In September 2019, Jacqueline (“Jack”) Porter filed to run for City Commission Seat 1. Incumbent Elaine Bryant is also running for the position, as well as William Moore and Jermaine Miller.
Porter graduated from Florida State University with a degree in philosophy and religious studies. Jack has a master degrees in Urban & Regional Planning and in Public Administration & Policy, both from FSU. Porter has also worked as a legal assistant, a graduate research assistant, and a Commissioner on the Tallahassee/Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. She is also a Gubernatorial Fellow with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Main focuses of her campaign include local economic development, growth management, and historical and environmental preservation.
Questions
What motivated you to run for local office?
‘I’m running because I’m not satisfied with the status quo of dysfunction and corruption in City Hall. Our city simply isn’t working for everyday people. It’s not working for our neighborhoods that feel we don’t have a say in how our city grows, it’s not working for residents sick of wasteful spending, and it’s not working for our most vulnerable neighbors who continue to see taxpayer resources squandered, with false promises that help is on the way. I’m running because I don’t think we need another Commissioner propped up by insiders, government vendors, and consultants —we need more Commissioners who are going to listen to the entire city and act in the best interest of all of us.”
What unique perspective would you bring to the position?
“I’ll bring the perspective of a political outsider, unbought and unbossed by ties to the power brokers and big-money donors that have corruptly influenced City Hall at the expense of the quality of life of our neighborhoods and residents.”
“I also bring significant experience in municipal governance, as well as expertise in regional and urban planning and public administration from my graduate studies. I have also gained practical knowledge of our local institutions as someone who has worked and served in City and County organizations and advisory boards for several years.”
“I want Tallahassee to be the best it can be because it is my home; it is where I want to build a family and a community where everyone can live, work, and flourish with dignity. There’s a lot of room for improvement but I’m confident that with fresh, independent leadership committed to change we can get where we want to be as a city.”
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Tallahassee?
“There are many specific challenges we face in terms of growth management, economic development, environmental preservation and the future of our public assets. But they all come down to the essential question of how we elect our City?s leadership.”
“Do we want a small group of political and economic elites running the show as they so often have in Tallahassee? Or do we want our leaders to have broad support from neighborhoods and people of all persuasions to work together and reform the longstanding problems we face? Do we want more of the same old network of insiders continuing to govern our City, or are we ready to make a bold change to enact real reforms? That?s the basic challenge we face in this election.”
What is your plan to address these challenges?
“Our campaign will be releasing policy proposals on a number of local issues but generally: I will address these challenges by leveraging my experience in local government, and by making certain that big donors and special interests don’t drown out the voices of Tallahassee residents and working people. “
“Let’s be clear—many of the challenges we face as a city are a result of compromised leadership and neglect and will continue unless we take decisive action to break away from the status quo that got us here in the first place. I plan to give the people of Tallahassee an honest choice. “
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Responsibilities of the City Commissioner position include setting City policies and setting tax rates. It has a four-year term length and annual salary of $39,588.00. The primary election date is August 18 and the general election date is November 3.
Website: www.jackfortallahassee.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JackForTallahassee/
Campaign contribution and expenditure information is available here.
Ahead of the 2020 local election season, Tallahassee Reports has asked all local candidates to answer basic questions about their candidacy. The answers to the questions are in the candidates own words.The goal is to get as much information out to voters as possible. More focused questions will be addressed as the election draws nearer.
City Commission Candidate Profile: Jacqueline (“Jack”) Porter added by Lexie Pitzen on
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I have no idea why the city thinks it’s okay to dabble in real estate speculation and take our tax money and use it to subsidize developers. Every cycle of development brings in more and more outside developers while shutting out Tallahassee citizens and business owners from the opportunities that we should be benefiting from.
Instead of helping citizens open businesses it seems like there is no issue so trivial that it won’t be used to derail a local’s permit application while the red carpet is rolled out for everyone else.
As others have said, fix the roads, cut the trees and leave the business of business to the people of this city.
Agree with getting another cable company into Tallahassee. Comcast has us by the b_lls. Try to get the Verizon cable down here in the Panhandle.
There is a company that is offering fiber to the home. They are doing the build out now and should be hooking people up by fall.
Metronet. Goodbye Comcast!
CONGRATULATION for winning Seat 1 in today‘s election. Now I am convinced, with you Tallahassee will have one Official who will listen to environmental request to the City Commission.
So far, no response was given to 1) a request to ensure residential areas, as well as the City on their property in those areas, are to “replace trees” when trees are removed. 2) new commercial as well as residential developments nowadays are cutting down all trees before starting construction. It can be done different as our community – Piney-Z – maintained a larger number of well matured trees, making this community tree attractive.
