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County Republican Party Firestorm After Last Minute Filing

    “There was only friends left to betray me.” - Lake County Property Appraiser Carey Baker.
    Last Friday's qualifying deadline for county elections has resulted in a firestorm within the Lake County Republican party.  A last-minute move by Mark Jordan to qualify for election as Lake County Property Appraiser has raised ethical, and possibly legal questions that by Monday had grown to include interest from state-level republicans.
    Lake County politics is dominated by the Republican party, with all Constitutional Offices and the entire Lake County Commission currently held by Republicans.  Republicans hold a nearly 2 to 1 voter registration over Democrats in Lake County, and a rift within the party can ripple through the county’s operations.
    More than a rift appeared on Friday, when Jordan switched his intentions from remaining on the North Lake Hospital Board to instead running for the office of Property Appraiser.
    Jordan is the brother of Lake County Tax Collector David Jordan, who was appointed to the hospital district in January by Governor Ron Desantis.  Previously, he had been a candidate for the state house of representatives, but dropped out of that race. 
    Candidates filing to run against others of the same party is hardly a bombshell event, but the way Jordan apparently undertook his switch has left much of the party’s apparatus seething and demanding he drop out of the race.
    “The single greatest act of betrayal I’ve ever experienced.”
    That’s how incumbent Carey Baker described Jordan’s actions this week.
    It all happened in the office of Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays, where candidates gather to officially file for office.  Baker was there, as were the Jordans.  After the noon filing deadline, when nobody else was allowed to enter the room, Baker filed as a write-in candidate as he had no stated opposition.  Filing in such a manner would allow him to return the estimated $11,000 filing fee to people who had contributed to his campaign, an act of fiscal conservation that he had also undertaken four years ago, the last time he was up for election.
    However, after Baker filed and left, Mark Jordan filed for the property appraiser’s office race, instead of the hospital district. As a result, Jordan’s name will be the only one on the ballot in the November election.
    Baker agreed to the idea that he simply could have written the check and appeared on the ballot himself, but wanted to save his contributors the money, and felt he was in a room of friends.
    “I was only surrounded by who I thought was friends,” Baker said.  “If was in a room with strangers, I just would have filed and paid the fee.”
    Worse, Baker said he had confided in David Jordan his plans to file as write-in, information Jordan apparently used to clear the way for the brothers to oversee both of the county's taxing offices.
    "I had confided in David what I was going to do," Baker said. "Mark didn't say 'By the way, Carey, I'm running against you'."  Instead, "He was waiting for me to leave to stab me in the back."
    The Jordans' move created a near-instant explosion within the party. 
    The Lake County Republican Party on Saturday issued a release demanding Mark Jordan immediately withdraw from the race.
    “This disturbing act of election fraud and political deception is potentially criminal and unbecoming of any candidate for public service, and has no parallel in the history of our county or state,” wrote Anthony Sabatini, Chairman of the Lake County Republican Party.  “Mark Jordan, in conjunction with Tax Collector David Jordan, waited until Baker was out of sight, then withdrew his candidacy for the North Lake County Hospital Board race, and then filed instead for the Republican nomination for Lake County Property Appraiser… Because he timed it to 12 p.m., Baker could no longer qualify for office as the Republican nominee.”
    Sabatini went on to provide further support to Baker, who as things stood on Monday, will be forced to ramp up a write-in campaign to contest Jordan this coming November.
    “Carey Baker is the single most respected and humble public servant in Lake County history.”
    Baker said that kind of support, which has spread locally and even touched the state level, has helped him cope with the situation.
    “The overwhelming support that I have gotten from the community, it gives me the courage to fight on.”
    Attempts to speak with Mark Jordan for this story resulted in voicemails not being returned.
    Baker, however, had no trouble speaking on how he feels about what was done.
    “People like David and Mark should never hold office.  It was so unethical.”
    Going forward, Baker said if calls for Jordan to leave the race aren’t successful, he intends to mount a robust campaign, and is buoyed by both the support he has received in recent days and the belief that the voters of Lake County will want to have little to do with the Jordans efforts.
    “I considered David Jordan a friend,” Baker said.  But now the people of Lake County “know him for what he is.”