Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/352007
Maio told the audience he would not vote to completely eliminate fiscal neutrality, which led to heckling. Dan Lobeck, an attor- ney vociferously opposed to altering 2050, shouted, "That's not the issue!" He earlier accused Maio of not answering a question he had posed. When Nilon jokingly threatened to hit Lobeck, applause broke out. "What I need is one moderator," Maio said. Without naming names, Maio later criticized those in the community who accuse elected officials of being "liars, cheats and crooks," saying the rhetoric scares off companies con- sidering relocating to the region. "I've had to sit there and defend our beautiful county," he added, "because people say to me, 'I want to move in 50 people. Why are you people so angry?'" He also slammed the media for focusing on his ties to developers and their investment in his campaign. "As a community, we tend to just pick the extremely titillating, sexy, little sound bites to try to ridicule somebody," he said earlier in the debate. Lourdes Ramirez/Contributed photo Sarasota News Leader July 25, 2014 Page 49