Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh and Tax Collector Scott Randolph are celebrating a major victory after a judge ruled in their favor against Orange County and Mayor Teresa Jacobs. Singh and Randolph sued alleging Mayor Jacobs and the Board of County Commissioners acted illegally when they asked voters to turn constitutional offices nonpartisan and impose term limits. It turns out, the judge agrees with them.
The judge struck down the part indicating constitutional officers must run under a non-partisan status. Orange County’s constitutional officers will continue to run for office with their party label.
“It is a victory for the people, a victory for the Constitution and a victory for all taxpayers who will have the final say so on who their constitutional officers are,” Rick Singh said in an exclusive interview with West Orlando News after the ruling. “I think this ruling is very fair.”
Singh and Randolph have been locked in the legal battle with Orange County for a year and a half since the County Commission sponsored charter amendment was approved by voters in 2014. Orange County Sherrif Jerry Demings was originally part of the lawsuit, but only Singh and Randolph continued to sue as private individuals after an earlier ruling from the judge in March.
Mayor Jacobs supported and pushed the charter amendment to passage with overwhelming public support. But Singh points out that in the election the charter amendment passed, only 23% of eligible Orange County voters weighed in on the initiative. Singh says Jacobs is wrong to allege the charter amendment was the “will of the people” as voter turnout was horribly low. “The numbers say it was not the will of the people, it was the will of only a small majority of 23% of the voters,” Singh said.
It’s also important to remember how this charter amendment idea originated. The County Commission voted to put on the ballot to make constitutional races non-partisan at the urging of Commissioner Scott Boyd. Boyd wanted to run for Property Appraiser against the very popular Singh, and he was setting the stage to run in a more favorable environment in a non-partisan race. Singh blasted the proposal from the start, calling it “political estate planning” at the time.
But Mayor Jacobs and the County Commission pushed the charter amendment through late in the night thinking no one was paying attention. Singh was one of only a few people left in the chamber at the time of the final vote to put the initiative on the ballot. He has fought against it ever since and today, Singh and Randolph scored the victory they were seeking.
Back in March, when the judge originally ruled the trio could not sue Orange County as constitutional officers, Mayor Jacobs responded forcefully against Singh and Randolph, saying she found their lawsuit “appalling.”After today’s ruling, Singh had a response to Jacobs’ previous comment.
“While the Mayor may find it appalling, the judge did not find it appalling and ultimately sided with us,” Singh said. “The fact the County spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to change the constitution in this way, I find that appalling.”
The judge did rule the term limits will stand, however Singh and Randolph can appeal that decision to a higher court. There could also be more unintended consequences from the court decision.
In the ruling, the judge questioned grounds for the non-partisan environment for County Commission seats and the Mayor’s office. That means in the future, maybe not this cycle but in a few years, every County Commission race could become a partisan race, putting every seat in play. The political play by Mayor Jacobs and the County Commission could end up backfiring.
Singh said the Florida Democratic Party has already reached out and congratulated him and Randolph. He said the state party believes the ruling is a “big win for the I-4 corridor.”
As for next steps, Singh says they are “exploring all options.” There may be an appeal on the decision regarding term limits. Singh, Randolph and Demings could potentially sue to have their legal expenses repaid by Orange County as well.
One of the reasons Orange County functions so well is that it has been non-partisan for so long. Instead of sticking to party-line votes, Commissioners have been free to make up their own mind about each issue. Once the party bosses start calling the shots, the quality of debates and decisions will suffer.
It doesn’t matter if the Property Appraiser is non-partisan, but it matters a great deal if the Board is.