For those who are so inclined, there’s nothing quite so delicious as a successful hack — a clever wriggle around the rules and expectations that constrain mere mortals.
But sometimes the players get played. Their smooth moves cost them a prize they thought they had successfully squirreled away. And bless their hearts, they get so mad when that happens.
Don’t they, Carey Baker?
See, Baker — who currently serves as Lake County property appraiser — thought he’d found a smart little shortcut around the tiresome business of collecting signatures or cutting a five-figure check to qualify for re-election. By filing as a write-in candidate, his paperwork would be minimal and almost all of the $24,300 he’d collected in contributions for the 2024 elections would stay nestled snugly in his campaign account.
It was a trick that worked fine for him in 2020. Baker’s name didn’t appear on the ballot, but neither did anyone else’s, so Baker was re-elected with no fuss. And it would have worked well this year as well, if not for a political upstart. Mark Jordan (who is th the brother of David Jordan, Lake County’s tax collector) dared to file for property appraiser as well. Now Mark Jordan’s name will appear on the ballot as the lone Republican — heck, the lone anything — running for property appraiser. Baker (who served in the state Legislature before taking over the property appraiser’s office) will have to hope that voters can remember to write in his name.
He’s …. not taking it well. In fact, Baker and his supporters seem to be pitching one of the biggest hissy fits in Lake County’s recent political history. Leading the pack is head of the Lake County GOP, Anthony Sabatini, who’s spewing insults and threats at the Jordan brothers as fast as he can think them up. (In some cases, maybe a little bit faster.)
Sabatini has threatened to drum the brothers out of the Lake County GOP. He’s convinced the county’s Republican Executive Committee to censure them for their “deeply immoral and depraved” actions. He’s dragged other officials into the mess, including a statement from state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson (who really should have done a little more investigating before lending his stamp of approval to Sabatini’s shenanigans). And of course, there’s a lawsuit, filed this week by Baker against Mark Jordan and Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays.
In the suit, Baker cuts past all the inflammatory rhetoric and notes that the deadline to file for these county offices was noon on June 14 — and that Mark Jordan’s paperwork was time-stamped about a half-hour after that cutoff. It’s easy to see why Baker feels so aggrieved by this. Because he was aware of the possibility of a fully qualified opponent, Baker hung out in the elections office to make sure his workaround worked — and was prepared to pay the filing fee if necessary. But after noon came and went, Baker left. About half an hour later, Mark Jordan paid the $10,685 fee to qualify. Just like that, Baker’s hack came un-hacked.
Here’s the critical point: Jordan was in line by noon — along with his brother David. In fact, Baker saw both of them waiting.
Baker’s legal claim that Hays should have refused to accept the brothers’ paperwork runs directly contrary to official state policy. Here’s what the Supervisor’s Handbook on Candidate Qualifying, issued by the Florida Division on Elections, has to say about qualifying deadlines:
If a candidate is standing in line to qualify at noon, but the papers have not been accepted, do I still accept the paperwork after the end of qualifying? Yes. If the candidate is in line prior to the end of qualifying, accept the paperwork. Note in the file that although the documents were time-stamped after the end of qualifying, the candidate was waiting to have the documents processed prior to the close of qualifying.
Because it’s not uncommon for there to be a last-minute rush of candidates, Hays kept time-stamped records documenting when each person showed up. The Jordans were indisputably in line before the noon deadline.
That blows a hole in the only real challenge to Mark Jordan’s candidacy. Take that away, and Lake voters are left with a foul cloud of insults from Sabatini, and an oversized sense of entitlement from Baker.
No political office-holder — no matter how popular or effective — should expect a guaranteed cruise to re-election year after year without even having to worry about possible opponents. Nobody should assume that the rules should flex to protect his incumbency. Baker had exactly the same opportunity Mark Jordan did: He could have paid the qualifying fee and left, assured of his place on the ballot. But — even though he knew other potential candidates were still in line when he left the elections office — Baker assumed he had his $170,000 job in the bag for another four years.
He got overconfident. It’s just that simple. Attempts to impugn Hays’ integrity, or drive Mark Jordan away with continuous blasts of scurrilous rhetoric from Sabatini, doesn’t change anything — except, perhaps, the trust and respect of Lake County voters, who had been electing Carey Baker to public office for nearly a quarter-century and who may now be wondering how long he’s taken their support for granted.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com.
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