I couldn’t help but respond to the misleading attack ads running about my former County Council colleague Paula Hughes.

Tom Henry is distorting the facts about someone who has been a consistent defender of the taxpayer and a leader in attracting jobs to our community.

Despite what you may be seeing on your TV and in your mailbox, here’s the truth about Hughes’s efforts on County Council: Hughes and I worked together to lower the county’s property tax levy for the 2007 budget. We succeeded and saved the taxpayers $100,000.

In 2009, Henry championed the wheel tax but Hughes and I voted against it.

We fought the political pressure and voted against tax increases in an economic downturn.

In 2010, Hughes proposed a property tax rebate to Allen County residents. She clearly has a record of defending the taxpayer and Henry knows it.

Now, Henry is trying to attack Hughes for failing to support business. This is laughable.

Hughes and I have been working within the government to make it more responsive to the needs of employers.

In fact, we streamlined the abatement process, and the county’s process was the model for abatement reform undertaken by the City of Fort Wayne.

It’s clear we have made Allen County an easier place to do business and that Allen County government is in far better fiscal shape than it was 10 years ago.

In fact, we’re seeing employers look for locations in Allen County but not within the limits of the city of Fort Wayne.

Is that a coincidence? No.

Henry’s attacks are simply shameful.

Henry also knows that people are mad about the city’s wasteful spending, Fort Wayne’s now half-a-billion dollar debt, and the fact that the business climate hasn’t improved inside the city limits.

Henry’s record of leadership is the problem, and now he’s trying to change the subject.

I didn’t think he would stoop to running misleading attack ads so early in the campaign, but I guess we’re learning more about the real Henry now.

Fort Wayne voters, don’t be fooled by the hundreds of thousand of dollars Henry is spending for his attempted bait-and-switch.

We trusted Hughes with the County Council gavel and elected her president of the council twice for good reason.

She is a principled leader who put the best interest of taxpayers first.