Abel Harding would have buried the lead, but he didn't have one

You might argue, if you’re a prick like me, that T-U Renaissance Man Abel Harding is still getting the hang of this journalism thing. But you’d have to admit that he’s got the beat sweetener down like Charlie Watts with the backbeat. (A beat sweetener is a term I learned recently for a concept I’ve long been familiar with -- a story to make a source look good that doesn’t actually do much for the reader, but ensures continued access for the reporter.) Here’s the evidence.
It's a part-time gig with a starting salary of $44,100 plus benefits. It also used to come with free Jaguars tickets, parking and food.
It’s not Abel’s fault, but the headline has already given away that this job is a City Council seat. But seriously, don’t write leads like this where you think you’re holding the reader in suspense, because some fuckwit headline writer will give the game away before the reader starts your story.
All were among the perks afforded to some Jacksonville City Council members over the last several years. And although those particular pluses fell victim to budget cuts this year, some members have made do with other gifts.
Do tell.
You can learn a lot about council members by reviewing their gift disclosures, which they are required to file quarterly on anything received with a value greater than $100.
You have effectively set me, the reader, up for a juicy list of embarrassing gifts Council members have received. Maybe some they haven’t reported.
Clay Yarborough hasn't come by his frugal reputation solely through his insistence on city budget cuts - he's also lived it. Since taking office in 2007, he's reported one gift - 12-day passes to the Greater Jacksonville Fair in 2007 valued at $384. And according to the disclosure, he didn't even use the tickets.
Shocking. This is the opposite of news. The boy Puritan of the Council who consistently votes against what he views as unnecessary spending doesn’t take a lot of freebies? Next you’ll tell me Littlepage has a bit of a problem with Rick Scott.
Reggie Brown has also garnered a prudent reputation.
Great, more tales of prudent public servants.
Since Brown won a November 2008 special election to fill the seat of Mia Jones, he's only reported $369 in gifts - only two of which are valued at more than $100.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Johnny Gaffney.
This holds some dim promise, but if there’s anything here it should have been in the lead.
A wide receiver alongside Cris Collinsworth for the Florida Gators in 1980, Gaffney has quite enjoyed access to sporting events, reporting 12 gifts related to local football and basketball games. Since August 2007, he's reported $7,553 in gifts, almost all of which were sports-related and all but two of which were courtesy of the city.
Sweet Jebus, you mean Gaffney has taken an average of $2,500 a year in freebies? And reported them? He’d never make it in a town like Chicago, where you get run out of office if you don’t sell off an occasional Senate seat or get a few thousand dead Minnesotans to vote for you. Also, which were the ones that weren’t through the city? Might be of interest.
Some lawmakers show meticulous attention to detail, like Brown and Bill Bishop. They choose to report all gifts, regardless of whether they exceed the $100 threshold.
Again, not news, Abel. When you were a child did you kill off a news-savvy sibling named Cain?
And some pass their perks along, like Ray Holt. He reported Jacksonville Suns tickets valued at $1,200, but the tickets weren't exactly for his own use - all went to Boy Scout Troop 278.
Thirteen council members are eligible to run for re-election in 2011, and 12 have filed to do so. Those who win re-election are one step closer to qualifying to be part of a huge perk: the state's pension program.
The Ray Holt thing = not news.
Whither, Democrats?
How bout ‘Wither Democrats?’
After the Nov. 2 election results, some political observers have labeled Florida Democrats as "virtually irrelevant."
You don’t need the ‘as’ in that last sentence. But let’s move on. If you’re about to argue Dems have some political relevance, you should look at the numbers.
Despite myriad scandals that have plagued Republicans in the state - including the arrest of the party's former chairman, the arrest and ouster of the House speaker and a new ethical investigation into the incoming Senate president - Democrats lost ground, with no representation on the Florida Cabinet and with Republicans in firmer control of both legislative chambers.
And why did they lose ground, despite the GOP scandals?
"That's the big story," said Matthew Corrigan, director of the University of North Florida's political science department. "Just how conservative the Legislature is."
Corrigan said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson seems to be one of the few Democrats who know how to run statewide, but the party needs to turn a focus toward Tallahassee.
"At some point, you've got to pay attention to the Legislature," he said. "The Democratic Party needs a state legislative project."
Be less mindlessly liberal -- might that work?