COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Because local radio personalty Bob Soos gives civic activist Charlie Wilson free air time each week to serve up whatever random thoughts have been fermenting in his subconscious, Soos’ program, at least on Tuesday mornings, has become a place where “Where Truth Takes a Beating.”

Yesterday, Wilson was on the air again claiming his job is to “tell people the truth.”  Not exactly!

Wilson disavowed ever having been a business partner with County Commissioner Tim Zorc.  That is a puzzling denial, given that a little more than a year ago, Wilson and Zorc both approached me about their disagreement with County Administrator Joe Baird, and county Community Development Director Bob Keating, over disputed commissions on recovered impact fees.  Clearly, Wilson and Zorc had a business relationship, however Wilson might now try to characterize it.

In fact, in a 2012 story on Zorc’s announcement that he would run for a seat on the Indian River County Commission, the Press Journal reported, “He (Zorc) has become a construction consultant. He assists in documenting Chinese drywall claims as part of federal litigation based in New Orleans, he said, and locally helps with Vero Beach businessman Charlie Wilson’s efforts to get the county to refund unspent impact fees.”

Ever seeking to put his spin on the truth, Wilson then tried to make a point of the fact that Councilman Richard Winger has raised $10,000 in his bid for re-election.  Wilson chose not to mention that Councilwoman Tracy Carroll will almost surely have at her disposal some $39,000 in FPL cash now in the hands of Glenn Heran’s political action committee, Citizens For a Brighter Future, Inc.

To date, Citizens For a Brighter Future has raised $110,220, $97,000 of it given by FPL between Feb. 8 to March 6 of this year.  Of the PAC’s $70,831.50 expenses to date, $62,291.18 was spent to promote passage of the March 12 referendum on the sale of Vero Electric.  Essentially, the full cost of promoting passing of the referendum was paid for by FPL.

Wilson knows that with $39,000 of FPL money left over, Citizens For a Brighter Future will see to it that Carroll is not outspent by Winger, or any other candidates who might challenge her.

Wilson has a way of sinking his teeth into one issue, like a dog on a bone.  In doing so, he becomes oblivious to everything thing else transpiring around him.  It is as if Wilson has a one-dimensional mind that perceives the world in black and white, and is incapable of discerning shades of meaning.

Based on his recent on-air comments, Wilson seems to believe anyone who objects to Craig Fletcher’s and Tracy Carroll’s dismissive and disparaging comments about Humanists is really only opposed to Mayor’s and Vice Mayor’s position on the sale of the electric system.

Apparently, it hasn’t occurred to Wilson that he and those who circled the wagons around Fletcher and Carroll are motivated to preserve the Council majority in order to further the sale of Vero Electric.

Wilson was flat wrong yesterday, when he claimed Vero Beach’s tax rate is lower that other Florida cities because of the high value of the local tax base.   Stuart, with a population of 15,550 and just 6.6 square miles of property to tax, raises $6 million a year in property tax revenue.

Vero Beach, comprising 11 square miles, and with a comparable size population, raises just $4 million a year in property tax revenue.   This $2-million-a-year differential has little, if anything to do with property values.  Quite simply, revenue from Vero Electric has enabled Vero Beach to maintain an artificially low tax rate for decades.

Pointing out these facts to Wilson, though, will not keep him from continuing to misinform Soos’ listeners.  So, for those who tune in for a weekly dose of political baloney from Charlie Wilson, don’t expect to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Let the listener beware.