MARK SCHUMANN
Vero Beach voters are now receiving polling calls from Citizens for a Better Future, an electioneering communications organization largely funded by Florida Power & Light. Pollers are asking voters if they will support Tracy Carroll, asserting she is a successful business owner, has a solid voting record on the sale of Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light and is working with scientists to solve the problems with the lagoon. Pollers make no mention of Carroll’s business-related foreclosure.
Voters are also being asked what they consider to be the most important issues facing Vero Beach: taxes, business, or the sale of the electric system. The FPL funded callers then ask voters for whom they will vote in the Nov. 5 municipal election. The poll was designed before former mayor Warren Winchester withdrew from the race.
Citizens for a Better Future, established by utility activist Glenn Heran, is the latest iteration of an earlier political action committee, Citizens for a Brighter Future, which was closed in early September. Because Citizens for a Brighter was not the kind of PAC that can directly support candidates, Heran set up a new organization, Citizens for a Better Future, to push for Carroll’s re-election.
Heran’s early PAC, also largely funded by FPL, paid $7,239.50 on March 3 for “phonebank” work done in support of passage of the referendum on the sale of Vero Electric.
On August 21, Heran’s now disbanded PAC, paid $9,891.12 to Colorado-based Luce Research. Heran maintains the August payment by Citizens for a Brighter Future to Luce was for work done in support of the March referendum and has nothing to do with Citizens for a Better Future’s effort to secure Tracy Carroll’s re-election.
Indian River Guardian 
The sign ” Vote yes for lower electric bills” did not stop their candidate Ms. Carroll from voting “YES” on the latest rate hike. OH, I forget. The reason was because they decided that the fuel was costing too much to get and that they needed a 110 day reserve instead of the usual 90 day reserve….or maybe it is because what most have been saying all along really is the truth….keep raising the rates so people will have no choice but to vote yes. Also…Mr. Igor must get paid and may need another raise. They must keep the pressure on the ratepayers….
Only an idiot would believe that. Now for a walk down “memory lane” with Tracy Carroll. She has criticized our police dept. in the past, but now “sings ‘ their praises now that she is up for re-election. She has hasseled city workers in the past, but now ,at election time ,she speaks highly of them. She tried to make a private road on the street that she lives. I guess she doesn’t want traffic on her street,but its Ok for others to absorb the re-routed traffic. Remember when she tried to allow golf carts on all city streets, so she can “get about” in style. This would have been a very bad thing in terms of safety issues. She claims to be a person for the people ,but her weekly rentals will destroy every neighborhood of Vero. She just doesn’t care; it’s all about her. More recently her religious intolerance was displayed at a council meeting when she verbally attacked a gentleman there to receive a proclamation. What dog owner in the city will ever forget her attempt to give away our dog park . Fortunately she was out voted 4-1 . These are just a few of the reasons she should not be returned to our city council.
In spite of the denials by the players, was there ever any doubt that this was the purpose of the PAC? Carroll is a corporate sponsored candidate, and this removes any doubt. The feeling of the community is that she will need quite a few more sponsors and will look more like a NASCAR driver than a city council candidate.
A groundswell of opposition to Tracy Carroll and her agenda is in order. Handmade signs in your yard voicing opposition to the sleazy tactics of FPL and Tracy Carroll will get people talking. What happened to the Public Service Commision rules that FPL can not be predatory.