The Mayor of Orange County will strongarm her way into the race for Orange County School Board Chair, a desperate display.
By Jacob Engels
There is no love lost between this publication and Republican Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs. The convicted Sunshine law violator and career politician has always been looking for the next political office, but rumors of her running for School Board Chair should be the final straw for voters.
Jacobs, who served on the County Commission before running for Mayor, is the original swamp creature of Central Florida politics. She famously colluded with Disney lobbyists to quash earned sick time and got busted for this illegal activity several years ago.
According to Orlando Politics, Jacobs is planning a bid for Orange County School Board Chair, and we have the scoop on that campaign. More importantly, we have five reasons why Teresa Jacobs should just retire and fade off into the sunset.
1). Outgoing School Board Chairman Bill Sublette was a state legislator and career politician before running for School Board and winning. He has accomplished little on the school board and represents the exact reason why professional politickers like Teresa Jacobs have no business determining the future of children in Orange County. She has no background as an educator and we should want those with a connection to our students and educational process setting the tone for public schools in Orange County.
2). She was laughed out of every other political venture she explored with her advisors in the past year. First, she was supposed to run for Congress and challenge Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy on the GOP line. National, state, local political interests were not hot on this idea. The volunteer/activist core stood in solidarity, seeing right through Teresa’s scheme. Think about that, Teresa was opposed by the political establishment and grassroots when teasing the idea of her hitting the big leagues in Washington.
3). After scrubbing out in her hopes of national political office through Congress, Mayor Jacobs approached powerbrokers in Tallahassee about running for Chief Financial Officer, challenging Republican incumbent Jimmy Patronis. Governor Scott and Tallahassee interests not only laughed her out of the room, but promised to end her campaign if she mounted one. Their issue was not about a contested primary, which is healthy for the Democratic process, but because it was such a blatant attempt at remaining on the public tit.
4). Many insiders we have spoken to argue that Teresa’s main motivation in running for School Board is financial. She would rather use her bully pulpit as Mayor to raise money for her campaign for School Board, which is much easier than earning a living in the private sector. Why not use the donor’s dollar to hopscotch to the next job on the public tit? Will four years on the School Board improver her county pension or benefits? Ms. Jacobs should agree to no pay for her work on the School Board if elected.
5). Mayor Jacobs has stood against citizen controlled efforts like the Children’s Trust for Orange County, which would give taxpayers oversight on over $50million on funding set aside for youth programs. Jacobs reportedly felt “uncomfortable” with having an independent agency providing oversight on how taxpayer dollars were spent. I don’t know about you, but more independent/citizen-based oversight on government spending is exactly what we need. Apparently, Teresa Jacobs, the ultimate insider, thinks otherwise.
The Central Florida Post will be publishing a series of stories on Ms. Jacobs’ bid for Orange County School Board in the coming weeks, and we will not relent.
My family is full of educators on all levels and I will not stand idly by while a career politician like Teresa Jacobs tries to earn a fat paycheck, campaigning for a job she has no business doing.
Teachers and students deserve a competent and qualified individual from within their ranks for a change, not a swamp creature looking for her next big payday.
Jacob Engels is an Orlando based journalist whose work has been featured and republished in news outlets around the globe including Politico, InfoWars, MSNBC, Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, Daily Mail UK, Associated Press, People Magazine, ABC, Fox News, and Australia’s New Dawn Magazine. Mr. Engels focuses on stories that other news outlets neglect or willingly hide to curry favor among the political and business special interests in the state of Florida.
