Former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry denied that he was involved in a retribution campaign against JEA CEO Vickie Cavey after current Mayor Donna Deegan made allegations against Curry’s lobbying firm.
Calling into the WJCT Public Media radio show First Coast Connect on Feb. 23, Curry said Deegan lied to reporters during a Feb. 20 media conference. Deegan said allies of Curry’s firm, Ballard Partners, created a smear campaign against Cavey after JEA declined to continue a lobbying contract with Ballard in January.
Cavey faced accusations of creating a toxic culture within JEA the week prior, which included an accusation of racism from City Council President Kevin Carrico. She fired JEA Chief of Staff Kurt Wilson on Feb. 19, and Wilson told The Florida Times-Union he was fired after raising concerns about Cavey’s conduct to the chair of JEA’s board.
Deegan alleged during the Feb. 23 press conference the allegations came as retribution against Cavey for not renewing Ballard Partners’ contract.
“The mayor called a press conference and made a bunch of accusations. She lied about me, she’s lied about our firm, she’s lied about our Managing Partner Jordan (Elsbury) the last few years, and that doesn’t matter,” Curry said. “But the CEO of JEA basically called her out on her lies in a public press conference and said, ‘With all due respect, mayor, that didn’t happen.’
“So if I’m a citizen and I’m watching this play out, just know that she’s just lying.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I think this is much bigger than JEA. I think this is a pattern of leadership where it’s, call a press conference, yell and scream and make a bunch of accusations,” Curry said. “It is without any thoughtfulness and without any strategy.”
After Curry registered with the city as a lobbyist in November 2025, JEA opted not to extend the contract when it expired Jan. 31, 2026.
Carrico accusations
On Feb. 19, Carrico issued a statement accusing Cavey of “racism, toxic corporate culture, and other leadership challenges.” Carrico said he made the accusations after “numerous meetings and calls” from JEA employees.
Criticism also came from Wilson, who said in a statement to the Times-Union he was fired after he told JEA Board Chair Joseph DiSalvo that for two years he had “counseled the CEO that her treatment of select staff and subordinates was not appropriate.” Wilson did not return messages requesting further comment.
“On Wednesday (Feb. 18), I brought my concerns to the board chair and the question was asked, ‘Why haven’t employees called me?’ Twelve hours later my position was eliminated. This is why,” Wilson wrote in the statement.
“The fact that those who want to control JEA for money and power are willing to smear a faithful public servant like Vickie is reprehensible, if not surprising,” Deegan said. “The problem is we’ve got some local bad actors who would rather go on a retribution and revenge tour than to move our city forward.”
Deegan told reporters to “connect the dots” after she was asked about Curry and Elsbury being involved.
After a reporter asked Cavey if she was pressured to extend the contract, Deegan urged Cavey to “tell the truth and shame the devil.”
“I would not call it a pressure campaign,” Cavey said.
Curry said he had no conversations with JEA staff about Ballard Partners’ contract, calling it “one of many contracts” for his firm.
“If Vickie Cavey walked into my office right now, I wouldn’t know who she is. I’ve never met her and never spoken to her,” Curry said.
“That’s Wizard of Oz stuff,” Elsbury, Curry’s former chief of staff, said in a Feb. 23 text message about Deegan’s accusations. “Doesn’t sound like the mayor and the CEO are on the same page.”
Carrico received criticism in prior days after nominating Paul Martinez, his superior at Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, to the JEA board. Martinez is the president and CEO at Boys and Girls Clubs, Carrico works as vice president of strategic initiatives.
After Action News Jax reported that texts between JEA board member Arthur Adams and Carrico showed Carrico made Martinez’s nomination as a “big favor” to a friend, Martinez withdrew his name from consideration.
Curry said he had no conversations with Carrico about the Martinez nomination to the board and that he had not spoken to Carrico in around a month.
Cavey denies allegations
At the Feb. 23 news conference, Cavey rebuffed accusations of racism and mismanagement.
“I’m a very inclusive leader,” Cavey said. “I have a strong belief in our field people. Those employees work 24/7, 365 days a year no matter what, and so do I, and it’s an honor to serve the city and to serve those people.”
DiSalvo said he had heard no concerns from JEA employees about Cavey’s leadership. He said that in a recent “soup to nuts” examination of JEA by an outside consultant, “there were no concerns of any morale issues.”
“I aggressively circulate throughout the city to talk to our fantastic JEA electric and water-wastewater employees…and I get salt-of-the-earth feedback,” DiSalvo said. “None of the feedback has ever addressed a negative work environment.”
Cavey became the CEO of JEA in September 2024, promoted from an interim role after replacing CEO Jay Stowe.
Cavey, who joined JEA in 1984 as a mechanical engineer, rose to several administrative roles and came out of retirement in March 2024 when the board asked her to serve as a liaison between them and Stowe’s administration to review the utility’s organizational structure.
Her contract was extended in February 2025, with the JEA board unanimously giving her a 25% pay raise to $700,000 a year.
Board member John Baker III said that although the salary increase “jumps off the page,” he believed it was justified given Cavey’s performance and leadership ability.
“We have got a really great leader. And it’s incumbent on any business that has a great leader to compensate them fairly.”
Curry’s history with JEA
Curry, Jacksonville’s mayor from 2015 to 2023, joined Ballard Partners a month after he left office after his second term.
He filed as a lobbyist with the city of Jacksonville in November 2025 after a state-mandated “cooling-off” period before former elected officials can lobby governments. At that time, Ballard Partners’ clients included JEA.
Curry’s connection to the JEA sale includes former CEO Aaron Zahn, who in July 2024 was convicted on federal charges alleging he orchestrated a scheme to sell the city-owned utility to collect millions of dollars in bonuses.
Curry appointed Zahn to the JEA board in 2018. Zahn was named interim CEO two months later after the resignation of Paul McElroy, then was named CEO long-term seven months after that.
The appointment and Zahn’s rapid rise raised questions given that Zahn had no experience leading a large municipal utility. He had previously served as an executive for a private wastewater treatment company.
In 2021, an investigative report from a City Council committee that looked into the attempt to sell JEA concluded that Curry and JEA officials worked together on a “multi-year” effort from 2017-19 to sell the utility and shielded some actions from the Florida Sunshine Law and the public.
The report said Zahn used “intentional misrepresentations and omissions” in characterizing JEA as a failing business.
Among Zahn’s claims as CEO, he told board members in 2019 the utility would have to lay off 29% of its workforce and raise electric rates by 26% if it remained publicly owned without city and state legislative changes to allow it to diversify its business.
Curry later said he would use proceeds from the sale of JEA to pay off the city’s $2.2 billion in outstanding bond debt with the remaining money invested for future city projects.
After Council auditors raised concerns in 2019 about the bonus plan attached to the proposed sale, Council members and State Attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit Melissa Nelson began looking into the issue. In December of that year, the JEA board voted to cancel the process to potentially put the utility up for sale.
In 2022, after Nelson turned over her investigation to federal authorities, Zahn and former JEA Chief Financial Officer Ryan Wannemacher were indicted by a federal grand jury on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the bonus plan.
Zahn was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to four years in prison. Wannemacher was found not guilty.
Curry was not charged in connection with the attempted JEA sale.