Tallahassee Reports has learned that taxpayers are footing the bill for City Commission Jack Porter’s activities with a national progressive group called Local Progress. The group provides information designed to help local elected officials advocate for a host of policies from the progressive prospective.
The polices include topics identified with neutral labels like home rule, housing, public safety and economic justice. However, the group promotes positions that include cuts in law enforcement budgets, guaranteed basic income, critical race theory and sanctuary city policies.
The Progressive Governance Academy
The group states that “Despite large investments to get progressive candidates elected to office, very few resources exist to support elected officials once they begin to govern.”
To address this problem, the group funds a project with Local Progress called the Progressive Governance Academy.
The Progressive Governance Academy “exists to ensure that state and local elected officials that align with us have the resources, assets, tools, and skills that are needed to become powerful and effective leaders.” ( emphasis added)
Porter Quiet on Affiliation
A review of City of Tallahassee records indicate that taxpayers have funded expenses associated with Porter’s affiliation with the group. These expenses appear to include attendance to the 2023 Local Progress annual conference in St. Louis. Missouri. TR has requested detailed expense records – some are listed below – and will have an update to our report when the information is provided.
Expense information from City of Tallahassee online Checkbook
For her part, Commissioner Porter has been quiet about her association with the group despite the fact that she is listed as an organizing member in Florida.
TR could find no mentions by Porter about Local Progress on her social media accounts, website, or in her commissioner biographical information.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
DEVELOPING: City Taxpayers Fund Commissioner Jack Porter’s Activities with National Progressive Group added by Staff on
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Mr Ed
When you are confronted with questions regarding fiscal irresponsibility and immorality you resort to name calling and gas lighting because you can’t defend it.
Throwing out the term schizophrenia when you have no medical credentials or authority to do so shows you are unable to give civil responses and have to resort to desperate measures.
We used to watch Commissioner Scott Maddox do the same thing to a citizen at a public meeting who had served his country and look what happened to Mr. Maddox. It came back to bite him with a prison sentence and a felony conviction.
I would be very careful at the terms you use and retaliation tactics because you are too afraid to face the truth. God knows the truth.
Name one benefit the citizens of Tallahassee and Leon County have reaped by elected officials attending the Chamber of Commerce events on the taxpayers dime.
I have been asking this question for years and so far no one has been able to answer the question because it reaps no benefits for the taxpayers. To defend it is laughable.
So when confronted with civil questions about fiscal (ir)responsibility and morality, please respond in a civil manner. God is watching.
Hope your day is as pleasant as you are.
Sorry Hope, I didn’t mean to damage your delicate sensibilities. I was just pointing our your peculiar obsession with trashing the CoC at every turn. Oh, and your clear and present hypocrisy when demanding the local RNC get busy, while supporting the progressively-Marxist Democrats on the Commission.
Happy Valentines Day!
Jon,
May I point out your ignorance?
So? As “reporters” did Tallahassee Reports find out if each commissioner has an allocated travel budget? And if so what city policies govern its use? Did this in anyway violate city policy?
Don’t you think that important before you start to blast out the commie, marxis call?
Nick. If both are wrong, then no reason we cant focus on THIS story and no need to distract from it by changing the subject.
TR,
Edward Lyles comment is inappropriate, a personal attack, and mean spirited. It is outside the realm of a civil discussion and I am requesting that it be removed.
I have no hatred hatred, but I do stand up to things that I believe are wrong and in this free society people have a right to speak out without being attacked and called names.
Again, I am requesting that you remove Mr. Lyle’s comment.
Weed seems to have a high-level OCD of hatred for the CoC. From expressing her love for the progressively-Marxist Democrats to proclamations of her conservative/Republican values… she might consider changing her pseudonym to Sybil.
“Roses are red, violets are blue… I’m a schizophrenic, and so am I”
xxx’s & ooo’s
That is just plain wrong, anything not commission related should be on her own dime.
She should have to repay the city immediately.
Jon,
Both are wrong. I believe the Porter incident was a one-time event and the Chamber events have gone on for 30 years costing taxpayers, hundreds of thousands of dollars with no benefit to the taxpayers.
It is really a PR event disguised by the chamber and elected officials that goes unchecked and should be reigned in.
It hurts businesses. It hurts our economy. It hurts the taxpayers. It is election interference and the chamber uses the taxpayer paid reservations to falsely pump up their numbers as support by businesses. So many levels of deceit.
