JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax is continuing to press for answers about former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry\u2019s newly registered role as a lobbyist for JEA – a move renewing scrutiny and receiving criticism of his administration\u2019s part in the failed effort to privatize the city-owned utility nearly a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Curry filed as a lobbyist with the City of Jacksonville on November 12, just over two years after leaving office<\/a> – the minimum cooling-off period required before former elected officials can lobby the government. The filing lists JEA as one of Curry\u2019s 28 clients, which include the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Downtown Vision, Inc., VyStar Credit Union, Edward Waters University, and the Fraternal Order of Police.<\/p>\n But the former Mayor tells Action News Jax Ben Becker the listing is simply \u201cclerical,\u201d saying JEA is ultimately a client of Ballard Partners, the powerhouse lobbying firm where he now serves as a partner.<\/p>\n When contacted by Becker, the utility stated plainly that Curry is not one of its lobbyists despite his disclosure form saying otherwise. JEA confirmed only three Ballard Partners lobbyists represent the utility: Brian Ballard, Jordan Elsbury, and Daniel McFaul. Elsbury, Curry\u2019s former chief of staff and now Ballard\u2019s managing partner, shares many of the same clients.<\/p>\n Curry declined to elaborate beyond calling the JEA listing \u201cclerical.\u201d<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Is the Mayor\u2019s office involved?\u2019<\/p>\n Curry\u2019s return to City Hall comes as questions still linger about his administration\u2019s role in the attempted sale of JEA. A special Jacksonville City Council investigative committee released a report in 2021<\/a> after more than a year of interviews, document reviews, and timeline reconstruction.<\/p>\n The report found that Curry\u2019s administration began exploring a potential sale of JEA as early as 2017 and appointed then-CEO Aaron Zahn in part to advance the privatization effort. Zahn was eventually convicted of charges of conspiracy and wire fraud in 2024. At the time of his indictment, Becker asked Zahn as he was leaving the courthouse \u2018Is the Mayor\u2019s office involved?\u2019, which led to both Zahn and his wife to look at each other and smile grimly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mayor apparently hoped that he could advance a JEA sale effort to a point that a purchaser would offer billions of dollars to the City,\u201d the report states, suggesting Curry believed the combination of a high sale price and a proposed $400 million customer rebate would build political and public support.<\/p>\n Curry was never charged with any crimes.<\/p>\n \u2018Unthinkable\u2019<\/p>\n Former City Councilmember Randy DeFoor, who served on the committee that investigated Curry\u2019s role in the JEA scandal, released a statement to Becker that highlighted any role Curry may have tied with JEA is unacceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that Lenny Curry represents the JEA is unthinkable,\u201d said DeFoor. \u201cAs you might recall, Lenny was found to be the orchestrator of the sale of the JEA in the special investigation based on emails to the removal of board members, among other evidence. This violates the trust of the people and, in my opinion, constitutes a breach of contract by the current lobbyist firm by hiring someone who is in direct conflict with the best interest of the client.\u201d <\/p>\n Becker reached out to Ballard Partners for comment, and he\u2019s waiting to hear back.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/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":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax is continuing to press for answers about former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,3282,3281,3280,3283],"class_list":{"0":"post-62577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-lakana","12":"tag-lakanamigration","13":"tag-wjax-wokv-partner","14":"tag-wokvshare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62577","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=62577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}