We have work to do between now and May 27th when the entire Jacksonville City Council will vote on the nomination of Elizabeth Andersen to the Public Library Board of Trustees. This is a non-paid position, and the Mayor has nominated a highly qualified, highly capable person to sit on this board. Elizabeth Andersen is a former School Board Member, a former high school English teacher, a Mental health Counselor, and currently serves as the CEO of OneJax. She is a true servant leader, concerned with the betterment of our city. Now the Grand Old Party has turned its attention to ousting this nominee.
When The Party comes before The People we know we are in deep trouble. A highly qualified woman is willing to volunteer her time and energy in service to our community and the State GOP is forcing our local elected officials to ignore their constituents and community needs, all to further the GOP. The GOP is fearful of Andersen because she has integrity and will stand up to the governmental control and overreach as The Party continues to ban books and censor information.
The Rules Committee voted 5 – 3 to reject the nomination. Next, the full City Council will vote. I am profoundly sad. And I am scared, really scared for our county. The State GOP leaders put pressure on Duval Republican who then pressure council members, and many GOP members tow The Party line. The Party uses Mom’s For Liberty, an extremist group knows for its book bans, and extremists tactics to negatively attack Andersen on any front they can. They make ungrounded accusations of racism and pedophilia. They accuse her of usurping parental rights. Parental rights is the Trojan Horse they hide in to mandate book bans and censorship. Ironically, these actions actually put the government in charge of what information is and isn’t available to families.
Close to a dozen citizens showed up on a Monday at 2 pm to voice support for Ms. Anderson, some of these members of Indivisible Jax Riverside. Even former Florida State Senator Audrey Gibson spoke on behalf of Ms Andersen. IJR’s own council member Jimmy Peluso, although not on the committee, spoke strongly in support of Andersen as did council members Matt Carlucci and Rahman Johnson. The Committee was presented with over 400 signatures on a petition to approve the nomination of Ms. Anderson.
Unfortunately, 5 of the 8 elected officials were not interested in representing their constituents, or serving their communities. Howland, Freeman, Gay, Miller and White voted against this highly qualified candidate. They serve only The Party. And The Party is only concerned about its own power. As Project 2025 eliminates more of our freedoms and attempts to replace our democracy with an authoritarian theocracy we have to be concerned with why the GOP is wanting compliant Republicans on library boards.
Call your council member and at all at large Council members encouraging them to vote YES on the nomination of Elizabeth Anderson as a COJ Public Library Board of Trustees. Contact member information here: https://www.jacksonville.gov/city-council/city-council-members
