Candidate response: Chester Bullock, Republican for Manatee County Property Appraiser

Editor’s note: The Bradenton Herald allows candidates who did not receive the Editorial Board’s recommendation the opportunity to respond.

Chester Bullock, Manatee County Property Appraiser

I read the Opinion of the Bradenton Herald dated Aug. 24 and I am not surprised at their choice for my opponent for property appraiser. Some of the statements made are very misleading. My opponent has given away millions of dollars of taxpayer money to special interest groups, land developers and home builders. His entire campaign is financed by all of these people.

You casually mention homeowners and businesses that are angry; wow, what a surprise! People are tired of paying for the other person’s property taxes because of my opponent’s lack of compassion or caring about the community or his knowledge of what he supposed to be doing.

He admitted in the Herald/METC Candidate Forum that “he does not go into the field.” So how does he know how the community feels about his performance? Public service is worth mentioning, not my opponents lack of service.

While he is bound to follow state law, he has not. There are 24,000 parcels overdue for inspections by statute. Other examples are: campaigning on state time and using the state vehicle to campaign; using state and local equipment to order signs and items for his campaign, and begging for campaign contributions on state time and property. The list of violations goes on and on.

Since you claim his greatness, “Can he walk on water”?

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Candidate response: Chester Bullock, Republican for Manatee County Property Appraiser."