Jacksonville City Council president gets request to investigate mayoral candidate Cumber

City Council member Nick Howland wants City Council to investigate the involvement of council member LeAnna Cumber's husband in the attempted sale of JEA and also look into the "omission of this information" in a disclosure statement she gave City Council.

City Council President Terrance Freeman did not immediately respond to Howland's request for an investigation of Cumber, who is running for mayor.

Cumber's husband, Husein, assisted a private equity firm when it pulled together a consortium of companies called JEA Public Power Partners that offered to pay a multibillion dollar concession fee for the right to manage JEA, a form of privatization that would have kept JEA under the city's ownership.

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"Council member Cumber may have had a valid reason for withholding this information," Howland wrote in a letter sent Monday to Freeman. "She certainly deserves the opportunity to clear the air. But to maintain trust and confidence in local government, City Council has a responsibility to find out for sure."

Cumber pointed to statements by Jason Gabriel, who previously served as the city's general counsel, in which he said City Council lacks authority to investigate a private citizen, which her husband was at the time of the JEA sales process.

Gabriel, who stepped down as general counsel in August 2021, also has said the request in 2020 by the investigative committee did not compel council members to provide information because the disclosure wasn't rooted in any local, state or federal law.

"No one has any requirement to respond to an inquiry that has no legal or ethical import," Gabriel said.

Cumber also pointed to comments by Gabriel that he had some concerns about how releasing information to the public during the City Council's investigation might affect a federal criminal investigation that was underway at the same time.

Gabriel supports Cumber in the mayor's race. Howland is backing JAX Chamber CEO Daniel Davis.

Husein Cumber advised firm

According to emails obtained by the Florida Times-Union, Husein Cumber met and communicated with people working to move forward what became the Public Power Partners' proposal. The JEA board later cancelled all bids in December 2019 before selecting a top choice.

Cumber has said her husband was not employed or paid by any entity interested in the sale of JEA.

Howland, who was not on City Council during the JEA sales attempt, wrote in his request for an investigation "it concerns me that a Council Member's husband was advising a potential buyer while the Council Member herself was a seller." He said it "concerns me even more" that LeAnna Cumber did not provide that information to the Special Investigatory Committee.

"This is information citizens need to know," Howland wrote.

Sixteen members of City Council turned in disclosure statements in September 2020 after the Special Investigatory Committee on JEA Matters asked all City Council members to voluntarily disclose "whether you or your immediate family member had any interaction with any person or entity connected in any way with JEA or the city" related to privatization of JEA.

Cumber turned in a statement in March 2021 after the committee released its final report. Two council members, Danny Becton and Aaron Bowman, did not turn in the requested disclosure statements, according to the records posted on the committee's website.

Asked whether he wants to see all council members turn in the disclosure statement, Howland said "that's outside the scope of the investigation" requested by him.

He said that when Cumber turned in her disclosure statement, she omitted any mention of Husein Cumber. "That, I think, is what we would focus the investigation on," he said.

Cumber has said her husband, who served on the JEA board but stepped down before it voted to seek offers, was providing information to the FBI during its investigation of the JEA sales process.

"We already knew there was an FBI investigation going on and protecting that investigation was my top priority," she has said.

Gabriel has said the City Council's investigation was taking place at the same time as a federal criminal investigation, so that caused some concerns for him about how releasing information to the public might affect the federal investigation.

Husein Cumber, who served on the JEA board from 2014 to January 2019, was one of three former JEA leaders who testified as witnesses in March 2021 to a federal grand jury.

In March 2022, a the grand jury indicted ousted JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and former chief financial officer Ryan Wannemacher on conspiracy and wire fraud charges in connection with an incentive plan that could have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to JEA employees if a sale had gone through.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville City Council asked to investigate mayor candidate