Orange County Code Enforcement has ordered Democratic congressional candidate Bob Poe to “immediately cease operating political campaign office” from his residential home. The code enforcement investigation began after Poe’s neighbors complained, forcing Orange County to get involved.
According to Orange County public records, the complaint cited neighbors complaining about “30-40 cars at the home and around the home” and that Poe’s campaign “business is going on all day.” An inspection report cites “numerous calls from resident in the area” had triggered an inspection. The property in question, 71 Interlaken Road, is a residential use zoned property.
Raising more questions about the candidate, Poe was reportedly warned and given multiple chances before being hit with a violation. He apparently ignored the complaints of his neighbors, and the warnings of Orange County Code Enforcement Division.
An inspector came on June 13th and saw the property was only being used for campaign purposes and had five vehicles parked. Two days later on June 15th, an inspector met with the owner, presumably Poe, and explained the issue. On these occasions, no violations were filed against Poe.
Then in the early morning hours of June 27th, an inspector actually reported 12 cars parked at Poe’s home at 2:53AM. What were that many cars being doing at a residential property owned by Poe at 3AM?
On June 29th, an inspector returned and saw campaign employees arriving for work just before 9AM. Finally, enough was enough and Poe was issued official notice of violation being levied against himself and his trust.
Is this behavior becoming of a potential member of Congress?
Perhaps Poe will answer for it at the upcoming Democratic Primary debate, and if not, he should at least work on mending fences with his neighbors before they cast ballots. Not to mention, it’s never good for a congressional candidate to have code enforcement violations heading into a contested primary.
Poe is facing off against Chief Val Demings, State Senator Geraldine Thompson and Fatima Fahmy in the upcoming Democratic primary for Florida’s 10th Congressional District.
