Mayor Gillum Attempts to Silence Dr. Erwin Jackson

Mayor Gillum Attempts to Silence Dr. Erwin Jackson

During the same week gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum approved of a controversial campaign advertisement attacking fellow democrat Gwen Graham, Mayor Andrew Gillum asked the City of Tallahassee Attorney Casandra Jackson if the city could keep a citizen from showing a 30 second video critical of a fellow elected official. 

When the video began playing during an open microphone period of the May 9th city commission meeting, Gillum continued to interrupt the presentation and the video was stopped.

Dr. Erwin Jackson finished his interrupted three minute presentation with only comments.

“Do we have any obligation to show this?” asked Gillum.

The city attorney said yes.

Ultimately Gillum achieved his goal by not letting the video play. But he may have exposed the City of Tallahassee to a  lawsuit.

The 30 second video, produced by Jackson, could be characterized as political satire aimed at City Commissioner Scott Maddox who has been targeted by the FBI in a pay for play scheme.

Jackson, who has been a thorn in the side of the city commission for years, has had various successes challenging the actions of city officials.

For example, he challenged the city’s support of a bio-mass plant and played a major role in the ultimate demise of the project that also raised ethical questions about city commission votes.

Jackson also exposed the private use of a city credit card by former Mayor John Marks.

But lately Jackson has become more embolden as the accidental leak of an FBI search warrant has verified many of Jackson’s allegations about Maddox and the city commission.

Until recently, the allegations have been routinely dismissed by city insiders as wild conspiracies.

But that has changed.

First, there was a lawsuit over Maddox’s residency. Jackson lost in court, but the FBI leak indicates Jackson’s claims had merit.

And second, he has repeatedly questioned Maddox’s behavior as a city commissioner and the current investigation has provided support for Jackson’s allegations.

It appears now, as Jackson continues to remind the city commissioners of his allegations and the current status of the FBI investigation, his 3-minute presentations are hard for elected officials to handle.

However, as newly appointed city attorney Cassandra Jackson told the elected officials, Jackson is well within his rights.

The only question now is if Jackson will file a lawsuit against Mayor Gillum for interfering with his rights to address elected officials.

11 Responses to "Mayor Gillum Attempts to Silence Dr. Erwin Jackson"

  1. It’s amazing how the ethnic commission and FBI would investigate MrGillum for gifts trip to baseball game,broadway show, and a boat ride.but refused to bring charges against Marion county FL Commission for missing fund’s of 567.000 dollars.titlle 37 was did 30 days past with out a response certified letters to the attorney general governor,and ethnic commission offices.no response.the organization billed Marion co FL Commission for the amount no response we will be going back in front of the county Commission on the third Tuesday in February in Marion county FL.

  2. I have a dream,————– that voters in Leon County woke up one election year , and and de-franchised city/county officials by voting in a Republican slate of officers to run our government (now this will never happen due to the liberalrb snowflakes/moonbeams that reside here ),but one can always hope and pray for the impossible to take place !! AMEN

  3. Andrew Gillum’s image is that of a stupid crook in the manure pile of Tallahassee’s history of government:
    Flailing around with futility against the realization of what he has become and who he can never be.

    Dr. Jackson, keep on truckin’! You are terrific!

  4. Interesting, the current attorney was handpicked by this panel, at least majority. At least this attorney has a brain and will not succumb to these idiots. Law is law. Good for her. We should all pay more attention to our governments, top to bottom. Try to attend a meeting every now and again. May be habit forming, at least good entertainment.

  5. As a Leon County resident (not city) I am interested as the push for “consolidation” or “city bailout”. We all need to fight city hall as there is no stopping the corruption by other means.

  6. My hope is that Dandy Andy has really stepped in it and opened the city to a lawsuit, which comes at a particularly fortuitous time for his governor campaign. Let’s hope that all of gillum’s remarks and behavior in this incident are on video. (By the way, destroying the video would be a criminal offense in any lawsuit trial.) I imagine that Gwen and the other liberal candidates would have a great time making commercials with this incident, not to mention Putnam or DeSantis in the main campaign. Opening lines of a sample commercial “How does mr. gillum deal with average voting citizens and challenging situations – watch and see for yourself.”

  7. OK this is a somewhat off topic observation but Gillums nerd eye glasses new look has not gone un-noticed by Snidely.
    Most likely he was advised to start wearing the big frames to appear smarter than his political record can otherwise support.
    See how Gillum just mishandled Erwin’s right to play that video? And in the process exposed the City to expensive litigation?
    Hey Mayor Andy the smarty pants nerd glasses are not helping!!!

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