No Jacksonville city councilmember to face charges following Sunshine Law investigation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — No charges will be filed against Jacksonville city council members at the center of a year-long investigation into possible Sunshine Law violations.

According to findings from the State Attorney’s Office, there were 454 calls between Councilmember Garrett Dennis and Councilmember Anna Brosche in a near-yearlong period in 2017 and 2018.

Findings also show Councilman Dennis spoke with Councilmember Brosche’s assistant during more than 3,000 calls that same period.

That’s more often than Dennis phoned his own wife.

But prosecutors can’t prove what the conversations were about. That’s one of the main reason charges won’t be filed in the case.

“We’re friends, we’ve always been friends, so we talk about things other than city business,” said Dennis.

The investigation began when a staffer of Mayor Lenny Curry raised concerns that Dennis was trying to broker votes for John Crescimbeni to become Council President, rather than current President Aaron Bowman.

Dennis told us he never tried to broker voted for Crescimbeni, and called the investigation a “political hit-job” by the Mayor’s administration.

But Council President Aaron Bowman says Dennis was actively trying to broker votes. He acknowledges talking about it with other councilmembers.

“I had other councilmembers come to me and say the same thing,” Bowman said.

Councilmember Brosche declined to go on camera, but said the investigation was politically motivated.

Brosche is running for Jacksonville Mayor. Her campaign spokesperson sent us this statement:

"The timing of this is not coincidental. When rumors started circulating that Anna was going to run for mayor, members of Curry's inner circle filed this complaint without any evidence of any wrongdoing. A member of his team sat in on the interviews with council members in a blatant attempt at intimidation. The findings were then released coinciding with absentee ballots being sent to voters to stir up speculation of wrongdoing despite the fact that the investigation didn't result in charges being filed. Nelson isn't filing charges because there is no evidence that Anna violated  sunshine laws. This entire thing is just another taxpayer funded political stunt by the Curry administration.

It's important that political games aren't allowed to cloud the public's trust of their elected officials. Transparency is vital to our democracy. Anna has always maintained that she has abided by sunshine laws and fully cooperated with the state attorneys office. She appreciates State Attorney Nelson doing her due diligence on this investigation."

Other findings included calls between former councilmembers Katrina and Reggie Brown.

Cox Media Group