OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The future of a Central Florida school board member is in jeopardy.
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Jon Arguello is accused of intimidating a vendor that would not contribute to his sister’s campaign.
A letter from the school district has been sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis asking him if Arguello should be suspended from office or not.
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It comes after the board got a complaint and had an independent investigation into Arguello, and accusations that he intimidated a vendor who didn’t support his sister’s campaign.
Read the full letter to DeSantis below:
Letter to Gov. DeSantis by Adam Poulisse on Scribd
His sister, Jennifer Arguello, is running for Chairwoman Terry Casillo’s seat.
The investigation shows that Arguello was upset that lobbyist Mike Horner would not make a donation to that campaign. Board member Clarence Thacker said when he didn’t, Arguello contacted Horner’s other clients and asked them to drop Horner from representing them.
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“I want to be clear, I consider this a very serious offense,” Thacker said.
On Tuesday, the board voted to sanction Arguello and is sending the letter to DeSantis to make a decision on what should happen next.
But Arguello said the letter meant nothing to him, and told the board he never asked Horner’s clients to fire him, but did ask for a donation as did others on the board.
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And it was clear Arguello did not like the way this was done.
“I am not ashamed to tell anyone how I feel,” Arguello said. “I am not ashamed to tell Mr. Horner to go to hell. I am not ashamed to tell you, Mr. Thacker, to go to hell — not only over this, over anything.”
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