On some days it seems the campaigns of Paula Hughes and Tom Henry seem more interested in arguing about past records instead of proposing ideas for the future.

Just this week Allen County Councilman Darren Vogt, R-3rd, wrote an op-ed in The Journal Gazette criticizing Henry for attacking Hughes’ record of raising taxes. In one specific case, he notes that Hughes voted to lower the county’s property tax levy by $100,000 in 2007.

“Paula Hughes and I worked together to LOWER the county’s property tax levy for the 2007 budget,” he wrote.

The Henry campaign was quick to attack the claim as being blatantly false. David Bergstein, Henry campaign spokesman, sent an email almost immediately after the column ran noting that the council didn’t lower taxes for residents.

In fact, as The Journal Gazette has previously reported, the council voted to lower the maximum levy by $100,000, but even with that reduction, the levy still rose by $1.7 million. The vote was unique, in the fact most governments simply took the maximum increase without debate, but it did not reduce property taxes.

“Paula Hughes voted for a $1.7 million tax increase, and now claims that somehow this is a tax cut,” Bergstein wrote.

It should also be noted that Vogt initially voted against the levy increase but changed his position in a second vote.