Now, in an Action News Jax Investigation, Ben Becker has obtained emails and text messages that show how a lobbying contract Wilson first negotiated was the beginning of the end of their relationship and raises questions about possible Sunshine Law violations. <\/p>\n
Wilson was JEA\u2019s chief of staff until his position was eliminated before a February board meeting<\/a> where Wilson made these accusations against Cavey:<\/p>\n \u201cDozens of my colleagues work in fear of retribution and hostility.\u201d <\/p>\n Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan defended Cavey in February<\/a>, calling the accusations a \u201cvile smear campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n But Action News Jax learned Wilson and Cavey\u2019s relationship took a turn for the worst when he awarded a controversial five-year, $750,000 contract to Ballard Partners. <\/p>\n \u2018Please award to Ballard Partners\u2019<\/p>\n The lobbying group counts former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry as a partner and his former chief of staff Jordan Elsbury as a managing partner. <\/p>\n When Wilson worked for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, then-Mayor Curry appointed Wilson to be chief.<\/p>\n Becker obtained emails and text messages that show Wilson, according to the utility and the Office of General Counsel, may have broken Florida\u2019s public meetings and open records laws by hiring the lobbying firm at first without Cavey\u2019s knowledge. <\/p>\n In a Dec. 17, 2024 email, before Ballard was chosen, Wilson was informed by JEA procurement that he could be the sole evaluator because the lobbying contract was supposed to be under $300,000 per year, yet it was suggested there be three evaluators. Wilson, however didn\u2019t heed that advice.<\/p>\n In a Dec. 17, 2024 email, before Ballard was chosen, Wilson was informed by JEA procurement that he could be the sole evaluator In a Dec. 17, 2024 email, before Ballard was chosen, Wilson was informed by JEA procurement that he could be the sole evaluator. <\/p>\n On Dec. 31, 2024, Wilson wrote: <\/p>\n \u201cGood morning \u2026 please award to Ballard partners.\u201d<\/p>\n On Dec. 31, 2024, Wilson wrote: \u201cGood morning \u2026 please award to Ballard partners.\u201d On Dec. 31, 2024, Wilson wrote: \u201cGood morning \u2026 please award to Ballard partners.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2018Do not execute\u2019<\/p>\n Ten days later, a one-year, $450,000 contract was executed, but then there was this text message exchange between Cavey and Wilson: <\/p>\n Cavey: \u201cWe may not award the lobbyist contract at all. I\u2019ve now gotten calls from Tallahassee,\u201d adding \u201cdo not execute.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson: \u201cFrom who?\u201d<\/p>\n Ten days later, a one-year, $450,000 contract was executed, but then there was this text message exchange between Cavey and Wilson: Ten days later, a one-year, $450,000 contract was executed, but then there was this text message exchange between Cavey and Wilson: <\/p>\n Cavey: \u201cI\u2019m not saying. But do not execute that agreement yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Cavey goes on to say: \u201cI don\u2019t think we need to spend money at this time for another lobbyist.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson would respond: \u201cI\u2019m sorry I\u2019ve put us in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Cavey goes on to say: \u201cI don\u2019t think we need to spend money at this time for another lobbyist.\u201d Cavey goes on to say: \u201cI don\u2019t think we need to spend money at this time for another lobbyist.\u201d <\/p>\n On Jan. 23, 2025, General Counsel wrote $450,000 \u201cdid not receive legal review\u201d because it was above the allowable amount for a year.<\/p>\n On Jan. 23, 2025, General Counsel wrote $450,000 \u201cdid not receive legal review\u201d because it was above the allowable amount for a year. On Jan. 23, 2025, General Counsel wrote $450,000 \u201cdid not receive legal review\u201d because it was above the allowable amount for a year. <\/p>\n On Jan. 27, 2025, a JEA email states that \u201cJEA made the decision to rescind the contract\u201d because the \u201cevaluation of the responses did not occur in the sunshine,\u201d a reference to Florida\u2019s Government in the Sunshine Laws.<\/p>\n On Jan. 27, 2025, a JEA email states that \u201cJEA made the decision to rescind the contract\u201d On Jan. 27, 2025, a JEA email states that \u201cJEA made the decision to rescind the contract\u201d <\/p>\n The contract was eventually rebid and awarded to Ballard, although sources tell Becker that Cavey still never wanted it, and then it was not renewed this past January.<\/p>\n Wilson, JEA and Mayor\u2019s Office statements<\/p>\n Wilson said his attorney advised him not to do an interview for this story, but sent the following statement: <\/p>\n \u201cA RFP for a new federal executive and local consulting engagement was advertised after the change in presidential administrations. <\/p>\n \u201cJEA Procurement and Office of General Counsel were engaged as required by policy. The award was given to Ballard primarily based on pricing. <\/p>\n \u201cThe delay in signing the contract was due to political pressure not to award due to the previous mayor working at the firm. Ultimately the contract was signed, and we had standing meetings with the DC office. The contract could have been canceled at any time, but was simply not renewed at the end of the first year. <\/p>\n \u201cIf OGC determined a single evaluator should not have been in Procurement policy, then I would be fully supportive of any change to cure the issue. That was not the case when the RFP was graded.\u201d<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n JEA issued the following statement:<\/p>\n \u201cThe solicitation for Duval County and Federal Executive Government Relations Consulting Services that was issued on December 9, 2024, was initiated solely by Kurt Wilson. The JEA government relations department, which includes lobbying efforts, was not assigned to Mr. Wilson at the time and he did not make anyone in that department, including the Chief of that department, know that he was securing these services.<\/p>\n \u201cOffice of General Council (OGC) was not initially engaged because the solicitation was an informal bid. Two proposals were submitted, and Kurt Wilson was the only evaluator and provided a higher score for Ballard Partners. He did not evaluate the proposals in a publicly noticed meeting. He asked Procurement to award the contract to Ballard on December 31, 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cProcurement questioned the process with OGC and OGC informed Mr. Wilson that the evaluation and subsequent award needed to be conducted in the Sunshine. Original award was rescinded, and a noticed public meeting was held for the reevaluation. Ballard\u2019s proposal was again scored higher than the other proposal by the sole evaluator, Kurt Wilson.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the time to cure the process there was pressure to execute the Ballard contract from Kurt Wilson and a former JEA board member.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the JEA government relations department, Ballard Partners was not used locally during the one-year term and the meetings with the DC office were cancelled very early on.\u201d<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n The Mayor\u2019s Office issued the following statement:<\/p>\n \u201cThe only communication we would have had with JEA on this topic is the fact that local employees of the selected firm have not been in communication with the administration about official city business since we took office. It was JEA\u2019s decision to make as an independent authority, and we were not a participant in that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JEA\u2019s former chief of staff is scheduled to testify Monday in front of the Jacksonville City Council\u2019s JEA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-199731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/cmg\/55S4G3AKFVFCDGPX3KC7PKVBTA.jpg\")
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