Civic activist Charlie Wilson publicly alleged a profile on him published by Inside Vero contains more than 40 factual errors.
Since Wilson was recently before the board of the Taxpayers Association urging the group to form a “truth squad,” Inside Vero invited the nameless, faceless, anonymous person or persons behind the new Facebook page, “Vero Beach Truth Squad,” to fact check our story. The they/he/she behind the “Truth” Squad have now offered a few answers and/or excuses. Anyone with time to read the full diatribe can help themselves, but here is one choice response.
“Inside Vero writes “Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek removed him for failing to meet City residency requirements” Actually Judge Kanarak ruled that Wilson had established City residency and agreed with the State Attorney’s office that Wilson had told the truth when pledging his oath as a candidate. The issue was the unclear ordinance that was later amended to correct the sloppy work of the previous City Attorney.”
The legal question was not whether Wilson was a resident of Vero Beach at the time of the 2009 City Council election, but whether he had met the City’s residency requirements for candidacy. In answer to that all-important legal question, Judge Kanarek ruled that Wilson had not been a resident of the city for the preceding 12 months, and thus was not eligible to run for office.
Wilson likes to claim the City’s code was “ambiguous.” According to Wilson reading of the code, a person could be born at Indian River Medical Center, live the first year of their life in Vero Beach, be moved from the city and live many decades somewhere else, and then return to Vero Beach and immediately file to run for a seat on the City Council. ANY reasonable person would read the city code as it was written in 2009 and conclude the clear intention was to require that candidates for City Council have lived in the city for the year prior to the filing deadline.
However the “Truth” Squad chooses to contort the facts, the matter is clear, and it is simply. Wilson was removed from office by Judge Kanarek because he did NOT met the City residency requirements to run for a seat on the CIty Council.
Indian River Guardian 
Mark, I have learned a long time ago that you cannot argue with a liar because they have told the lie so many times as truth that they do not know the difference between their lie and the truth. That sure was a complicated sentence but I got it all out there.
Another thing I have noticed with this Wilson character is how quickly everything becomes the fault of someone else as you have pointed out in this example. It was the sloppy work of the previous city attorney for writing an ambiguous law being the reason he ran for city council. Sure Charlie. Blame it on someone else.
That was bad but how about the time he was accused of forging signatures on his petitions when he was poaching a seat on the County Commission. He swore to Kay Clem, the supervisor of elections at the time that he did not forge the signatures and finally when cornered by the press and in order to back up his statement as truthful he mentioned that maybe his son forged the signatures. Sure enough, it was his son and he did prison time over the fact that his own dad threw him under the bus.
That is the kind of truth you will get out of this guy, blame, blame, blame even if it’s your own kid.
I personally would do life in prison before I would ever rat on either of my sons. . Sorry, that’s just a mother talking. .
Given Charlie Wilson’s past demonstration of allergy to the truth, it would be naive to believe anything he says.
The caveat to be applied is: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
There appears to be a lot of it going around – “ambiguous” ordinances…..whether it’s residency to qualify for office or zoning code allowing or not short-term rentals in neighborhoods. Frankly, I’m not convinced the ordinances are the problem–but rather those interpreting the ordinances–for their own purposes.
Oh Cathy, how quickly you forget….Tracy Carroll is a disciple of Charlie Wilson. That is the rest of the story when it comes to “ambiguous”.
And when it comes to thoughtful reflection, Carroll and Wilson have something else in common. They are each about 1/4 inch deep.
Once again Charlie Wilson has tried to change the facts and history on the reasons he was removed from office by a judge, who could and did understand the law. Thank God he was removed ,otherwise we would be ten times worse then we are now with the present majority. Charlie is a loser and worse, as he cannot seem to tell the truth very often. His buddy Tracy Carroll is cut from the same mold ,but will soon face public scrutiny on her short term rentals that will certainly harm the city.. Then comes November.
Hopefully people will use my ABC method of voting in Vero Beach in November. A nybody B ut
C arroll. ABC