Calling an independent investigation against him “a work of fiction” and “politically motivated,” School Board Member Jon Arguello has sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis explaining his side of the circumstances.
At its Feb. 1 meeting, the Osceola County School Board voted to reprimand and censure Arguello after the investigation found he breached Board rules regarding conduct toward a School District vendor, and forwarded the matter to Gov. Ron DeSantis for review.
An independent investigator ruled Arguello “engaged in intimidating and hostile acts against a vendor’s business interests that appear to be beyond his scope as a Board member of oversight of School District contracts and funds.”
Arguello had previously asked the District to sever its $5,000-a-month contract with former state representative Mike Horner, noting breach of contract issues and that Horner was not registered, therefore out of compliance, to lobby the Legislature. This followed an exchange, detailed in the investigation, from June 2021 that Arguello had asked Horner for campaign contributions to Jennifer Arguello, Jon’s sister, who has filed to run in District 1 against current Board Chair Terry Castillo. Horner informed him he’d be supporting Castillo in the race, which will be later this year. During the investigation, Horner said his relationship with Jon Arguello “transformed within a matter of weeks to repeated, very public criticisms.”
As part of the investigation, a Horner client reported Arguello called him to say Horner’s district contract should be terminated and “that Mr. Arguello was looking for validation for him as a client to stop doing business with Horner.”
In his interview for the report, Arguello stated he was fulfilling “oversight of vendors providing services to the district … in regards to his criticism of Mr. Horner.”
As part of a 50-page transcript of his investigation interview, Arguello called Horner “a representative of the corruption level we have in Osceola County … at the district he is a problem. He is a liability. The liability centers around the fact they don’t care about conflicts of interest.”
Horner called the School Board’s action “appropriate.”
In his letter to DeSantis — as of early this week his office had not made any statement of reviewing the case — Arguello asked the governor, “before government resources are wasted investigating something that never happened,” to investigate the Osceola district “for potential acts of corruption, from procurement to maintenance.
“Osceola is fraught with abuse of the public’s trust,” Arguello wrote in the letter. “I chose my country, my county, and my community over my personal interest, and I decided I was going to fight like hell to expose them all. This letter, this investigation, and their constant attempts to intimidate me and coerce me into silence is a reaction to my integrity and exercising my sense of duty to my office … I pray that you choose our community over these glorified thugs.”
Reached this week, Arguello said he never asked Horner’s clients to “fire” him.
“I asked about the product they received versus what the School District got,” he said. When asked if he worries
When asked if he worries he’ll be removed from the School Board, he said he’s confident he won’t be.
“If that’s the consequence of speaking the truth, then so be it,” he said. “If I am, I’ll be at the podium speaking out having seen behind the curtain. Either way I’ll fight like hell against corruption either as a citizen or an elected official.”
Arguello has spent much of his term that started in August 2020 alleging that School District contracts often go to a network of tied-in conflicted interests.
The next scheduled School Board meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 15.
