City Council to investigate whether LeAnna Cumber 'deceived or misled' regarding JEA sale

City Council President Terrance Freeman on Wednesday opened an investigation into whether City Council member LeAnna Cumber "deceived or misled" the council about her husband's involvement in helping a firm that submitted a privatization offer for JEA in 2019.

The investigation of Cumber comes as she is running for mayor in the spring election. An attorney for Cumber called it a "manufactured controversy."

Freeman said he was reactivating the council's Special Investigatory Committee on JEA Matters because documents "have come to light" that warrant more investigation. He said one of the charges for the committee will be to determine whether Cumber "attempted to use her official position" in order to influence the sales process "for personal gain."

Cumber has said her husband was never employed or paid by any entity interested in the sale of JEA.

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Daniel Nunn, an attorney who supports Cumber in the mayor's race, said the investigation is politically driven by Mayor Lenny Curry and JAX Chamber President Daniel Davis, who is running for mayor.

"This manufactured controversy exposes the the lengths to which Mayor Curry and his chosen successor will go to win," Nunn said in a statement released by the Cumber campaign. "As a lawyer who investigated the JEA scandal, I found no misconduct by any member of the City Council."

Nunn did not work for the Special Investigatory Committee, which used Steve Busey as its special counsel with assistance from Smith Hulsey & Busey attorneys. The Nelson Mullins law firm, where Nunn is an attorney, represented JEA when it filed a lawsuit against fired JEA CEO Aaron Zahn.

Freeman said City Council members have been "working hard to restore the trust of the public into our government process."

"I thought this was the best way to have a process that offers the council member in question and the company in question the opportunity to clear the record so we can continue to move forward," Freeman said. "To me, it's not about politics. It was about principal."

During the Special Investigatory Committee's probe in 2020, the committee issued subpoenas to the bidders asking them to list lobbyists, attorneys and consultants they employed in connection with JEA's invitation to submit offers for the utility.

JEA Public Power Partners responded with a June 1, 2020, letter that said in the case of Cumber's husband, Husein, an "affiliate of a JEA PPP consortium member performed due diligence on potentially retaining Husein Cumber as a consultant but did not do so as there was a perceived or actual conflict."

The Special Investigative Committee later requested all council members to voluntarily list any interactions their immediate family members, including spouses, had with people or entities connected in any way with the JEA process.

Cumber turned in a disclosure statement that did not have any mention of Husein Cumber on it.

Emails obtained by the Florida Times-Union show Husein Cumber assisted a private equity firm when it was assembling the consortium of companies called JEA Public Power Partners. Freeman's announcement also makes reference to text messages.

Mike Weinstein, who worked as a paid consultant for on the consortium, has said Husein Cumber "would occasionally give advice" and also was a "connecting go-between" for people. Weinstein has said Husein Cumber "went out of his way" to explain he wasn't being paid and did not have any future expectation of being paid.

Unlike other proposals for JEA in 2019, JEA Public Power Partners would have paid a large concession fee for the right to manage JEA but the utility would have remained city-owned.

Committee will have limited scope for investigation

Freeman said the Special Investigatory Committee will be able to use the subpoena power it had during its initial investigation. He said the scope of its investigation will be limited to three items:

• Investigate whether LeAnna Cumber or JEA Public Powers "deceived or misled" the Special Investigative Committee.

• Determine whether Cumber tried to use her position as a City Council member for "personal gain."

• Propose legislation to "ensure such deceptions, if any" would not hurt the work of any future investigatory committee.

Sixteen City Council members turned in their voluntary disclosure statements in September 2020 and Cumber filed hers in March 2021. Two council members, Danny Becton and Aaron Bowman, did not file disclosure statements. The committee's investigation will not examine any other council members besides Cumber.

Nunn said if Freeman is going to reopen the Special Investigatory Committee, it should "explore the non-disclosure by Chamber employee Bowman." Bowman is an executive with JAX Chamber.

Nunn said the committee also should investigate a job offer that former City Council member Garrett Dennis received in mid-2019 to work for a marijuana decriminalization group and what the Curry administration knew about it.

Dennis, who would be a fierce critic of the JEA sales process after it started, told the Times-Union in 2021 that the job possibly would have paid him $250,000 but he would have had to resign from City Council. Florida Power & Light previously confirmed that employees of the consulting firm Matrix came up with the idea of offering the job to Dennis but FPL said that was "flatly rejected."

Freeman said he decided to reopen the Special Investigatory Committee's work in light of recent media reports about Husein Cumber's involvement with the firm that put in an offer for JEA. City Council member Rory Diamond told Action News Jax he thought there should be an investigation and council member Nick Howland sent Freeman a letter on Monday requesting a City Council investigation.

Freeman and Davis have had professional and political ties. Freeman served in 2014-15 as political affairs manager at JAX Chamber while Davis was the chamber's CEO. When Freeman ran for City Council in 2019, his campaign received a $1,000 contribution from Building a Better Economy, the political committee for Davis.

Freeman said he has not taken a position in the mayor's race.

"My job right now when I sit on the council is to do the best I can for the citizens of Jacksonville and try to remain focused on the task at hand," he said.

Freeman said he will soon announce which council members will serve on the Special Investigatory Committee.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: City Council opens investigation of mayor candidate LeAnna Cumber