Will FPL money be enough for Carroll?

According to its latest campaign filing, Citizens for a Better Future has received 98 percent of its funding from Florida Power & Light.

MARK SCHUMANN

Signs supporting Tracy Carroll and largely paid for by FLP began appearing around town today. Though Carroll is a firm supporter of selling to FPL, she has, in fact, voted to approve a number of rate increases. — Signs supporting Tracy Carroll and largely paid for by FLP began appearing around town today. Though Carroll is a firm supporter of selling to FPL, she has, in fact, voted to approve a number of electric rate increases.

As of Monday afternoon, in an informal InsideVero.com reader poll, Richard Winger leads with 101 votes, followed by Amelia Graves with 100 votes. Tracy Carroll is a distant third with 15 votes. Brian Heady had 9 votes, and Joseph Guffanti 3. In a TCPalm.com poll, as of Monday afternoon, Winger and Graves had 19 votes each. Carroll trailed with 10 votes. Brian Heady had 6 votes and Joseph Guffanti 5 in the TCPalm.com poll.

Though online polls do not offer a statistically valid sampling of likely voters, the InsideVero.com and TCPalm.com reader polls do present an informal measure of support for the candidates. If the polls are at all reflective of the sentiments of likely votes, Carroll has some ground to make up between now and Nov. 5, if she is to be re-elected.

Over the weekend, the Press Journal editorial board endorsed Richard Winger, but declined to urge votes to re-elect Carroll, though the newspaper has twice before given Carroll its coveted blessing.

Today, campaign signs paid for by Citizens for a Better Future, an electioneering communication organization formed by utility activist Glenn Heran and largely funded by FPL, began appearing around town. According to its latest financial report, 98 percent of the group’s money came directly from FPL.

Another group with which utility activist Glenn Heran has been involved, Citizens for a Brighter Future, paid $3,600 on Aug. 21 to Get Out the Signs, a West Palm Beach Company. On that same date, Citizens for a Brighter Future also paid Cornerstone Solutions and Communications $22,195.04. According to a spokesman for Cornerstone, Get Out the Sings handles both the printing and distribution of campaign signs, but is not working for Citizens for a Better Future in its current campaign in support Carroll.

The Cornerstone spokesman would not comment on whether his company is working for Citizens for a Better Future. He did, however, maintain that the $22,195.04 in payments Cornerstone received on Aug. 21 from a bank account for Citizens for a Brighter Future was for work done to support passage of the March 12 referendum on the sale of Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light.

2 comments

Nice Signs, terrible candidate.

its not an honest sign, she isn’t fighting to lower your bill to get fpl to buy the grid even if it means higher costs to you. if she was really for lower bills then she wouldn’t have voted for the increases.