel of oil leaked into our Gulf of Mexico. So that could be into the billions, so I think it’s to their advantage to keep the numbers low. What’s the number going to be next week? Is it going to be 100 gallons? Who knows! So, let’s sit around and watch, I guess, but we’ve got to stop that leak now.

Matthews: Okay, you’ve explained a lot to me, sir. Thank you, Larry Johnson, down in Pensacola. We’ll have you on again.

Larry B. Johnson

Pensacola City Councilman Larry B. Johnson spoke with Miami’s CBS 4 this past Sunday. Mayoral candidate Ashton Hayward makes a cameo appearance.

Councilman Johnson also spoke with FOX News on Monday:

Ashton Hayward

Pensacola mayoral candidate Ashton Hayward also spoke with MSNBC’s Morning Joe today:

Clay Ford

State Rep. Clay Ford (R-Gulf Breeze) appeared on the CBS Evening News earlier tonight:

If anyone knows of any others, post them in the comments.

WEAR reported last night that Ms. Castro “has been relieved of her duties as BP’s spokesperson for the Pensacola area.”

Check back for more video throughout the day. We’ll start with Councilman Sam Hall:

Now Councilwoman Diane Mack, who calls BP’s presentation “insulting”:

Councilwoman Maren DeWeese asks Ms. Castro a basic question but (you guessed it) doesn’t get an answer:

And finally, Councilman Larry B. Johnson tells Ms. Castro and BP to take their operation somewhere else:

Ashton Hayward profile. The Pensacola News Journal profiles mayoral candidate Ashton Hayward. For Mr. Hayward’s campaign announcement and Progressive Pensacola‘s photos of his filing yesterday, see “Hayward files for mayor.”

Johnson conciliatory on Maritime Park. Pensacola City Councilman Larry B. Johnson, who recently led an unsuccessful attempt to remove CMPA board member Jim Reeves, strikes a conciliatory tone, saying that he hopes that, “moving forward, all involved can come together to work toward a successful Maritime Park project.”

Gaetz wins primary. Matt Gaetz has won the Republican primary in the special election to fill the Florida House District 4 seat vacated by Ray Sansom. The district is heavily Republican, so Mr. Gaetz will not have any problems defeating Democrat Jan Fernald on April 13. See also the Northwest Florida Daily News‘ coverage.

PPD K-9s place well in trials. Pensacola City Councilwoman Maren DeWeese details the Pensacola Police Department K-9 team’s great performance in USPCA regional field trials last week.

With his back against the wall and apparently stripped of reasonable arguments, Jim Reeves has resorted to making things up about the City Council members who oppose his recent controversial appointment to the Community Maritime Park Board of Trustees.

In an article in today’s News Journal, Jamie Page quotes Mr. Reeves as saying that Councilman Larry B. Johnson opposes his appointment because — get this — he won’t let Mr. Johnson into his invitation-only Irish Politicians Club:

Reeves also claims Johnson wanted to become a member of the Irish Politicians Club, of which Reeves is chairman. The membership of the private club — which meets in a special room at McGuire’s Irish Pub in downtown Pensacola — is somewhat of a who’s who of Pensacola power brokers.

But Reeves said new members must be accepted by all five members of the club’s board of trustees.

“Larry holds me responsible,” Reeves said. “But some people on that board did not accept him. But I have no animosity against Larry Johnson.”

Seriously?

We have a hard time imagining Councilman Johnson, whose City-issued laptop sports peace and recycling symbols, hanging out at the IPC, laughing it up with the good old boys and developer community with whom he’s repeatedly clashed during his time on Council. We imagine that Mr. Johnson was trying hard to stop laughing as he flatly denied Mr. Reeves’ claim:

“I have no desire, nor have I ever had any desire, to be in the Irish Politicians Club. And I have never approached him or anyone about getting into the IPC.”

Mr. Reeves also alleged that Councilwoman Diane Mack’s sole reason for opposing his nomination was due to his support for her opponent in the 2008 election. Does he have an excuse for Councilwoman DeWeese’s opposition also? Apparently in Jim Reeves’ self-involved world, people sit around pouting about that time that he spurned them, just waiting for the right time to get back at him.