Citizens should not allow their taxpayer dollars to be spent in such a ridiculous manner.
This should have never been approved for elected officials to be allowed to attend this junket on the taxpayers dime. Totally a misuse of funds.
You do the math.
If the Chamber related spending is wrong, then Porters spending is wrong also, yes? Or are both right?
Edward Lyle,
Agree that there is a substantial difference as the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce is an organized crime venue accommodating our elected officials’ junkets at taxpayers expense. The FBI has formally done reconnaissance at one or more of these junkets that resulted in arrests, charges, and prosecutions of elected officials who attend and misuse taxpayer dollars to do so. Thank you for the clarification.
You may need to back off the FlavorAid there, Phildel. We’ve enough leftist ideology polluting out political arena, without Jacqueline Porter bring another Left leaning group into the fray. It’s thick enough already.
Hit the road, Jack
And don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Pay it back Jack, and don’t you come back no more………
For what it’s worth, there’s a substantial distinction between a local Chamber of Commerce organization and events designed to support a community’s economic development and growth – and a national progressive group who’s goal is the complete antithesis of that. Progressives seek to stifle a community’s growth, dismantle its structure of law and order, destroy the concept of a cohesive family, foment hate and anarchy, create division, and poison our culture.
I wonder what the destructive progressive duo on the Commission would say if taxpayers were footing the bills for local elected officials to attend classes, courses, and junkets designed to teach and advance conservative and Christian values.
Pay it back, Jack!
The Amelia Island nonsense is just that, a lot of nonsense. But you can loosely say that Tallahassee/Leon County business is discussed/conducted there.
However, this is a completely partisan endeavor. It doesn’t deliver a dime’s worth of anything to the city, or to the commissioner in her official duties.
Pay it back, Jack!
Aw come on, it was only a few hundred dollars. Give her a break. By the way, she’s cute.
What were the amounts of Ms Porter’s expenses and what are the amounts of the expenses that elected officials pay to attend the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce junkets?
Taxpayer dollars should not be used to pay for either event.
Being that no person in leadership will step up to stop this nonsense. Perhaps the governor or the FBI needs to step in, investigate, and put a stop to using tax dollars to attend either event.
Also, investigate the CSC funneling $100,000 to the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce in the last election cycle.
“very few resources exist to support elected officials once they begin to govern.” ……………… Her “SUPPORT” , once elected, for her to Govern, is her PAYCHECK and her JOB as a Commissioner. And WHY are WE paying for HER to be part of Non-City Organizations? She needs to pay that back.
I don’t think the Commissars should be able to have taxpayers pay for their ChambeCONfabs OR this Progressive junket.
But as long as nobody in charge will speak out FOR the taxpayers, it will continue as sure as our tax increases will.
Shame on all of them.
This is Identical to when Andrew Gillum was being paid by People for The American Way to push their far left causes, while he was in office.
Another misleading and gratuitous attack on one of our two city commissioners who actually care about the people and the community more than the wealthy developers steering city policy through the other three hacks on the commission. And thank you Mr. Weed for pointing out the blatant hypocrisy of this hit piece.
I am interested in factual discussion on this topic. Let’s start with this -There has been a lot written about the Chamber event and a lot of criticism especially from the progressives members of the city commission on the value of the event. There has been nothing written about Local Progress. Now given the facts in this report – without attacking the messenger – are there any similar concerns with Porter’s affiliation and the city’s expenditures with this progressive group as with the Chamber? Any concerns that Porter has not made any statements about her affiliation with a group that clearly attempts to impact local policy?
Thank You, Steve Stewart
Need new commenters
Defending those junkets is irresponsible and to cherry pick one group and call them out when their political opponents buy advertising at this publication and they’re not exposed is also irresponsible. Please don’t try again as your initial attempt was laughable.
We are reporting and informing. Did you know about Porter’s membership in Local Progress? Did you know what Local Progress does? Did you know taxpayers funds supported Porter’s affiliation with an ideological driven group? Hey, Tallahassee voters may support this, but it needs to be disclosed, right?
Thank You, Steve Stewart
@Nicholas Weed At least those “junkets” are related to Tallahassee and do not require an ideology purity test for attendance. The two are not even comparable. Try again. SMH
This is horrendous! These progressives need to foot their own bills. How dare they use tax payer’s dollars to fund their biased agendas.
Where is the article on taxpayers funding the Amelia Island and Sandestin junkets?