War of words heats up between Donna Deegan, Lenny Curry

Jacksonville’s current Mayor and her predecessor continue to lob grenades at each other.

During an interview on Wednesday’s “First Coast Connect,” Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan responded to recent attacks from Lenny Curry against her administration.

“Sometimes every accusation is a confession,” Deegan told WJCT radio listeners, regarding Curry saying his replacement has a “history of incompetence when it comes to doing things the right way.”

Deegan attacked Curry for working for Ballard Partners, whose services her administration terminated soon after she took office.

“We need to be mindful of the fact that he works for a lobbying firm that does a lot of business with the city, has held himself up as a partisan, all the way down the line. Has been throwing lobs at me from the moment that I got into office. But that said, look, I think that his record speaks for itself, and I think my record speaks for itself,” Deegan said.

Deegan also commented on the city’s exploration of privatizing JEA, the local utility, under Curry’s watch. That effort represented the nadir of the previous administration, with former CEO Aaron Zahn leading an effort to transfer windfall profits to executives if the power and water company had been sold off.

“All of the events around that JEA debacle, a dark period for our city, are very well documented. And I don’t think I probably need to regurgitate those, but I am certainly hopeful that we don’t have to relive another era of lack of transparency (like) we had during that period of time,” Deegan said.

Florida Politics reached out to Curry for a response to Deegan’s comments.

Deegan and Curry have squabbled over policy issues for more than two years now. Curry took a leading role in advocating for a 1/8 mill property tax cut that the current administration supported. Deegan modified pension reform Curry pushed through by creating a path for police and fire to enter the Florida Retirement System.

While some have suggested Curry may run for Mayor in 2027, at this writing, nothing resembles a campaign apparatus toward that end.