Teresa Jacobs, Candidate for Orange County Mayor, Calls for Investigation Into Potential Violations of Ethics and Financial-Disclosure Laws

ORLANDO, Fla., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Orange County mayoral candidate Teresa Jacobs announced that she is calling for an investigation into potential violations of the county's ethics and financial-disclosure laws.  Jacobs says that the recent focus by the media and by other candidates on the men-only parties staged by the "No Name Club" is important, but is missing a more serious issue:  the strong evidence that Commissioner Bill Segal is refusing to comply with the disclosure requirements of the ethics laws mandated by a huge majority of county voters.

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 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 ethics ordinance has occurred.

Jacobs 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."

Today, Jacobs also called on the County Commission to close the loopholes they created in the County's ethics ordinance in 2008.

Jacobs first proposed tightening the state and local ethics and disclosure rules on March 21, 2006, in a memo to Mayor Crotty and the County Commission.  Her proposal for reforms included banning elected officials from voting on matters that benefit past business associates and requiring more frequent and more detailed disclosure of business interests and business partners.

Two years later, in July 2008, the Commission adopted, in concept, most of Jacobs' proposals.  But Jacobs wasn't satisfied with the outcome because, she said, "they also built in more loopholes, undermining the two-year effort to restore public confidence in their local elected officials."  Jacobs offered several amendments in 2008 to try to close those new loopholes, but the Commission supported only about half of them.  

Upon passage of the 2008 ordinance, Jacobs expressed the most disappointment in Commissioner Segal, who pushed to insert loopholes to allow elected officials to continue to conceal their business partners. "I questioned at the time why Commissioner Segal was so opposed to disclosing his business partners.  And I'm appalled today that he would continue to hide his business relationships from the public.  He is ignoring the mandate of the voters."

SOURCE Teresa Jacobs, Candidate for Orange County Mayor