COMMENTARY

MILT THOMAS

Looking back at the last two City Council candidate forums, the Taxpayer’s Association of Indian River County on October 17 and the Tea Party of Indian River County on October 18, the candidates themselves stayed essentially on their individual messages, but the forum presenters took different approaches.

Candidates themselves had many opportunities over the past few months to relate their positions in this non-partisan race, except in one case where a candidate with a Democratic Party affiliation was not allowed to address the Republican Party-sponsored audience. The sale of Vero Electric to FPL is the key issue in this race, but at only one forum, was an official from FPL allowed to speak on behalf of a single candidate prior to the forum itself. That was at the Taxpayer’s Association luncheon.

Based on the number of city and county elected officials present, one could assume this was the most important forum of the election season. FPL official, Amy Brunjes first gave her company’s assessment of the electric deal, which she continued to claim hinged on the re-election of Tracy Carroll. This was consistent with the thousands of dollars they invested in her re-election, but in this reporter’s opinion, not appropriate for a candidate forum.

Once Brunjes gave her endorsement speech, John Kistler then moderated the forum itself. He

assured attendees that the questions would range over a number of subjects in addition to the dominant utility issue, but that seemed a bit insincere after allowing FPL’s endorsement of Tracy Carroll to precede the questioning.

The candidates were generally civil to one another, except for a few snipes by Tracy Carroll against Amelia Graves and inappropriate laughs by Charlie Wilson, who sat at the table closest to Graves. In response to one question about the school board’s proposed employee clinic, Graves spoke against it adding that she did not think it appropriate for City Council members to receive healthcare.

Graves: It would be a substantial savings.

Carroll:How much would that savings be?

Graves: $10,000.

Carroll: That’s a substantial savings?

In another exchange regarding negotiations between FPL and the FMPA:

Graves: I don’t think it’s fair to characterize the FMPA as trying to derail the sale. (Charlie Wilson laughs audibly). I think anytime in negotiations with people you shouldn’t characterize them in a negative way. It may not help bring them willingly to the table.

Carroll to Graves: I’m sorry you failed to answer part of the question. What

is the FMPA? I believe that was part of the question, so I will answer it for you.

Graves to moderator Kistler: I thought we weren’t supposed to address each other, only the audience.

Kistler agreed and said so to Carroll.

One question Kistler asked was whether each candidate signed the pledge sent to them by Taxpayer president and FPL PAC founder, Glenn Heran, to promise support for the sale. Carroll said she signed it but none of the other candidates did. According to candidate, Richard Winger, who wrote his own pledge of support, he did not sign it because it came from a group financed by FPL. Joseph Guffanti and Graves did not sign it because it came from a newly formed organization with no standing in the community. Brian Heady questioned why he would sign a document binding him to a particular vote on an issue not yet before Council and from a special interest group.

The Tea Party candidate forum, in contrast, did not include any pre-forum endorsement by FPL, although five representatives from the company were in attendance. Tea Party president, Toby Hill, moderated the forum, which was attended by about 60 people including Pilar Turner, the only elected official other than the two incumbent candidates.

The first question was whether each candidate unequivocally committed to support the sale based on final contract terms as long as they are revenue neutral based on the current terms. All candidates answered yes. The next questions were how would the candidates address the loss of electric utility enterprise fund transfers and what was the most pressing issue facing the City over the next two years and their proposed solutions.

Then came questions for individual candidates: to Graves and Guffanti, as first time candidates, what qualified them to serve on City Council? Carroll was asked about her position on short term rentals, Winger was asked why he didn’t think the water and sewer utilities would not end up in the same situation as the electric utility. Heady was asked how his confrontational demeanor would change to assure voters he would conduct City business in a courteous and professional manner.

All those questions were quite appropriate. This reporter did not attend all the candidate forums, but it seemed as though they had not been asked before, at least not all of them.

Three questions came from the audience. The first stated that all candidates except for Tracy Carroll voted no on the two referenda and now they all claim to support it. The general response was how could anyone know how these five voted? Might be that question came from someone in the NSA.

The second question stated that Dick Winger voted against the contract with FPL, paying the attorneys and voted to delay the March referendum, so how could he say he was for the sale? In response, Winger repeated his frequently given answer as to why he voted no in two of the eight sale-related Council votes, adding that he never voted against paying the attorneys.

The third question asked the candidates’ opinions about lowering the speed limit on the Twin Pairs downtown. The strongest response in favor of changes to the Twin Pairs came from Carroll, who asked, “Why do we have a seven-lane freeway going through our little downtown?”

In reviewing the two candidate forums from the perspective of the Vero Electric sale to FPL, it would be difficult for anyone in either audience to decide if any of them would be against seeing the sale concluded, even with the upfront endorsement by FPL of candidate Tracy Carroll at the Taxpayer’s luncheon.

But you would have to be living under a rock without electric or mail service not to know FPL’s preference.