Committee to question mayor’s office about access to city hall granted to man with criminal history
City council members are raising concerns about access to city hall granted to a man with a criminal past and connections to the mayor’s political wing.
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The Council Finance Committee plans to question Stephen Dare and members of the administration over the issue on March 5.
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Stephen Dare has gone by a few names over the years.
There’s William Steven with a ‘V’ Griffin, a name under which he was found guilty of lewd and lascivious behavior in 1989.
There’s also William Stephen with a ‘PH’ Griffin, a name he went by when he was charged with aiding or sheltering a minor in 2000.
It’s not clear how that case was resolved, but court records show the case file was destroyed in 2014.
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Now, he’s better known as Stephen Dare, which is the name he used when Mayor Donna Deegan’s Political Action Committee paid him $8,000 for research and policy consulting in 2023.
It’s also the name he used when he was paid $4,000 for serving on the mayor’s transition team before he was hired onto Langton Consulting, the lobbying firm selected by the Deegan administration to represent the city using a no-bid contract.
“Now, he was a contract employee. So, some of the questions I have, is what is the process for a contract employee. Do they go through a background check?” said Council President Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large).
Salem told Action News Jax he was disturbed to find out Dare had been granted a cubicle and badge access to city hall, despite his criminal history.
“If there had been an incident of some sort, we would be accountable for that,” said Salem.
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We asked Mayor Deegan Friday to clarify Dare’s access to the administration and to respond to concerns raised by council members, but she declined to comment.
“I’m really not going to do that, no. I’ve said I’m going to say about that for the moment,” said Deegan.
Her office followed up with an emailed statement.
“It’s unfortunate the same forces that trade in punishment politics are once again engaging in a bad faith attempt to gin up non-existent controversies to distract from the substantial accomplishments of this administration,” said Deegan. “This seems to be an attempt to needlessly drag someone’s name through the mud with decades old issues that have long been in the public domain. Perhaps the people who peddle this poison should remove the plank from their own eye before looking for the speck in their brother’s.”
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But Councilmember Nick Howland (R-Group 3 At-Large) argued aside from the criminal record, he’s particularly concerned about the fact Dare found himself employed by the firm handpicked by the administration to lobby for the city.
“We’re learning that the mayor’s administration is using that Langton contract to pay a campaign consultant with a complex past to do work for the administration,” said Howland.
Council members hope to pose those questions to the administration and Dare himself during March 5th meeting.
Salem told Action News Jax the administration plans to attend.
There’s no word on whether Dare will show up.
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Action News Jax attempted to contact him for this story, but has not heard back.
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