Councilman Johnson has discussed the issue of Mr. Reeves’ appointment on his blog; in it, he sums up the symbolism of Monday’s expected vote:

I am sure this issue will come up at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. I believe that a vote on this appointment will be a vote on who has influence at City Hall — is it the citizens and taxpayers of this community, or is it a select group of well-connected individuals who have long exercised too much clout?

In an email to Councilman Johnson, Mr. Wells offered an explanation:

The event actually begins last weekend, when I was standing in the street where I live, talking to 2 of my neighbors. Mike Wiggins used to live in the house next door to me before he moved and I bought my house, and as a result most of my neighbors know him well, like him, and some use his lawn service (I do not and never have been a customer of his). Mike drove up and spoke with the 3 of us. He asked if someone would canvass the 20 or so houses in our subdivision to see who would be willing to sign ballot petitions for him. He handed me from the window of his car about 30 or so forms, and I handed most of them to my neighbors who had informed Mike that they would be happy to help him. I kept about 5 because I knew someone else who had previously expressed an interest in assisting him in obtaining signatures. Later that day, I gave them to the person who had asked me for them.

On Wednesday, March 17, I began my day at 10 by meeting with a member of Council out of the office until approximately 11:30. I drove to the City Hall parking lot and saw Rob Larkin, one of our labor lawyers from Tallahassee, who had been meeting with Mary Ann Stalcup about our two most recent Unfair Labor Practice complaints. I got into Rob’s car and we went to lunch, an extended meeting that brought me back to City Hall at almost 2 pm. So, I first came into the building on Wednesday at that time.

Tracy Newton in the Clerk’s office informed me that you had been looking for me earlier, and that you had been down to the City Manager’s office (Al was not in but was in transit to Washington DC with Mr. Wiggins at that time).

No one was in the City Attoney’s Office area and I went into my office. I found your note stuck to 4-5 Wiggins campaign petitions lying face up in my chair, and at first thought that you had left them there … After a moment of confusion, I figured out what had happened. I contacted the person who left the petitions in my chair over the lunch hour and later that day returned them to that person, instructing them to get them to Mike Wiggins on their own. At that time, I was informed that the cards had been left face down on my chair over the lunch hour.

Mr. Wells denies that he had any role in collecting the petitions, and dismissed any suggestion that he may be favouring Mr. Wiggins in the mayoral race:

…I will not campaign or contribute to anyone in this upcoming race. I wish all candidates good luck. I have signed petition cards for Diane Mack, Mike Wiggins, and John Fogg. I have offered to assist any candidate in any appropriate way that I can, and each of the current candidates knows that (I have not yet met the fourth candidate but will make the same offer when I do). That is the extent of my political activity.

According to Mr. Page’s report, Councilman Johnson questioned the legality of what he saw. There is no law in Florida that specifically prohibits municipal employees from handling or gathering ballot petitions for a candidate for office, whether in a government-owned building or not. Section 104.31(2), F.S. does provide that “an employee of the state or any political subdivision may not participate in any political campaign for an elective office while on duty.”

Mr. Wells does concede that the appearance is improper and he has notified the person he says left the petitions in his office that it is inappropriate to do so.

The presentation painted the Port of Pensacola as a “boutique” or “specialty” port, which rather than being “all things to all people” intends to concentrate on serving niche markets like energy and offshore operations.

The presentation also included concepts for converting the northeast corner of the Port property to “mixed use” development. The concepts included retail, office space, warehouse space, potential hotel development, and possibly a dock for dinner cruises or other uses.

Council members seemed generally receptive to the idea. Councilman Larry B. Johnson expressed concern with funding for the plans, to which Mr. Cohen replied bluntly, “We’re going to ask you guys for the money.” Mr. Cohen believes a redeveloped Port can tie in well with the planned updates to the CRA Plan.

Councilwoman Diane Mack, who proposed putting the Port up for sale earlier this year, said that she would be willing to move forward on the new vision provided a commitment would be made to end storage of loose bulk materials at the Port, such as wood chips, aggregate rock, and cement.

