As women across the country watch Joe Biden get a pass for his #MeToo accusations, locally we are doing the same thing. Have we no shame?
Eye wrote about Tommy Hazouri’s administration and the past issues with Ms. Darlene Tye. Ms. Tye won a lawsuit against the city and Mayor Hazouri for being denied a position she was highly qualified for and promised by Mayor Hazouri. Promises were made and not kept. Ms. Tye was overlooked and replaced with a man. #Metoo was alive and well back then in Jacksonville’s government.
After she won the lawsuite, she was sent to a small room on the first floor of City Hall to spend a year there with no job to perform and nothing to do. Basically she was sent to solitary confinement and shunned for daring to call out #metoo behaviors by the Mayor and his administration.
You can read the two articles Eye published about this dark time in our City’s history here:
#Metoo Accusation of former Mayor Tommy Hazouri in upcoming book
Part 2 of upcoming tell-all book includes #nepotism & #metoo in Mayor Hazouri’s administration
Why are we resharing an old story? Because Tommy Hazouri is right now politicking his way into the leadership position of the City Council. The City Council will vote on this position in the next two weeks.
Eye believes the President of the City Council should be chosen for their leadership abilities, fairness to both sides of the aisles and for how they live their personal lives in accordance with strong values and good character traits.
We are calling on every council member to NOT vote for Tommy Hazouri based on these #metoo allegations and horrid behavior of isolating Ms. Tye in a small room for punishment. She won the case! She was bullied for doing so.
Reality is — had the voters who voted for Tommy Hazouri known about this case, we are confident he would not even be seated on the City Council.
Here’s the scary part too. Should anything happen to Mayor Curry, the President of the Council would become Mayor. How wrong that would be for the community and especially for Ms. Tye to have Tommy Hazouri in the Mayor’s office again.
Our feelings about Mr. Hazouri might change if he publicly apologizes to Ms. Tye for how he treated her and is serious about that apology. Then and only then should consideration be made for him to lead the council. So far he has shown no remorse and has ignored the allegations. He’s had many years to correct this wrong. Does he think it’s okay to ignore it?
If we are going to be serious about the #metoo movement, we need to do what is right and we need to start now. Not only nationally but locally as well. It’s unfair that Democrats are allowed to treat women like objects and suffer no consequences. Instead they believe it’s okay to be a #metoo guy and run for President…of our country and our council. When will this injustice stop? Will Darlene Tye be believed or will she once again be mistreated and ignored?
That’s our opinion. What’s yours?
