The Osceola County School Board Tuesday said it would remove funding from the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce and the Osceola Legislative Effort unless state. Rep. Mike Horner resigns.

Mike Horner

Horner, president of the Kissimmee Chamber and OLE, has been on personal leave from the position he’s held for more than 15 years since his name was linked publically to an Orange County brothel Sept. 24. Horner announced he was dropping out of his re-election for the House District 42 race that day.

School Board member Julius Melendez said that he, as a representative of the board, would propose a motion at Friday's regularly-scheduled chamber meeting that Horner resign his position as president of the organization because of the allegations.

He said he has the support of the rest of the School Board, saying at Tuesday's meeting he got "a nod" from every board member to carry on with his motion minus Jay Wheeler, who Melendez said, "did not register an opinion."

"We are fee-paying members. This is reflective of the school board's views, but it's also my opinion that those who receive our funding should be held to the same standard we hold our employees and students to," Melendez said.

He said the board is asking Horner also step down as president of OLE, with which the School Board spends $60,000 annually.

According to the School District, the School Board spent $73,580 with the chamber last year, including the funding to OLE; this year, the district has spent $7,090 with the chamber.

While Monday will be two weeks since the prostitution allegations against Horner surfaced, Melendez said he didn't feel the chamber was dragging its heels by not scheduling a special meeting to deal with this issue.

"I don't have issue with (board chairman) Pete Pace doing this at a regularly-scheduled meeting, because to take action he would need quorum," he said. "Most of the board is made up of businesspeople who plan their meeting schedule out months ahead.”

Horner earns $148,000 as chamber president.

School Board member Jay Wheeler called Melendez’s actions “political grandstanding” and said the board has more important issues to handle involving education such as a superintendent search and the superintendent goals announced Tuesday.

“For a guy who is no longer going to be on the board in 30 days, he’s speaking out of turn,” Wheeler said of Melendez. “To make that a priority seems ridiculous. These board members get wrapped up in things that can only be called peripheral.”

New documents released Tuesday further detail Horner’s involvement in the prostitution ring, where ringleader Mark Risner kept alphabetized notes of each client. Horner was known as a “Florida Congressman from Kissimmee since 2008” who visited the brothel at least nine times from October 2009 to April 2012.

Favoring mid-afternoon appointments, the notes state he stopped seeing one prostitute named Gerrie because he was afraid she would tell her friend his profession. It also states Horner “likes freaks in the bed” and wanted a “duo” with Gerrie and another prostitute named Katie.

Horner has declined to comment specifically about the allegations, only releasing a statement Sept. 24 where he apologized to his family for “unjustifiable pain and embarrassment” he caused.

This is a breaking news story. Check back with www.aroundosceola.com for updates.