Committee investigating LeAnna Cumber receives emails from Daniel Davis campaign consultant

A consultant who once worked alongside City Council member LeAnna Cumber's husband and is now communications director for Daniel Davis' mayoral campaign contends that emails and text messages in 2019 show LeAnna Cumber took actions as a council member to benefit a bidder her husband was advising during the JEA sales attempt.

The Jimerson Birr law firm, representing Erin Isaac and her company, Isaac Communications, sent the emails and text messages on Monday to the council's Special Investigatory Committee on JEA Matters, which is examining whether Cumber "misled or deceived" the committee by submitting a disclosure statement in 2021 that made no mention of her husband, Husein's, involvement with a firm that sought to privately manage JEA.

An attorney for LeAnna Cumber, who is also running for mayor, responded with a letter Wednesday to the Special Investigatory Committee that said the emails and text messages sent by Isaac show the investigation is a choreographed charade that is "more about politics than the truth."

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"There was no explanation provided as why these communications, the vast majority of which are from 2019, were being conveniently disclosed weeks before an election by the Daniel Davis campaign's communications director working against my client," attorney Daniel Bean wrote.

The Special Investigatory Committee discussed the emails and text messages during its meeting Thursday morning and decided the next step will be for the city's Office of General Counsel to write a draft report by March 6 on what the committee has found. The committee then would vote on forwarding that report to an investigatory agency such as the Florida Commission on Ethics, the Jacksonville Ethics Commission, or the city Inspector General's office.

City Council member Nick Howland, who is vice chairman of the investigatory committee, said the documents received this week show more than three dozen texts and emails to or from Husein Cumber related to a firm that made a proposal to JEA and a half dozen meetings with that team at his San Marco office.

Howland said the emails show Husein Cumber was involved in arranging meetings, developing the team's messaging, leading the sign-off on the choice of JEA Public Power Partners for the consortium's name, and was assigned a group of influential community leaders to contact.

"It's clear that Husein Cumber was heavily involved in this process," Howland said. "That seems indisputable."

Howland was joined by fellow committee members Sam Newby and Michael Boylan in voting to have a draft report by March 6. Newby said LeAnna Cumber should have disclosed her husband's activities because he did have involvement in the JEA sales process.

Boylan was an early advocate for moving any investigation to another agency. He said it troubles him that "we are being used as instruments in the political process, and that concerns me greatly."

Jimerson Birr's submittal said Isaac provided the emails and text messages because they are relevant to the committee's investigation.

"Our city has continued hope that through this investigation we can identify the root causes of corruption and cover-up in Jacksonville, and work together to find solutions that will benefit all residents of our city," attorney Charles Jimerson wrote to the investigative committee.

Investigation unfolds against backdrop of mayor's race

Davis, who is president of JAX Chamber, and Cumber are among seven candidates vying to be mayor in the March 21 general election. Isaac Communications has been paid nearly $40,000 since June by Building a Better Economy, the political committee supporting Davis in the mayor's race.

In 2019, Isaac was a consultant for Bernhard Capital Partners when it assembled a team that pulled together a consortium called JEA Public Power Partners. In that role, she was part of emails and text messages that also involved Husein Cumber as a participant in that effort.

Bean wrote in his letter that Husein Cumber received no pay for his work.

A chronology of events put together by the law firm contends Husein Cumber worked on the "outside" in pushing for the JEA Public Power Partners proposal while LeAnna Cumber operated on the "inside" by taking positions as a council member aimed at helping the consortium's strategy.

As an example of the outside-inside dynamic, the Jimerson Birr submittal points to a Dec. 12, 2019, text message sent by Husein Cumber to Isaac on the same day Mayor Lenny Curry instructed the JEA board to accelerate its process and send City Council several "top tier proposals" in January 2020 rather than recommending a single choice.

"We are where we want to be," Husein Cumber wrote in the text message to Isaac.

The following day, LeAnna Cumber posted a notice inviting other City Council members to join her for a Dec. 17 public meeting to set up a framework for fully vetting various privatization options and "if necessary, complete any and all potential negotiations."

The submittal by the law firm representing Isaac contends LeAnna Cumber was "actively requesting the right to control" the process at the same time her husband viewed the conditions were right for JEA Public Power Partners in its competition with other bidders.

Cumber appeared to be "attempting to insert herself and City Council into the JEA ITN (invitation to negotiate) process for the purpose of choosing the winning bid," a chronology submitted by the law firm says.

The meeting did not happen, however. Cumber canceled it and revised the notice to say if the meeting had happened, she would have discussed her "concerns and thoughts about the dramatic change in the council's role in the JEA process" and a "potential framework" for examining different options.

Bean wrote in his letter to the investigatory committee that Isaac's assertion about the meeting is "false on its face in that this is a meeting that never happened. But please do not let the facts get in the way of a good story."

The JEA board killed the sales process by rejecting all bids on Dec. 24, a day after Curry called for it to end.

In contrast to firms that sought to buy JEA outright, the JEA Public Power Partners consortium offered to pay a large concession fee for the right to make money by managing the utility while it remained city-owned.

The emails show Husein Cumber was involved starting in August 2019 as firms in the utility industry worked on responses to JEA issuing an invitation for proposals on Aug. 2, 2019.

