{"id":860089,"date":"2026-06-11T15:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/860089\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:09:18","slug":"jose-javier-rodriguez-frames-james-uthmeiers-jacksonville-probes-as-overreach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/860089\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Javier Rodr\u00edguez frames James Uthmeier’s Jacksonville probes as overreach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attorney General\u00a0James Uthmeier<\/strong><\/a> has focused on various issues in Jacksonville since being tapped for the job last year.<\/p>\n

But if Democrat Jos\u00e9 Javier Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong> is elected to replace the former\u00a0Ron DeSantis<\/strong> staffer, he says he will respect \u201chome rule\u201d and Jacksonville\u2019s ability to govern itself without interference from the state\u2019s chief legal officer that has surfaced regarding a log book of gun owners<\/a><\/strong> entering city buildings and JEA\u2019s decision<\/a><\/strong> to part ways with Ballard Partners<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy opponent has been trying to apply power. So that\u2019s what\u2019s called bullying. So, he does not have the law to back him up in almost any circumstance where I\u2019ve seen where he goes on social media and puts out some tough sounding letter, but is not very clear on exactly what the Attorney General\u2019s role is,\u201d the former state Representative, state Senator, and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training of the United States said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is hyperpartisan, hyperpolitical, and it\u2019s just not appropriate,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez added.<\/p>\n

Regarding the gun registry, Rodr\u00edguez said Uthmeier was invoking a \u201cremedial statute\u201d that allows for the destruction of records.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Uthmeier is suing the city for $5 million, the maximum penalty under state law, saying the city willfully kept a so-called \u201cillegal gun registry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez notes that State Attorney\u00a0Melissa Nelson<\/strong> absolved Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan\u2019s<\/strong> office of criminal liability, having\u00a0 \u201cdetermined that it was not intentional, that was a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the JEA probe<\/a><\/strong>, Rodr\u00edguez suggested Uthmeier was doing Ballard a favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the outside, it looks like he\u2019s doing that almost like on behalf of this lobbying firm. It\u2019s well connected in Tallahassee. That\u2019s just what it looks like, but big question as to why the people of Florida are interested in this dispute. It\u2019s not clear to me,\u201d he said Thursday on WJCT\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> \u201cFirst Coast Connect<\/a><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uthmeier has requested records from Deegan<\/strong><\/a> and key staffer\u00a0Mike Weinstein<\/strong> in which they discuss the arrangement between the city\u2019s independent utility and the lobbying firm that employs former Mayor\u00a0Lenny Curry<\/strong> and Chief of Staff\u00a0Jordan Elsbury<\/strong>. Deegan has framed the probe as one of many \u201cattacks\u201d on the city\u2019s \u201cconsolidated government,\u201d driven by \u201chyperpartisanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attorney General\u00a0James Uthmeier has focused on various issues in Jacksonville since being tapped for the job last year.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":860090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,350836,10083,3188,723,7310,14521,14626,350837,14632,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-860089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-ballard-partner","tag-donna-deegan","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-jea","tag-jose-javier-rodriguez","tag-lenny-curry","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}