Ok, class, remember these facts about local Lake County elections:
- The local blog, "Right Side of the Lake" is written and supported by the CEO of Romac lumber, Don Magruder, and they "don't endorse" political candidates, but they DO attack the opponents of the people they want to be elected. Think of the blog as the voice of the Lake County Homebuilders and Land Developers. (and not all of them agree with his tactics)
- Larry Metz is a local attorney who is on the Board of the Lake County School District, and he is running for the office of Florida State Rep for District 25. I have previously written that I support Metz because I have attended most School District Board meetings over the last 4 years and Metz has done a lot to provide direction to reduce costs, shift emotional decision making to fact based decisions, etc. But Metz is now running for Florida State Rep. for District 25, and his opponent is Rick Joyce. Joyce is supported by Magruder. Get the picture?
So Right Side has been attacking Metz periodically to help Joyce. The developers want
to do several things related to growth, and also shift impact fee costs to ALL tax payers so builders don't have to pay the existing, rather high Impact fees.
So, today, Right Side issued another blast at Metz.
Coincidentally, Metz sent out an email defending his actions in a matter described in an earlier Right Side Attack.
So, in fairness, here is Metz's response to an older attack. I will post his response to the new attack (which I disagree with) when Larry issues one. Larry didn't ask me to do this, but the articles that attack him conveniently leave out facts.
Homebuilders should be embarrassed by the Right Side of the Lake attacks.
Oh, yea, my recommendation still stands - Vote for Metz, just like the Orlando Sentinel recommends (and they are usually wrong, but not this time).
Vance Jochim
Chief Fiscal Ranger
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From Larry Metz at Larry Metz for State Representative [[email protected]]
(if you want the documents mentioned by Metz, email him)
Dated Aug. 16, 2010
The Right Side of the Lake Newsletter, sponsored by Leesburg-based Citizens for Better Government, LLC (Citizens), frequently attacks my public service as a member of the Lake County School Board. The Right Side ‘newsletters’ often contain personal attacks and harangues against many public officials which - if not false and malicious - are free speech protected under the First Amendment. Many public officials simply ignore their attacks but on occasion I choose to respond. Because of the increasing frequency of these attacks, it is difficult to respond in a timely manner each time this happens. However, the June 30, 2010, edition merits a special response. The August 10 and 16 diatribes, obviously timed to help my opponent in the August 24, 2010 Republican primary for State Representative, also deserve a response. For now I will focus on the June 30 edition.
Following the money and paper trail exposes the not so well hidden political agenda of The Right Side, which was on full display in the June 30 edition. Since its creation in 2004, Citizens has reported financial contributions from Dan Robuck and his family business, Ro-Mac Lumber & Supply, Inc. (Ro-Mac). In campaign finance reports, Citizens lists as its address a Leesburg property owned by a company in which Mr. Robuck is listed as the registered agent. Don Magruder, the reported manager of Citizens, is the CEO of Ro-Mac. The connections between The Right Side, Citizens, Ro-Mac, Mr. Magruder and Mr. Robuck are undeniable.
In the June 30 edition of The Right Side (copy attached), the author profiled Wolfgang Halbig, a filed no party affiliation candidate for Lake County Commissioner in District 4. Mr. Halbig was the Risk Manager of the Lake School District until June 30, 2009, when his contract was not renewed. Mr. Halbig gave $200 to Rick Joyce, my Republican primary opponent. Mr. Joyce also received a maximum $500 campaign contribution from Mr. Robuck. The financial contributions of Mr. Robuck and Mr. Halbig to my opponent’s campaign speak for themselves.
In addition to casting Mr. Halbig in a favorable light, the June 30 edition of The Right Side used Mr. Halbig’s story to level yet another attack on me. The pertinent portion of that ‘newsletter’ follows:
According to Halbig, the final nail came in his work coffin when he found out the district was being grossly overcharged by Brown and Brown on worker compensation premiums. He contends Scott Hindman with Brown and Brown was going to charge the district $3.4 million to remain in the program, and after Hindman found out they were bidding the program out, he immediately dropped it by $1 million.
The most troubling aspect was his meeting with School Board Member Larry Metz. Halbig contends that he told Metz of the overcharges and provided him information supporting it. Halbig said Carol MacLeod, CFO of the Lake County School District, warned him that if he pursued this change to save money he would be fired; Halbig relayed his concern to Metz. Halbig said, "Metz did not have enough courage to stand up against the insurance company and other board members, and there was a cowardliness in his voice."
A scan of the entire June 30, 2010 edition of The Right Side of The Lake Newsletter, with the above quoted language identified in context, is attached.
Mr. Halbig described what actually happened in his e-mail dated January 21, 2010, sent to Lake County School Board members and, ironically, titled “For the Record.” Yes, Mr. Halbig and I met and he informed me of his concern about the Brown & Brown insurance quote. However, contrary to what is reported in The Right Side, I acted upon the information Mr. Halbig provided by challenging Brown & Brown on their insurance quote at a School Board workshop. Mr. Halbig was present and afterwards thanked me for doing so. Mr. Halbig’s description of what happened is quoted from his January 21, 2010 email below:
We used to pay Brown and Brown $6,158,000 million dollars for the entire package one year and on the average since 2005-2006 we paid over $5,350,000 million dollars and would be paying the over $6,158,000 million dollar price tag had it not been for Larry Metz questioning Scott Hindman on the high premium we are paying since our claims history has now a .99 experience mod.
Just a simple challenge by Larry Metz in suggesting that we may switch to another program caused Scott Hindman to drop our premium insurance over $1,000,000 million dollars in three minutes.
No other school board member raised any concerns and I have always wondered why?
If he dropped our premium by over a $1,000,000 million dollars in three minutes does that mean he could have done that in 2005-2006, 2006-2007 maybe I guess we will never find out since no other board member held the company accountable.
A scan of Mr. Halbig’s entire email of January 21, 2010, with the above quoted language identified in context, is attached.
Mr. Halbig wrote his email months before he became a candidate for office and a financial contributor to my opponent. According to Mr. Halbig’s own account, my actions resulted in a savings to the Lake County School District of over $1,000,000. Clearly, the description of the events attributed to Mr. Halbig in the June 30 edition of The Right Side was completely inconsistent with his email. In this instance The Right Side either misrepresented what Mr. Halbig told them, or accepted his account as gospel without checking it out because it fit nicely into their political agenda. The same type of false, negative spin is evident in the August 10 and 16 editions. Readers of The Right Side should not accept its contents lightly, for it is not really a newsletter. The Right Side is merely a tool used to further the political agendas of those who are behind it.
Larry Metz
Political advertisement paid for and approved by Larry Metz, Republican, for State Representative, District 25.