But, as mentioned under point 1, residents, as well as the City (have to cut down trees) but City neither enforced and surely does not control expected replacement of trees
Again, looking forward to see you, Jack, spreading the environmental message across City Hall and the City of Tallahassee, maintaining the status of ‘Tree City USA’ with ongoing efforts to keep Tallahassee green
Jack – look at ALL the EMPLOYEES making over $100 K per year; and how long they and their family members have been pilfering tax payers funds, look at their ‘adjusted’ salaries and especially their retirement fund – per person worth over 800k to millions – why is Scott Maddox and Andrew naked-in-Miami-with-a-he-hoe taking tax payer funds……we have lots to talk about if you want to listen……
Ms Porter
The Infrastructure in this town sucks. Largely because instead of fixing the streets, power lines, timing the traffic lights correctly, and making sure there are enough linemen for storm recovery, etc., the commissioners spend money on wasteful projects like Gaines street and , yes, Cascades Park. Did we really need to turn a heavily traveled downtown 4 lane road into a flower pot and bike trail? Did we need to spend millions on a park when we already have many parks throughout town and there are numerous other infrastructure problems that need to be addressed? I want commissioners who are more practical than politically correct. A lot of you are FSU grads; that worries me. FSU is an ultra liberal place and quite frankly does not act in the best interest of America or the those it graduates with respect to preparing them for dealing with the real problems of local, state and federal issues that we are faced with. Therefore I have a hard time supporting someone, especially younger candidates, who tend toward the left and claim no party affiliation. The reality of that is a cop out. Your either pro community, pro America and pro growth or you’re not. If not, then you’re a PC democrat. That’s race relations, anti capitalism, and anything goes (climate change, open borders and gun control). Starting at the local level, those like minded people tend to ignore the basic needs of a city, like infrastructure and law and order issues, and instead promote big projects like those I mentioned. I could care less if we never plant another tree or build another park. How about bringing in competition for utilities into this town, so monsters like Comcast and even the city electric dont run consumers into the ground. How about making sure the town is better prepared every summer for storm season (more tree cutting, linemen)so we dont have people in the dark for a week or so after a storm? How about timing the traffic lights PROPERLY so we dont get gridlock every weekday at 5? That’s what you should care about as a commissioner; not fluff. I would be very interested in hearing your side of that.
So I see a surprising amount of support for Jack here, given this is Tallahassee Reports. To the haters in this thread, tell me, who is a better option than Jack then?
I went looking for impartial criticisms of all Seat 1 candidates, sounds like the TR community hate Elaine Bryant, but… She’s like the only viable option other than Jack (William Moore doesn’t seem too bad, just too greenhorned). So for the haters, why should I vote for Bryant over Jack, given all the hate for Bryant on *her* article? https://tallahasseereports.com/2020/06/14/city-commission-candidate-profile-elaine-bryant/
This is certainly the question of the hour. If not Jacqueline, and not Elaine, and not the kid, then who? We’ve got to vote for one of those three awful choices. I’m tempted to say Elaine, because the devil you know is better than the one you don’t.
Jack Porter has been endorsed by Ruth’s List. The mission of Ruth’s List is to get progressive women into elected office. In other words, Jack is far left.
What is her party affiliation? It’s almost impossible to find!
You all need to do you research on this candidate and not take her at her word. If you are depending on what she has said then you are a sheep. Research is the key to picking a good candidate. She is another AOC, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib only she is starting out at the bottom. Does this city need another person like the four listed above. If so, then go ahead and put her in office and be the sheep headed down the path to destruction.
Watch “Jack’s” interview on “25 Tallahassee Women to Know.” Bernie Sanders is one of her political heroes.
This “Jack” Porter character appears to me to be rather hard left. Absent her answers to very specific questions, or providing proofs from her past, I recommend taking a pass–like a bypass: all the way around.
“Jack” does not show any actual work experience or where she works/has worked other then her graduate studies and serving on city and county boards although she may have some. I also see no family information.
You only regulate your own conduct down to the minimum required based on a penalty imposed by the government?
You didn’t answer my question. I expect more from a self-declared expert on the Founding Fathers.
Gee – a liberal talking about “regulating conduct”. This particular “brand” of conduct is not what is seen on MSM media daily. In fact, the liberal mob portrayed on TV looks extremely “unregulated” and asinine. I’m sure I have much company in that view.
You brought up James Madison, and conflated him with your purpose. Any “expert” information on Madison or any of the Founding Fathers is easily available to access, it requires small effort.
Ironic that a liberal would quote one of the Founding Fathers at all, since liberal thugs are tearing down all the statues of them. I imagine any Madison statue would be one of the radical thugs’ favorite targets. Doubt you will care about that.
Guestion for Mayor, if I wear a bow tie do I still have to wear a mask?
Oh the Fake- News-O-Crat is pushing a story on how Mayor Flintstone and his gang of Thugmissioners are getting ready to order everyone to wear masks all the time everywhere.
And the lines for the virus test at the Physicians First on Mahan just east of the Fake-News-O-Crat’s abandoned ghost office are getting longer and longer each day.
