JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tucker Carlson, A Drag Queen Christmas, Shrek the Musical, and Kat Williams: Those are just a few of the shows for which 812 free tickets were doled out to the Mayor’s Office and City Council over the past two years.
As the two branches duke it out over fairness in ticket disbursement to events at city-run venues, Action News Jax Investigates found that city council members personally requested 287 tickets.
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Meanwhile, despite Council President Kevin Carrico proposing an amendment to a ticket reform bill that would block elected officials from personally using free ticket perks, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan didn’t use a single ticket.
University of North Florida political science professor Dr. Michael Binder argued the numbers speak for themselves.
“I think there’s some irony in them, right? Council members are all worked up about these free tickets, and they’re the ones that are actually taking advantage of the privilege,” Binder said.
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When you add in the council’s 19 aides and the mayor’s 26 staff members, the council is still responsible for nearly 70 percent of all ticket requests.
With the addition of staff requests, the council’s number balloons to 557 tickets, while staffers in the mayor’s office requested 255 tickets.
Action News Jax asked Carrico whether he stood by the naming of his so-called “DEEGAN Amendment” in light of the numbers.
“I think the amendment stands for itself on what we’re trying to do here. And I like the fact that we’re getting all these numbers so we can actually explain where the tickets go,” Carrico said.
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We also asked Carrico about the fact that he had requested 22 tickets over the past two years, while the ticket reform bill sponsor had requested 6, compared to the mayor’s zero.
“The majority of the tickets you’ll see under my name all went to community members, first responders, teachers, educators,” said Carrico. ”I went to a few shows, but I think it’s time to eliminate that all.”
And it is true, the numbers do not show whether a council member, their aide, or mayor’s staffer attended an event personally or requested tickets to give to constituents.
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The numbers also don’t show who received or used the 24 tickets distributed for each Jacksonville Jaguars home game in the city suite.
Deegan did tell us she’s used to those tickets to host people, but would be fine if the council decides to do away with them, as she already owns season tickets.
“My security team might not like it too much for me to be in those seats, but we’ll figure that piece out,” Deegan said on Wednesday. ”The bottom line is, we want to make sure that the community who should be getting those tickets should get them.”
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