Central Florida GOP pariah breaks silence, justifies Lake County shenanigans

The Central Florida Republican pariah broke his silence Tuesday.

Mark Jordan says he did not mislead outgoing Lake County Property Appraiser Carey Baker into running June 14 as a write-in candidate for re-election, a move that leaves the popular Baker’s name off of the November ballot while that of Jordan will appear as the only Republican candidate. for the post.

He also said he would not withdraw from the race as party leaders have requested.

But Jordan acknowledged that he took advantage of Baker’s history of election rules to save the $10,685.04 qualifying fee, which regular candidates must pay but write-in candidates avoid.

“It was my intention to file and qualify as a Republican real estate appraiser, regardless of the choices and decisions of others,” he said Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Orlando Sentinel, the first he has given since the controversy began.

“Look, I had a plan but he handed me something else, an even better plan, on a silver platter. I’m not going to act like I didn’t know this couldn’t happen, but I’m going to tell you very clearly, this was not some special information whispered in my brother’s ear… The (Republican Executive Committee) made it seem like a scene from Scooby Doo.

Jordan said it was well known that Baker had not had his name on the ballot for at least eight years, but that he continued to be re-elected as a write-in candidate because he did not attract no opponent. He and his brother, Lake County Tax Collector David Jordan, figured that gave Mark an opportunity to apply for the regular candidate position as the noon deadline approached.

His explanation was called a lie by Baker and Anthony Sabatini, chairman of the Lake County Republicans.

“Here’s the truth, the obvious truth,” Sabatini fumed, blaming both Mark and David Jordan, the latter of whom Baker said he had considered a friend. “They hatched a plot to steal the nomination from the most respected leader in Lake County history for the last 50 years. They are greedy people who care about money and power, and they are shameless, spineless morons.”

The elected position carries a salary of about $170,000, a figure set by a state formula based on county population.

Baker, the elected assessor since 2012, filed a lawsuit Tuesday evening against Jordan and Lake County elections supervisor Alan Hays, alleging that Hays should not have accepted Jordan’s qualifying documents and filing fees which, he argued, were submitted after the deadline of June 14 at noon. .

The lawsuit seeks to prevent Hays from including Jordan as a candidate for real estate appraiser on the Nov. 5 general election ballot or from certifying any votes that might be cast for Jordan in the race.

Baker said in the court filing that he arrived to qualify for re-election to Hays’ office around 11:30 a.m. June 14.

Seeking to save the qualifying fee he planned to return to his donors, Baker said he waited to submit his final qualifying document to ensure no other applicants had completed the legal formalities to apply. run against him and paid the fee to have his name on the ballot. .

Believing there was no opposition, Baker submitted his paperwork to qualify as a write-in candidate, said goodbye to the Jordans and others waiting to submit paperwork, then drove to Mount Dora where he gave a speech.

Jordan and his brother arrived at the supervisor’s office at 11:48 a.m., according to an “eligible reservation for applicants,” but his completed paperwork was not delivered with the fee until between 12:26 p.m. and 12:46 p.m., according to the documents. attached to the trial.

“The flaw in Jordan’s devious scheme is that he submitted his documents and fees too late,” the lawsuit claims.

“Absent extenuating circumstances beyond the applicant’s control, merely being present in the supervisor’s office before noon on the last day of qualification is not sufficient to qualify,” Baker alleged in the action brought by the Tallahassee branch of the Shutts & Bowen law firm.

Jordan said he was disappointed by the attacks. “This really is about free and equal access to our electoral process,” he said. “I did everything according to the law as I understood it and everything according to what the elections office supervisor asked me to do.”

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