Longtime Port opponent C. C. Elebash sent out the following email to various citizens and members of the media after yesterday’s meetings:

The City Council Enterprise Committee port discussion this afternoon was a perfect example of why we need an elected executive mayor.

Council endorsed a “pie in the sky” port proposal from City Staff without seeking independent expert advice or inviting dissenting views. City Staff has an ambitious port agenda with few details and no money.

Council acted in the face of a disturbingly poor year for the port — only 10 ships and record low tonnage.

Today’s session illustrates the existing City Hall “culture.” A strong Staff dominates a weak and cumbersome Council.

We’ll have a copy of the Port presentation up shortly.

Councilman Johnson said he made his announcement today “to let the citizens of District 4 know that they can count on me to keep working for them.”

It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Pensacola on the City Council for the past year, and I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot. We’ve implemented citywide recycling, expanded the Roger Scott tennis complex, and have worked to make our neighborhoods more family-friendly,” said Johnson. “But there’s a lot more that we need to do,” Johnson continued. “I want to keep working to develop our waterfront, create incentives for businesses to locate or expand here, and encourage sustainable growth and green building practices where possible.

District 4 includes Cordova Park, East Pensacola Heights, and portions of East Hill.

Instead, Council members agreed on an informal “gentleman’s agreement” to keep communications devices “out of sight” during meetings. That’s fair. There’s nothing in Florida Sunshine laws, or any other statute, that requires elected officials to leave their cellphones at home. Nor should there be. If you were a Council member with young children, for instance, would you want to cut their lifeline to you for the six or more hours some Council meetings have taken? There are legitimate reasons, such as children or elderly parents, that a Council member might need to have his or her cellphone on hand, albeit out of sight.

So we don’t understand the tone of the Pensacola News Journal‘s Sunday editorial condemning the decision. The editorial seemed to insinuate that the lack of a formal policy left unclear what Council members can and cannot do, which isn’t the case. Perhaps the News Journal is unfamiliar with Florida Sunshine laws. Council members cannot:

• Speak to, email, text-message, instant message, hand-signal, or in any other way communicate with one another about pending business, or any business which could conceivably come before the Council
• Use a third party, whether it is a person, or an outlet such as a blog, to communicate with another Council member about pending business

The County Commission adopted its policy in an abundance of caution, and in our opinion, they took it too far. The County’s policy widens the gap between County Commissioners and their constituents by banning valuable communications tools such as blogging and other social media.

We commend the City Council for rejecting a restrictive policy. This City Council has made tremendous strides in both citizen access to information and Council members’ communication with constituents. A year ago we had a Council full of people who didn’t return emails or phone calls, who could care less what people thought. Now we have a Council with several members who maintain blogs or websites as tools to push information out to constituents and foster debate. If there are any grey areas, or questions about what is acceptable, that’s why we have a City Attorney.

Furthermore, despite the News Journal‘s distortions, we feel it’s important to note that Councilman Larry B. Johnson at no point indicated any problem with the gentleman’s agreement. He said simply that he would leave his phone turned on, and set to vibrate, which is perfectly acceptable under the agreement.

We’re not sure of the News Journal‘s motives. We aren’t sure why they decided to skew the facts and paint City Council members as self-important, fussy, and immature. Maybe they didn’t watch the same meeting we did. Maybe they heard about it second-hand. Or maybe they’re just trying to generate some newspaper sales. We know how much they need them — but this yellow journalism stinks.

Links

• Pensacola News Journal: “Editorial: Rules are for sissies”

Airport coverage. The Sunday News Journal has two stories concerning the City-owned Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. The first deals with the push to bring Southwest Airlines to Pensacola; the second is a profile of the airport and its expansion efforts under the leadership of interim director Melinda Crawford. Those who want to help out with the efforts to bring Southwest to Pensacola can check out the Chamber of Commerce’s web site or join the cause on Facebook.

City board openings. Pensacola City Councilman Larry B. Johnson informs constituents that there are openings on several City boards. The details and application forms are on his blog.

Sam Hall’s blog. Councilman Sam Hall explains why he doesn’t post on his blog as often as he once did.

History lesson. PNJ columnist Mark O’Brien gives us a free history lesson about downtown Pensacola’s water and flooding issues.