Full, Accurate and Complete Disclosure is Necessary for all Candidates.
By: Maynard Joseph DeBary, Fl. (July 29, 2010) -The communities of Enterprise and Osteen are within the boundaries of Volusia County District 5 along with the incorporated cities of Deltona and DeBary. Together, they comprise more than 20% of the total population (515,000 est. 2009) of Volusia County.
County Council Person Patricia Northey on the Volusia County Council who is seeking reelection this fall currently represents Volusia County District 5. Also entered in the election to represent district 5 is former DeBary Council member Greg France and Alison Curtiss, of DeBary, who has no prior political experience.
County Council Person Northey and France have been involved in controversial issues regarding city and county business, Northey favoring and voting for the Farmton development, while France supported a failed effort to bring horse racing and poker rooms to the city of DeBary. During the DeBary race track/poker room controversy, France was openly accused of paying Stetson students $20.00 each to attend a public meeting in support of the project, although the allegation was never proven.
Northey meanwhile states she can “defend and justify her approval of the Farmton project and is open to any inquiries from all constituents”.
Mr. France did not respond to several questions asked of him for this article, which raises some serious questions compounded by some inaccurate, and contradictory, information in a recent mailing sent by France to absentee voters.
There have been persistent low key rumors in West Volusia that, at some point, there would be an attempt to bring pari-mutuel wagering to NASCAR, but Mr. France did not respond as to whether he would support such an action if brought before the County Council, such as he did in DeBary acting as a private citizen.
Public Records Exemption Blocks Voters
Throughout his career, Mr. France has served several municipalities in different capacities in construction related positions. At some point, it appears Mr. France thought it was necessary to file for a “public records exemption”. In so doing, it makes it relatively impossible to locate some information on Mr. France from public records.
It is not unusual for law enforcement or any public safety officer, actually it is quite common, to make use of this exemption for security purposes. Mr. France was a building official a number of years ago and now claims to be a “Building Consultant, Florida General Contractor and a Solar Contractor”. It is very questionable why Mr. France would have a public records exemption and not answer an inquiry as to his reasons for not making some information publicly available, leaving many unanswered questions with the voters.
One resource open to media and voters that is not covered by public records exemption is the Department of Professional Regulation, DPR, where many professional licenses may be verified. A check of these records shows that Mr. France is not a licensed Solar Contractor in the eyes of the state.
Mr. France is currently on record with DPR as having taken part of the exam to become a Solar Contractor but has not completed the entire examination. There is no Solar Contractor license (CV) found in Mr. France’s name although he claims one in his brochure.
Noteworthy, the third candidate running for district 5, Alison Curtiss, lists on her web site that she is a mortgage broker. A check of public records shows her mortgage broker license expired two years ago.
Interesting enough is the fact that France’s property records, including his address, which cannot be located in Volusia County public records, appears as the return address on his mailer. The lack of public and media access to a candidate’s normally available information creates more questions and suspicion regarding their background and leaves only the candidate to provide the answers. Regarding property, many questions could arise as to any real estate holdings, creating possibly unnecessary suspicion.