Probley a fake test anyway with pre-determined numbers of positives to somehow frighten the sheeple into voting for whoever they replace Sleepy Joe with.
Mayor Flintstone:
We
Will
NOT
Comply!
Agree 110% with you, Maven! Write me “mask refusal” tickets all day, and see how fast yhey go into the garbage!
So – I’m walking down a NE 319 steetside sidewalk without a (gasp!) mask – a city cop across the divided highway heading in the opposite direction sees me. He slams on his brakes, hits his blue lights, and does a screaming U-turn across the median through oncoming traffic to jump his cruiser onto the sidewalk in front of me. The cop jumps out with his ticket book drawn and orders me to “get on a mask NOW or get arrested!”
Seriously, does anyone think the cops will waste time with this silly, tantrum-like gesture by our idiot liberal local govt.?
Why not?
Will be interesting to watch them try. They can write me tickets all day long and watch me toss them in the trash. Cops busily writing citations on the sidewalks and in parks while bank robberies and drug shootings happen a block away will be interesting. And, if enough citizens ‘resist’ (hey liberals – remember the term?) like just a few thousand people every day, it will become a practical impossibility to enforce. What penalty will they enact – put us in cells so we can simply transfer C-19 around the entire jail in a day or two?
“That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principle.”
So you know better than Madison, Mike?
I am assuming you must be quite confident that your heroes were anarchists given how anxious to prove how defiant you are. Yet it doesn’t appear you have read much at all their true thoughts and relationships between different levels of government and the people.
Ann, I guess you’re trying to refer to James Madison; a gross and cherry-picked misinterpretation of one of the Founding Fathers is a false premise on it’s face. Madison was known as “The Father of the Constitution”, which obama declared represented “a set of negative liberties” to him, since it guaranteed certain rights and freedoms to Americans, severely limiting what obama could do. So Madison was carefully purposeful in limiting government powers. You can’t pick and parse your outrage at civil disobedience: from the MSM, “protesters” in the street now tearing down the statues of the Founding Fathers and American History are “freedom fighters”. Meanwhile, according to the MSM, everyday Americans marching in blue states and cities in peace so they can work their regular job or try to save their businesses are “speading C-19 and may be committing involuntary manslaughter” ( an actual CNN-idiot quote).
There’s no way you can possibly conflate “a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue” with forcing people to wear a mask in 90° temps out on the sidewalk or riding a bike – there is no medically or statistically compelling reason that’s necessary. The number of C-19 cases isn’t even an issue, the MSM is trying to create a narrative that every C-19 confirmed case equals a death, which is ridiculous. The MSM refuses to report hospitalizations or death numbers relative to the number of C-19 cases, because the numbers show that 99% of C-19 cases recover completely and go on with normal life.
Mike: When you get searched, make sure you’re not carrying any CPS!
* Concealed plastic straws!
Impressive; relevant; conviction in her words/message… and most importantly, “real”. I’ll certainly be giving her consideration, provided she remains consistent.
I’d like to see/read/hear more detail on her thoughts with respect to historical and environmental preservation. Steer clear of ambiguity on theses… given the current political and ideological climate, it’s going to be important to be precise in these particular areas. Don’t fear your convictions in these areas… state them clearly and back them up.
She is using the name “Jack” on her web site, I wonder if she will be using the name “Jack” on her Signs in hopes to get people to vote for her thinking she is a Guy……….it has happened before.
Jacqueline seems like just what Tallahassee needs.. a fresh, compassionate outlook, with true interest in the community’s well-being!
OT: Sounds like Nikki got into a tiff with her fiancé down south, and he threw a garbage can at her!
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article243672177.html
Maybe she wasn’t properly social distancing herself from him?
He threw garbage at Florida’s next great Democratic hope for occupying the Governor’s Mansion? Shocking!!!!
Repeating Myself: Her statements are infused with zero answers and are what other newcomers who run for political office before her have said. I want to know who her campaign contributors are and her ‘leanings’. I don’t want any more on the CC like some who were recently ‘newly’ elected.
So Far, So Good.
I want to see her ‘allegiance’ ties.
This is pretty much what a lot of candidates say…recently.
No discussion of policies, goals, manner of implementing them. Blanket statement that says nothing.
I agree with Franklin. It’s all words. Allegiance and ties will show the truth of how a person really feels.
Another Lightsey puppet. I don’t see any actual professional experience here. This entire town has an urban planning degree. Matlow, Jack, all these guys are out of their depth.
I see the Mayor’s office is out early this morning.
Lightsey has no power to puppet anyone bud. How about the half dozen local commissioners who are Chamber of Commerce puppets?
What Ms. Porter said.
Boom she got my vote!
I like what this candidate has to say. Very well spoken and a breath of fresh air,
knowledgeable, educated, has experience, and as far as I know not tied to special interests..
I believe we have a very strong candidate here and I look forward to hearing more from her