Orange County mayoral candidate, Bill Segal has challenged his opponent Teresa Jacobs to come clean on her record on property taxes. Segal charges that Jacobs is trying to cover up her record of fighting against tax relief for Florida families. In a debate set to air Wednesday night, Jacobs insists she did not oppose a plan to let people pay less in property taxes. A letter written by Jacobs shows she was lying to the audience, Segal says.
In the June, 2007 letter that Jacobs sent to Governor Charlie Crist, she argued that tax relief would “erode our quality of life”. Jacobs wrote the letter in her role as the President-Elect of the Florida Association of Counties (FAC). She was opposing Amendment 1, a plan to double the amount of home value that would be exempt from property taxes from $25,000 to $50,000. That amendment was approved by Florida voters.
The debate where Jacobs says she did not fight Amendment 1 airs Wednesday at 8pm on Central Florida News 13.
“My opponent needs to come clean on her record of fighting against tax relief,” said Bill Segal, candidate for Orange County Mayor. “She likes to tout her work on the Florida Association of Counties, but she wants to hide her efforts to keep you from getting a tax break.”
Jacobs’ work with the Florida Association of Counties was discussed in an exchange over her voting record. Jacobs missed 653 votes while she served on the County Commission, more than any other Orange County Commissioner in a decade. Jacobs claims she missed so many votes due in part to her work with the FAC.
“Orange County citizens paid her to do a job and she didn’t show up to do the work,” said Segal. “Instead, she went to another job and fought against the interests of Orange County families.”
Segal is calling on Jacobs to immediately admit that she lied to voters and explain how lower taxes ‘erode our quality of life’.
Wow…if that’s true that’s a pretty big gaffe. A bald-face lie in order to win an election? Especially since she’s running on a honesty and trustworthiness campaign. That’s just a shame that she would stoop so low.
I found the letter that she wrote, and she was definitely in opposition to lowering my taxes. I plan on watching the debate tonight to see if she actually does in fact lie.