COMMENTARY

MILT THOMAS

Apparently, my column about the missing January 21 edition of the Bob Soos Morning Show (on the station’s website) resulted in a response by Soos to Mark Schumann, that itself cannot be published due to language. Apparently, the missing show was an oversight on his part, so now rather than speculate on what was said in the weekly “Baloney” segment, I can write this column based on what was actually said.

The January 21 show began with Soos saying he was thinking of calling the prior week’s (Baloney) segment, “Let’s $%*& – off Mark Schumann,” but this week he will call it, “Let’s annoy Mark Schumann.”

The self-proclaimed “Professor of Political Baloney,” Charlie Wilson then talked about his latest venture, a new chamber of commerce, saying he was rushing to put together a presentation at that evening’s (January 21) Vero Beach City Council meeting because of all the “…misinformation that’s been put out there by some irresponsible people that claim to be reporters.” (see previous InsideVero story on that presentation, “Charlie Wilson, ever the snake oil salesman” from January 22)

While referring to our “baseless speculation” about his new chamber, much of what he then said in his presentation to the City Council that night confirmed what we had previously reported.

Wilson said, “if the City of Sebastian can have a chamber, how can Vero Beach having a chamber be a bad thing?” Of course, it is the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce, which includes Northern Indian River County and Southern Brevard. Vero Beach has had a chamber for more than 100 years, called the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce, changing its name from Vero Beach Chamber because it is also authorized to represent the county for tourism and economic development. Sorry Charlie, having a second Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce IS a bad thing.

Wilson mentioned a number of other claims, such as listing ten things his chamber can do but the official Indian River Chamber cannot do (that evening, his presentation did not include any function not already being done by the Indian River Chamber). He also said he would tell us who was a member of the new chamber (two so far, Mark Mucher and Dan Stump) and about his funding (so far, he has only mentioned membership dues).

On the Soos show, Wilson mentioned a number of statements attributed to InsideVero that he considered false, but many of those statements were not from InsideVero.

When WTTB station manager, Jim Davis, was asked by InsideVero  why he allowed Wilson to continually make unsubstantiated statements that only support his personal agenda, Davis claimed no control over Bob Soos, who pays for his show, which does not represent the station’s editorial policy.

As to Wilson, he is not a government official or community leader, and his 11 minutes on Bob Soos  (almost 13 minutes on the January 21 show)  serves to parrot Wilson’s frequent criticisms of city and county officials and institutions to serve his personal interests. For instance, Wilson has been a vocal critic of impact fees, while at the same time running a company that attempts to secure impact fee refunds and collect a handsome fee for himself. He has also been critical of the school board, while acting as paid consultant and board director for Imagine Charter Schools. He has been especially critical of the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce, then announced on the January 21 show details of his own chamber of commerce.

Most of his criticism these days, however, is directed against InsideVero. To repeat a saying used often by Wilson, if you can’t attack the accusation, attack the accuser.