Editor’s Note:  This is the third in a three-part series on civic activist Charlie Wilson, and is the first is a series on local personalities influential in local polities.  Our objective is to profile of a person who has run for numerous elective offices and who has been active and influential in local polities.  Wilson was sent an email on June 28 requesting an interview.  Because we are committed to not quoting sources erroneously or out of context, we offered to provide Wilson with a recorded copy of the interview.

Wilson did not respond to the June 28 email. In subsequent correspondence, Wilson agreed to meet, but only if his comments would be held off the record.  Further, he proposed to restrict the “interview” by limiting it to written answers he would provide to previously submitted questions.  There is more to that story, but for another time.

This three-part series presents what we know and can report about Charlie Wilson based on stories about him appearing in newspapers and online, and from other people interviewed who know Wilson and are familiar with his political activities. We would have questioned Wilson about this information prior to publication, and hope to do so at a future time in an on-the-record interview to be held at a time convenient to both parties.

The first two installments were posted August 2 and 3.

MILT THOMAS 

In December 2010, Wilson started Asset Research and Recovery, to recover impact fees paid to the county but as yet, according to Wilson, unspent. Therefore, the county was retaining millions that he felt should be returned to the developers and landowners.  It was a subject about which Wilson had often expressed passionate criticism in his blogs and through traditional media. It was also a potentially profitable business. Wilson charged clients a 30% commission for recovering impact fees.

Ten months later, in September 2011, Wilson stepped down as president of Asset Research and Recovery, as he said, “…to work on other projects. It was clear that Commissioner Wheeler will not support anything I am in favor of for purely political reasons.” (Vero Beach 32963 online, December 29, 2011).

Apparently, Wilson and Wheeler no longer shared the relationship they had in years past.

After leaving Asset Research and Recovery, Wilson opened two new companies in the same line of business, Open Permit Search Inc. and Impact Fee Consultants (as well as the website ClosePermit.com)

Commissioner Wesley Davis was listed as a partner/franchisee in Open Permit Search Corp., but later backed out, according to a story on TCPalm, September 13, 2011. “…Davis said he backed out of a private business venture that could have put him in conflict with his role as an elected official. But he didn’t back out before his name was printed on flyers and cards distributed to businesses across the Treasure Coast.”

Further in the article, Davis is quoted as saying he had been involved with the company for about a month, but had not yet signed a contract. He said he didn’t see the business venture as being an ethical issue.

In a related story, County Commissioner Tim Zorc, who was elected in November 2012, had done business with Wilson’s other new company, Impact Fee Consultants. Zorc’s name came up in a lawsuit between Wilson and the Vero Beach Museum of Art. The suit was over a $100,000 impact fee refund obtained by Wilson’s company for which he had not been paid his 30% commission.

Museum executive director, Lucinda Gedeon, said she dealt with Zorc who represented himself as senior vice president of Impact Fee Consultants.  Zorc said in a recent interview that his relationship with Wilson was as an independent contractor and it ended when Zorc declared his candidacy for county commissioner. Further, he said he is not involved in any way with Wilson.

Wilson subsequently won the lawsuit against the Museum. Ironically, an attorney and partner in Wilson’s former company, Asset Research and Recovery, then claimed that Wilson had violated a non-compete clause in their agreement (VeroNews.com, October 8, 2012).

In the aforementioned December 29, 2012 article in Vero Beach 32963 online, the publication interviewed Wilson after his success in having the County Commission vote to refund about $400,000 in impact fees to island homeowners. He credited Commissioners Davis and Solari for supporting him. “I am pleased Asset Research and Recovery is continuing to successfully recover refunds based on my concept and plan,” the article quoted Wilson. “For example, just last month we recovered more than $100,000 for one company that didn’t know it had a refund coming.”

Presumably, he was referring to the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

Later in the same December 29 article, Wilson referred to the County when he was quoted as saying, “They have been able to deny, delay and deflect for over a year, but we finally proved refunds are due.”

In the summer of 2012, Wilson started a new blog, Wheeler and Wilson, co-authored by retiring County Commissioner Gary Wheeler. It focused primarily on political races. The blog supported Tim Zorc against his opponents.

Wilson also used the blog to continue his criticism of the Chamber of Commerce. In the August 10, 2012 issue, he wrote: “Dust up at the Economic Development Council this week. A local businessman suggested that we invite other experts to look at helping Indian River County with economic development rather than the Chamber of Commerce…Several years ago I suggested we invite advertising agencies to bid on the advertising project.” (Please refer to above comments on the March 14, 2007 Tourist Development Council meeting.) The Wheeler and Wilson blog entry concluded with the following statement: “…maybe we can just start a new Chamber of Commerce that actually represents business interests.”

That last comment was apparently not an idle threat. In May 2013, The Florida State Chamber of Commerce received a request from Charlie Wilson asking how to go about opening a new Chamber of Commerce in Vero Beach.

In the fall 2012 campaign for Vero Beach City Council, two groups advocating the sale of Vero Electric to FPL, Operation Clean Sweep and Citizens For Truth, involved Wilson. He is identified in news accounts as the founder of both groups.

Tim Zorc was elected to the County Commission in November 2012 and took office in January 2013. He says Charlie Wilson had nothing to do with his campaign and is upset that his name continues to come up in connection with Wilson. Upon taking office, Zorc asked to be assigned as liaison to the Economic Development Council and it was granted. His relationship with the Chamber of Commerce from that point forward was a cause for concern, expressed by Commission Chairman Joe Flescher. Recently, Zorc met with Chamber officials to “mend fences.”

In January 2013, Charlie Wilson made a well-publicized effort to demand the firing of County Administrator, Joe Baird, presumably over his role in retaining impact fees. He told Commissioner Peter O’Bryan that if he did not vote to fire Baird he would find three candidates to oppose him for reelection. Wilson then formed a political action committee, Committee to Replace Joe Baird.

Wilson is a weekly guest on the Bob Soos Morning Magazine radio show where he frequently criticizes the Chamber of Commerce, Joe Baird and those opposed to the sale of Vero Electric to FPL. He continually makes statements as fact that even show host, Bob Soos, cautioned him. (“Be careful about your comparisons, Charlie. One view isn’t fact, just opinion.”) He also criticizes this publication regularly during his monologue on the Soos show.

As Larry Reisman wrote in his TCPalm piece, “The omnipresent, ever-changing Charlie Wilson” back in October of 2009, “But Wilson has politics in his blood, whether he’s running for office, running someone’s campaign or trying to get a government contract. That’s if he’s not writing his own e-newsletter or otherwise acting as a news person. Wilson can be charming, self-deprecating and mean at almost the same time.”

One thing Charlie Wilson isn’t is boring.