Daily Record staff writer Glenn Tschimpke met with City Council member Matt Carlucci to gain a little insight on why he entered the mayor’s race.
Question: Why is now the right time to announce your candidacy?
Answer: I guess at some point you’ve got to make the decision. I did not want to get into mayoral politics while I was Council president. I have a lot of people who are highly encouraging me to run. You can’t keep a lot of folks like that waiting forever. I don’t want to make the announcement in September because then you’re getting into, I think, a sacred time because of Sept. 11. Mid-August seemed to be the right date.
Q: The local Republican party recently conducted a poll regarding mayoral candidates. Although you were not a candidate at the time, the results had you ranked near the top. Was that a factor in you decision to run?
A: I don’t want to get in because of a poll. I was pleased with the number. Polling gives good information and it’s important information. But at the end of the day, good polling numbers don’t mean squat unless you have a message that you think is important — a vision for this community that you think is important. That’s what I’m excited about. That’s why I’m running because I really feel that I have a good plan. I have a good vision for Jacksonville. The mayor’s office is the best place to take that plan and implement it.
Q: Over $1.5 million has already been raised by mayoral candidates in Jacksonville. Is there any money left for you?
A: I think that there’s money out there.
Q: Do you need to raise as much money as John Peyton (who appears to be shooting for $1 million)?
A: We have to raise enough money to effectively get our message out. Because at the end of the day, it’s not money that’s going to win the campaign, it’s going to be message. However, you do have to have enough dollars to get your message out. We’ll raise the amount of we need to effectively get our message out, and we will raise it.
Q: Who’s we?
A: Myself and my friends who want to help me. It takes a lot of volunteers. It’s not just a money thing, it’s volunteers, too. What I’m hoping to do is kind of change the shift of the campaigns and the focus from all this talk about war chest and consultants to what’s really important to people’s quality of life here in Jacksonville. That’s what’s important. That’s what people are hungry to hear. They’re tired of hearing about how many dollars somebody thinks they have to raise and who their consultants are and how many they have. If there is an overriding theme of my campaign, it would be partnerships and bringing people together. This is a big city. It’s made up of a lot of different types of folks from different sides of town. The next mayor, and any mayor of Jacksonville, has got to be able to bring all those people together behind a common purpose in moving Jacksonville to its next step. The current mayor, John Delaney, has been very successful doing that.
Q: What kind of personal qualities do you have to continue that?
A: I think I have a well-rounded experience and background in dealing with people from all kinds of backgrounds and race. I’m very comfortable sitting down with people from anywhere in this community. I think, and I hope, one of my strengths is the ability to sit down with somebody in a board room or sit down with neighbors at a homeowners association meeting. I’m comfortable in both of those environments. I’m comfortable in talking to minorities about issues that are important to them. I’m comfortable in a lot of settings. Because I’m comfortable in a lot of settings, that’s enabled me to build consensus amongst very diverse groups of people — from redistricting to tough zoning and growth management issues in District 5.
Q: You seem to be an awfully nice guy. If there’s a knock on you, you’re too nice — too nice to be the mayor who will be expected to stand up for the city and deal with a lot of tough issues.
A: I think it’s important for the mayor to be a nice person. Nice people are easy to build relationships with and are easy to build partnerships with. But when I’ve had to stand up and say no, I’ve been able to do that on very difficult rezoning issues in my district. You can’t get any more controversial and heated than that sometimes. When we were working with AT&T, I stood up for the constituents and the customers of AT&T. I have that ability to do that. Let me tell you, you don’t want a mayor with a short trigger. You want a mayor with a lot of patience. One of my strengths is that I’m a very patient person. People that are nice and are patient often times have the ability to reach their goals and get things done because that helps the process of building consensus and bringing people together. If that’s the worst they can say about me is I’m too nice-a-guy, then that’s not too bad.
Q: The field of mayoral candidates is pretty full. Do you think you’ll stand out enough to win?
A: All of the other candidates have a lot of great strengths. But I’ll let them take care of their business and I’ll take care of my business. I have what I think is a great vision and I’m ready to take it to the citizens of Jacksonville. I’ve been a businessman for a long time. In my business, we have to sell in addition to managing the business. The worst thing a salesman can do is worry about what the other sales people are doing.
Q: How long have you known that you would run for mayor? It’s been popular speculation for quite a while.
A: I’ve known about the option and have thought about it for a good while. But I really and truly didn’t make that final decision until the 10th of July or so. There were two things that had to happen, and I don’t want to get into those. But those two things happened, bam, bam.
Q: What were those? Possible endorsements?
A: No, just things that were family-type things. They were just items that maybe one day I can share more about. They were just things that happened that needed to happen. When things fall into place, that’s a good sign.