The first email in the documents submitted to the City Council investigative committee is dated Aug. 15, 2019, from Patrick Hallahan, a partner with Bernhard Capital Partners, to Isaac. Hallahan described himself as a friend of Husein Cumber and asked Isaac to meet with him at at Husein Cumber's office in San Marco.

Other emails and text messages show Husein Cumber was part of email chains for the "Project Panther" team that put together the JEA Public Power Partners proposal to JEA. The emails show he was on the list of invitees to various meetings including some at his office.

While "Project Panther" and other prospective bidders were working on their proposals, the JEA board asked City Council to agree that if the city decided to privatize JEA, the city of Jacksonville would become responsible for enhanced pension benefits for JEA employees, and the city also would make good on the unfunded pension obligations on the books for JEA workers and retirees.

City Council voted 16-3 on Sept. 24, 2019 for that legislation with LeAnna Cumber among those in support. The legislation was not about whether to do a sale, but it was aimed at providing assurance to JEA workers in the event privatization eventually happened by earmarking $132 million of sales proceeds for enhanced pension benefits.

The change also would have relieved a private buyer of JEA from being on the hook for pension costs. In the case of the JEA Public Power Partners, it gave flexibility for its negotiating strategy since JEA would remain city-owned in its proposal.

The chronology submitted by Jimerson Birr on behalf of Isaac says LeAnna Cumber "played an important role in advocating for that legislation" during a council Finance Committee meeting.

Bean wrote that the assertions by Isaac about the pension vote are "incorrect and easily refutable" based on comments Cumber made at the time council considered the legislation.

"Council Member Cumber has always been − and will always be − in full support of protecting JEA union employees," Bean wrote.

Assertions of connections between Cumber and her husband

The law firm also asserts a connection between Husein Cumber and LeAnna Cumber on another City Council vote later the following month in October 2019.

After JEA announced nine proposals, including the one from JEA Public Power Partners, would continue with further negotiations, City Council members voted 15-3 to set aside $1.85 million for hiring special legislative counsel to help City Council carry out its role in the sales process. Cumber was one of the three "no" votes.

Prior to that City Council vote on Oct. 22, 2019, Husein Cumber contacted Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics, and pitched an idea for a story about the legislation, according to emails and text messages between Husein Cumber and Isaac. In the information Cumber sent to Schorsch, he included that City Council member Randy DeFoor, who had emerged as a critic of the JEA process, was "not eligible to practice law in Florida," according to the Florida Bar at that time.

Florida Politics published a story headlined: "Randy DeFoor calls for outside counsel in JEA deal, but a question surfaces about her eligibility to practice law."

The Jimerson Birr summary says Husein Cumber was acting on behalf of Project Panther to "tarnish DeFoor's reputation" because she was aggressively asking questions about the JEA process and bidders. The emails and texts do not show any people besides Husein Cumber and Isaac were communicating about the Florida Politics article.

LeAnna Cumber said at the time of the City Council vote that she thought council would need to bring on board legal and financial experts at some point, but she objected to setting aside $1.85 million without first deciding on the scope of legal work and number of hours needed to do it.

"I think we kind of put the cart before the horse," she said during an Oct. 28, 2019 appearance on This Week in Jacksonville.

DeFoor, who endorsed Cumber for mayor, said she learned back in 2019 that Husein Cumber had provided information to Schorsch about her standing with the Florida Bar. DeFoor said the issue with the Florida Bar was a minor matter that she quickly resolved.

DeFoor said she forgave Husein Cumber and reconciled with LeAnna Cumber.

DeFoor served on the Special Investigatory Committee when it asked all City Council members to voluntarily disclose any interactions between them or their immediate family with consultants, lobbyists and firms involved in the JEA sales process.

DeFoor, who is no longer on the investigatory committee, said that while Cumber should have listed her husband's interactions in her disclosure, the current investigation is about scoring political points rather than fact-finding. "This is all about a smear campaign," DeFoor said.

The Special Investigatory Committee created an email for members of the public to send in any documents they think are relevant to the current investigation. Jimerson Birr sent 85 pages of documents to that email.

The committee also asked Cumber to amend her March 2021 disclosure statement by listing all the interactions, such as meetings, her husband had with entities involved in the JEA sales process.

Bean repeated in his letter Wednesday that Cumber will not "update her accurate voluntary disclosure" or attend the Special Investigatory Committee meeting scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday at City Hall.

He contends the Special Investigatory Committee and the Daniel Davis campaign are one and the same.

Bean sent the committee a flier for a Daniel Davis campaign event that listed City Council member Rory Diamond, who is chairman of the investigatory committee, as an event host. Bean also sent a political flier paid for by Building a Better Economy that attacks Cumber by highlighting the committee's investigation of her.

LeAnna Cumber has said that when she filled out her disclosure form, she knew her husband had been assisting the FBI in an investigation of the JEA sales process. Husein Cumber later testified as a witness to a federal grand jury that handed down indictments against fired utility CEO Aaron Zahn and former JEA chief financial officer Ryan Wannemacher.

The council's Special Investigatory Committee decided Thursday to ask the FBI whether it ever told LeAnna Cumber to leave information off the disclosure. Howland said after the meeting that if the FBI did give that instruction, that could be a justification for the omission, but he said he think it's "highly unlikely the FBI would direct someone to submit a deceiving or misleading disclosure."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Emails intensify Jacksonville mayor race as City Council investigates