On the left, the record of a text conversation between Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico and Paul Martinez, Carrico’s boss at the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Florida, whom Carrico wanted to nominate to the JEA board of directors. On the right, a more complete version of the conversation sent to The Florida Trib this week. It’s unclear why City Council staff made the edits and redactions. Photo illustration. [Provided by News4Jax]
The is part of ongoing coverage from The Florida Trib and News4Jax about controversies swirling around Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico and JEA. Watch News4Jax’s latest report, with Trib executive editor Nate Monroe, below.
The questions center on two different images of the same Carrico text message. One was provided last week to Jacksonville media outlets and another later sent to Florida Trib Executive Editor Nate Monroe after he asked for additional context and posed questions about unexplained omissions.
Placed side by side, the images appear visibly different, with changes in timestamp placement, cropping and missing header and recipient information. The differences have prompted scrutiny over why a public record would be released in an altered form.
News4Jax and The Florida Trib have pushed for City Council staff to release more complete records of Carrico’s conversations with friends, allies and colleagues to better understand what issues State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s office is probing and to learn more about how Carrico has conducted public business, particularly during his year as the council president.
Nate Monroe is Executive Editor of The Florida Trib. He has been a journalist in the Southeast for the past 15 years. Most recently, he wrote a column about Florida for the USA Today Network. He was previously a metro columnist, beat reporter and investigative reporter for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, where he focused on covering the largest municipal government in Florida. Prior to arriving in Jacksonville in 2013, Nate was a reporter for newspapers in the Florida Panhandle and South Louisiana.
Nate's work has won local, state and national awards and led to federal convictions, voter-led reforms, and other significant impacts.
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