Orange County mayoral candidate Teresa Jacobs is calling on Commissioner Bill Segal to comply with the disclosure requirements of the ethics laws mandated by a huge majority of county voters.
In a statement yesterday, Jacobs said, “It seems obvious from the forms filed by Mr. Segal in the past year that he is not disclosing what the law requires. He clearly has business partners, but he is not identifying them.”
Jacobs is urging current County Mayor Rich Crotty to instruct the County Attorney’s Office to conduct an inquiry into Segal’s current and recent business partnerships and determine whether he has failed to comply with county disclosure requirements. She is also asking State Attorney Lawson Lamar to investigate whether a violation of the county’s ordinance has occurred.
Jacob’s said that Segal’s partying with the No Name Club and Segal’s disclosure forms are related: “In both cases, he has shown little regard for the voters who demanded more integrity of their elected officials. The No Name Club and his empty disclosure forms are proof of that.”
A county-charter amendment, proposed by Jacobs in 2008 and passed by 87 percent of the voters in Orange County, requires greater disclosure by elected officials of their business partners who could potentially constitute conflicts of interest in their official duties.
Jacobs also called on the County Commission to close the loopholes they created in the County’s ethics ordinance in 2008.
