MILT THOMAS
The Democratic Women’s Club of Indian River County held a non-partisan candidate forum at the Historic Dodgertown Conference Center on October 12 featuring city council candidates from both Sebastian and Vero Beach.
The Sebastian City Council candidates were introduced first, each giving a five to seven minute presentation. The Sebastian candidates included incumbents Bob M cPartlan and Andrea Coy, (Don Wright had a prior engagement), challengers Richard Gillmor and Damien Gilliams. McPartlan is currently Sebastian mayor and running for a second term. Coy is running for a fifth consecutive term, has served as mayor, is very active in the community and an avid conservationist. Gillmor has served two terms on City Council in the past and Gilliams is running for his first term.
The Vero Beach City Council candidates spoke next, starting with Brian Heady.
He first appreciated that all candidates were invited to speak at this non partisan forum. Amelia was ignored at one republican candidate forum. He spoke of his usual issues – the right to speak at public meetings, touched on the electric issue, took a few jabs at Dick Winger and the press.
Joseph Guiffanti made a point of not holding public office before and if elected would never run again, would not accept a salary or public payment of any expenses he incurred in office. He said city taxes will rise substantially, but the money saved on electric rates will more than cover it. His only criticism was reserved for incumbent candidate Tracy Carroll.
Amelia Graves spoke of family’s deep love for the community and felt most people shared the desire to preserve it. As to her experience, Graves pointed out her work on the ground in Central America helping people but not showing up at a meeting to raise her hand and then go home. She is looking for building consensus and more transparency in city government.
Richard Winger pointed out that he was two and a half times older than Amelia, but her five generation family history in Vero was significant, even suggesting that the majority of the city council should be local natives. He then read part of Article 3.1 of the Vero Beach Vision Plan, citing Vero as a place where the best of old Florida is nurtured, filled with community pride, respect for the natural environment and people working together on issues.
Candidate Tracy Carroll was invited but did not appear due to a commitment earlier in the day.
Indian River Guardian 
Congratulations to the Democratic Women’s Club for showing they truly are democratic! Sorry I was not able to attend.
Based upon her deliberate absence from at least three candidate forums, it appears that Ms. Carroll is running away from her record and relying on her corporate sponsor to do the talking for her. It is a sad day when a corporation can buy a seat on the city council to do their bidding.
Agreed! The local Republican Party could stand to take a civics lesson from the Democratic Women’s Club. Either that, or they could simply use a good dictionary to check the meaning of the word “nonpartisan.”
Tracy Carroll is a pugnacious person who plays the old “duck and cover ” political game. She has failed to enter the “ring” 3 times simply because she knows she is on the “ropes” in this contest and way behind on the judges scorecard. She will go down for the full ’10 count’ on Nov. 5th.
What a BEAUTIFUL stadium! Talk about PHOTO-SHOP! You clever ducks you!
Marcia, I think you were the only one fooled by the stadium painting, which has been at Dodgertown conference center for years.