Amy Mercado is Wholly Unqualified to be Orange County Property Appraiser, She Is The Worst Choice In The Campaign
- Details
- Category: Politics
- Published: Wednesday, 22 July 2020 22:13
- Written by Lawrence A Robinson
After reading campaign materials and watching interviews of all the candidates, here is my opinion on the race for Orange County Property Appraiser.
I received Amy Mercado's flyer for Orange County Property Appraiser in the mail and it was depressing. I decided to review her campaign web site and became disillusioned and even a bit angry. I wondered why Amy Mercado would completely disrupt their life's work to run for an office that she's surely not qualified for and in an industry that she has never shown any interest?
When Amy Mercado was asked why she was running for property appraiser, she said, 'I am running for Orange County property appraiser because the community has lost faith, trust and respect for the institution that is the OCPA office.' Unfortunately, faith, trust and respect for the institution are admirable but those qualities alone don't pay the bills.
Amy Mercado campaign web page shows that she has no qualifications whatsoever for this position, none. Even interviews where she was asked specific questions about the operations of the Property Appraiser's office, not once did she answer with the confidence of knowledge of the subject matter, not once.
Amy Mercado's campaign flyers talks about her business management style and her years as an activist and business leader. She can't talk about property management or valuation because she has no experience and has never been interested in the industry. Amy Mercado is way out of her league on this and should quit this campaign. She is well known in the community and is better qualified as an activist.
Related articles: Orange Observer Amy Mercador Orange Observer Rick Singh Orange Observer Khalid Muneer
Khalid Muneer is kinda sorta qualified for the position but he seems to lack the logic and critical thinking abilities needed for job. I have watched several interviews where he was featured and read several articles and quotes that he has made. They all seem to attack the incumbent. It doesn't matter what the question is, the responses are always the same, talk, but say nothing.
When asked why he wanted to run for property appraiser, Khalid Muneer said, 'I am troubled by the corruption scandals and wastage of taxpayers' hard-earned dollars for the last eight years since the incumbent has been in office as reported by the media.' Again, he said nothing in the total interview about supporting the school or the community.
Khalid Muneer has no vision. He believes that current Property Appraiser is making Disney pay high property taxes when the truth is, Disney is being asked to pay their fair amount. Khalid Muneer knows that the schools are funded by property taxes, but he is willing cut Disney's tax burden that also cut school funding at the same time. Khalid Muneer does not understand the relationship between property taxes and school funding.
Khalid Muneer may think he knows how to do the job, but he really doesn't know how to do the job.
Rick Singh has been Orange County Property Appraiser for eight years. When asked why he want to run again for property appraiser, Rick Singh said, 'I am committed to increasing the dollars returned to Orange County's residents and taxpayers through fraud compliance, and to increasing revenues by ensuring that big business pays its way.'
Rick Singh and I had breakfast together eight years ago. During that meeting, not long after he had gotten elected, he told me of things to come. His goal for the appraiser's office was to create a system where property owners, pay their fair share of taxes. He told me that the affluent property owners pay far less property tax than others and the system mandates that the average taxpayer pays much more.
This must change. He expected to be attacked by the wealthy property owners. He insisted that this office must be 'perfect' from the start, then it must get better as time goes along. He said that he will do all that he can to make the system fair even in the face of opposition and he will move the office of Orange County Property Appraiser forward.
It is obvious to me that Rick Singh deserves another term. He is doing what he promised that he would do.