COMMENTARY
Florida Power & Light External Affairs Manager, Amy Brunjes, is the wife of Bob Brunjes, Publisher, Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. Scripps’ direct mail division is handling mailing for FPL and for Citizens for a Better Future, an FPL-sponsored electioneering communication organization.
MARK SCHUMANN
Beyond politicking for Tracy Carroll before the Utilities Commission (SEE STORY) and sending a letter to the customers of Vero Electric that is clearly intended to encourage voters to re-elect Carroll, Florida Power & Light External Affairs Manager, Amy Brunjes, and her bosses have seen fit to mail a separate post card with a similar message (SEE STORY) and to bankroll an electioneering communications organization that has no purpose other than to work for Carroll’s re-election
If you ask them, the good folks at FPL will almost surely claim, as they have in advance of prior elections, that the timing of their communications to Vero Beach voters and the municipal election is pure coincidence. Who seriously believes that?
It seems there is little FPL will not do to control the outcome of a local election. If they are successful, Vero Beach will become a company town – FPL’s town.
“Thanks in large part to the leadership of members of the Vero Beach City Council, we have achieved many milestones on the path toward completing this transaction. However, much work remains,” Brunjes wrote. She did not bother to point out that the remaining work is largely out of the hands of the City Council.
In a second, not-so-veiled encouragement to voters to “stay the course” with Carroll, Brunjes added, “We are making progress on all of these outstanding issues in close collaboration with your City Council and staff.”
The accuracy of a statement Brunjes made before the Utility Commission last month was recently questioned by Florida Municipal Power Agency General Manager, Nick Guarriello in a letter to FPL President Eric Silagy. Readers of the Press Journal should not expect to see any reporting on this story in the increasingly Stuart-centric newspaper.
Indian River Guardian 
DESPERATE MEASURES SHOULD BE TAKEN WHEN A SITUATION IS OUT OF CONTROL!
HEADY STATED IT CORRECTLY: “LIARS, CHEATS AND THIEVES!”. THE HEAVY HITTERS HAVE ALSO JOINED THE FREY AND AT THIS POINT I WOULD TAKE A HARD LOOK AT JAY KRAMER’S THOUGHT REGARDING THE ELECTRIC COMPANY AND KEEPING IT. I WANTED MY ELECTRIC BILLS LOWERED TO FP&L RATES, NOW I DON’T EVEN TRUST THEM! GET TWO HONEST PEOPLE INTO OFFICE BUT KEEP CARROLL OUT, AND NEXT YEAR DON’T FORGET FLETCHER AND HIS “BIGOTRY”!
We know that Scripps and the Zip each have an agenda that does not include reporting the truth. Refusal to print a known truth that is contrary to the company line is, in my mind, an intentional lie meant to manipulate rather than inform. A more appropriate word for that is “propaganda”.
Is FPL attempting to buy this election? Only the most gullible would think they are not. I guess the question is why? Why are they so desperate? Why is it so important to pull a fast one on the citizens of Vero Beach?
“It’s a cookbook!!!”
Cookbook indeed! You are not only right, you are very funny. “How to serve man.”
We are far more aware of what FPL (supposedly) is doing than how City Manager and company are preparing us for this great changeover. Hopefully, it will be less cumbersome than the national healthcare website that should have been up and running in grand fashion long before now. And while I resent receiving letters from Amy Brunjes making this foray into the unknown sound like a romp at Humiston Park, at least we are receiving something. So now I have an address for FPL–where the heck is Juno Beach?
This letter is now telling the community that lower electric rates will be here in late 2014…whatever happened to early 2014 as Jim O’Connor was saying? How many rate hikes will we get before this sale is final? How much more do we the ratepayers/taxpayers pay to the transactional attorneys to finalize this deal? Only thing I see from this is that FPL is paying alot of money just to convince everyone to believe that we will get lower rates. They will do and say anything to acquire Vero Utilities. Makes one wonder just how good of a deal they are really getting and how cheap this town was sold?.
they will likely recoup the money spent in this at the costs of all fpl customers.if the city didn’t raise the rates the city rates wouldn’t be much higher then fpl’s rates. this year fpl increased the rates twice.
The real problem is that FPL has a signed contract with OUC, if the deal falls through FPL may have to pay a penalty to OUC.
On election day remember TRACY CARROLL VOTED for another electric rate INCREASE !
Bob and AMY , a perfect couple, He runs the Press Journal and she is a very well paid official with FP&L. I can’t believe either of them.