by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
You better believe that John Delaney’s behind his man.
“Some may say that Sam [Mousa] is a SOB,” says Jacksonville’s mayor. “If he is, he’s my SOB.”
Delaney spent the better part of a half-hour visit talking about Mousa in terms that left no doubt of his feelings.
“He’s a real teddy bear,” said Delaney, “but he gets an unfair rap. He’s a Type A personality. And, he plays by the rules and he expects those working for him to do the same.”
Delaney inherited Mousa — as well as other department heads — from the Ed Austin administration and only Mousa is around City Hall today.
“Sam came from the Hazouri staff and there could have been hard feelings after what may have been the most contentious mayor’s race on record (Austin beat Hazouri, who was the incumbent),” said Delaney. “Not only did Ed keep him, he promoted him. And, I’ve done the same thing.”
Delaney was particularly perturbed that anyone in the Jacksonville Transportation Authority would accuse Mousa of making former executive director Derek Morse’s life uncomfortable enough to quit.
“We wanted Derek to succeed,” said Delaney. “Sam has no interest in the JTA; he could have had the job (when Miles Francis retired,) but I asked him to stay and he did.
“Sam had some issues with the JTA over procedural matters like purchasing codes. We would have helped them in any way, because the problem really was with the City Council. But, maybe some over there chose to make us a villain.”
Could it be that people would like to aim at Delaney, but feel he’s bulletproof?
“My approval ratings aren’t 90 percent and I can‘t ever remember them being at 90 percent,” he said. “If they’re big people, they can shoot at me.”
And the Better Jacksonville Plan administrators who quit?
“I’ve always had a policy not to talk about personnel matters,” said Delaney. “I reassigned the project managers. Maybe no one wants to say ‘I didn’t do a good job.’
“In no way should Sam be criticized. He’s a good administrator. When you give him something, it gets done.”
Like who?
“Like (football coaches Steve) Spurrier and (Tom) Coughlin,” said Delaney. “Sam gets the job done.”