'Greatest personal betrayal': Internal GOP feud comes to Florida
The split in the national Republican Party is trickling down to the local level in Florida.
It all began when the Lake County Supervisor of Elections, Carey Baker, thought he came up with a brilliant idea to score a fourth term in office without all the financial disasters. He would file as a write-in candidate, and with no other person on the ballot, he'd still win, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Baker could save the more than-$10,600 filing fee. But at the last minute, Republican Mark Jordan — appointed by Ron DeSantis to fill a taxing authority post on a local hospital board — filed in the race.
Jordan had previously filed to keep the position, but withdrew at the last minute and switched over to Baker's appraiser race. To make things weirder, Jordan's brother, David, works with Baker as the Lake County tax collector.
“It’s like something out of a Shakespeare play, probably the greatest personal betrayal I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Baker said when speaking to the paper.
“I had told David Jordan, who I considered a friend, what I was going to do," Baker explained. "Same as I’d done before. … Wait until the very end, and when no one files to run against me. I file as a write-in at the deadline. I’m automatically elected and then I give all that money back to my contributors.”
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“We’re all basically queued up in this room waiting to hand in our paperwork. I had gotten there before David, Mark and Mike Holland, the mayor of Eustis who also works for David, and a few other people I knew, none of whom were running for property appraiser,” Baker said. “At that point, seeing no one was going to run against me, I turned my paperwork in as a write-in candidate. It was time-stamped 12:01, I said good-bye to everybody and I walked out a happy guy on my way to speak to the League of Cities in Mount Dora.”
Elections Supervisor Alan Hays said no laws were broken, but for some, there are both legal laws and "moral laws."
The local GOP social media buzz is aflame with rage over the Jordan brothers, however.
Lake County Republican Party chairman Anthony Sabatini called it “almost pure thievery” by the Jordan brothers.
He told the paper "everyone is disgusted" with the Jordans and it's "on a moral level more than politically."
Sabatini then made a clear threat: “We’ll do every single thing we can to make it clear to the Jordans, particularly to Mark, that the party will not acknowledge him and may expel or censure him. … He doesn’t deserve the Republican nomination."
He went on to say that he wants a "criminal investigation," though he didn't cite any laws that were broken.
Baker is looking into legal options available to him, according to the Florida Politics site.
“The whole community is furious about this,” Baker said. “I hope Mark does the right and honorable thing and withdraws.”
One issue is the question about when Jordan turned in his filing. Baker was there between 11:30 a.m. and noon, the deadline, to file his paperwork. Up until then he wasn't aware of anyone who filed against him. While Baker left before the Jordan's his filing was handed over at the noon deadline.
The doors closed behind the group of candidates and Baker said he thought he was among allies and friends. He said if he'd known one of them was going to file against him, he would have paid the fee.
“This could not have happened to me any other way except if it was done by a friend,” Baker said.
Baker had a speaking engagement and left the office. The second he was gone was when Jordan filed his candidacy.