Breaking News: Local resident Darlene Tye speaks with Eye on Jacksonville about then Mayor Tommy Hazouri and her upcoming book about her lawsuit against him in the 80’s.
Her book titled, “Turkeys, Vultures, Toads and Eagles: Power & Politics in Jacksonville, Florida” is coming soon.
Please note: We have reached out to Tommy Hazouri for his take on this book. When we hear back, we will let you know.
In the meantime, meet Darlene Tye – a local #metoo hero from the 80’s. Eye will be publishing a series of articles about this woman’s #metoo experiences. Amazing true stories about sexual harassment, discrimination, threatening phone calls, nasty flyers and even a gun inside the desk of her boss used to intimidate her. Eye gave Ms. Tye a WINK EYE for coming forward with her story and soon publishing her book.
Darlene Tye was a 60-year-old woman and was serving as the leader of the Civil Defense Department for the City of Jacksonville in 1987-88. She was elevated to that position when her boss – a man – took ill and could no longer serve in his job. She served the City in that department for more than 18 years and in that capacity for 17 months when her job soon became political in nature when Tommy Hazouri became Mayor.
During her years with the City there were more than 700,000 residents in Jacksonville and her responsibility was to make sure all of the residents were safe from disasters that might occur – such as hurricanes, fires, etc. She handled her job well and was a highly rated employee until…
Tommy Hazouri, candidate for Mayor, showed up in City Hall to meet with potential voters. Ms. Tye wanted to make sure that the job she was serving in would be secure if and when he became Mayor. He assured her it would be.
Unfortunately for Ms. Tye, Mr. Hazouri did not keep his promise to her once he became Mayor and was demoted from her position. A young man with no experience was put in as the leader of that department over her.
Because of his broken promises, Ms. Tye decided to file a lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville under the leadership of Mayor Hazouri for sexual discrimination and pay discrimination.
Mayor Hazouri tried to get out of depositions, filed his own lawsuit and made a Federal Case out of it. That behavior created even more issues and Ms. Tye changed her lawsuit to include retaliation in her case.
There is so much more to this story and some of your toes will curl when you hear what Ms. Tye had to put up with during her last years of her service to the citizens of Duval County and how politicians use their power and influence to intimidate anyone who dare challenge them.
But let me share this one big piece of the story before we end here.
Once Ms. Tye won the lawsuit against the city and Mayor Hazouri, she was sent to a small room on the first floor of City Hall to spend her year there. She had no job to do. The only items in the room were a desk, a chair and a typewriter. They basically put her in solitary confinement – away from the other city employees and shunned her as retaliation for her lawsuit.
Ms. Tye looked at that typewriter, decided to use it and daily wrote her story about her lawsuit against Mayor Hazouri, Jacksonville politics and the way she was personally treated as a woman in city government.
The book was completed when she served her time in a solitary room on the first floor of City Hall. Can you imagine?
The book is coming off the shelf and you’ll come out of your chair when you read it.
My hat is off to this precious woman who endured her own #metoo experience more than 30 years ago and now with grace and humility tells her story.
More to come. Stay tuned.
Here’s Ms. Darlene Tye – in her own words.
She craved anything leadership related and enjoyed being around the world of entrepreneurial CEOs. She watched as they made decisions; pondered how they would make payroll when cash flow was tight; and appreciated how they created career opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people. Because of her experiences, she has emerged as a key resource for the media and others who want to understand important insights about executives, management teams and board dynamics.
In 2008, Billie became discouraged as she watched some of her clients struggle with the political economic impacts on their businesses. The same CEOs who mortgaged their home and charged up their credit cards to make ends meet to build a business and keep others working, now watched as their government bailed out the big banks who had mismanaged their resources. She cringed as most of her clients laid off employees for the first time and she vowed she would help them… somehow…someway.
That somehow…someway showed up in the Tea Party Movement in America. She formed one of the largest tea party group’s in America (more than 9,000 members strong) and helped bring attention to America’s debt problem, out of control spending, over taxation and regulation strangulation on companies.
With her background in working with leaders and her influence in the political and leadership world, Billie has continued her dream to help CEOs navigate these troubling waters that permeate the world of capitalism in America.
She has been an active participant in the media as a guest on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, Bott Family Network Radio and co-hosts a political/financial radio show in the Northeast Florida market entitled, Smart Money.
She was the first speaker at the House of Representatives Tea Party Caucus inaugural event and was invited by Heritage Foundation to speak at their prestigious annual Heritage Resource Bank, and on their National Security Panel live broadcasts.
She spoke at the Congressional Republican House Retreat in Pennsylvania in 2012. She was also the co-host and co-producer of the CNN Tea Party Express Debate in the 2012 Presidential Election.
She is a firm believer that America needs more entrepreneurs and more opportunities for people to use their God-given talents and passions to better themselves, their communities and America.
Her favorite quote has become her mission to help CEOs succeed:
“Vision without execution is hallucination.” – Thomas Edison
