Editor’s Note: Without question, Florida Power & Light invested heavily in the latest Vero Beach City Council Election, giving tens of thousands of dollars to an electioneering communications organization set up by utility activist Glenn Heran to support Tracy Carroll. A story in the Miami Herald yesterday raised questions regarding who is paying for political advertising attacking South Miami Mayor, Philip Stoddard. Stoddard has been anything but a friend to FPL. If concluding the power sale negotiations before the next City Council election would reduce if not eliminate FPL’s motivation for meddling in Vero Beach politics, all the more reason to move forward.
CHRISTINA VEIGA and ALEX BUTLER/MIAMI HERALD
What’s a South Florida election without monied interests, liberty with the truth and maybe even a little nudity?
Case in point: South Miami, population 12,000, where Mayor Philip Stoddard has accused utility giant Florida Power & Light of being behind campaign attack ads. Stoddard is running for reelection.
FPL says the mayor’s allegations are not true and that the utility is not involved in any way.
In the complicated world of campaign finance, it can be difficult to flush out who is behind the mud-slinging.
Stoddard has not been a friend to FPL. He has opposed the utility’s plans to string high-voltage power lines on 100-foot poles through the heart of South Miami. He has fought FPL’s push for new reactors at the Turkey Point nuclear plant. And, this year, the city’s franchise agreement with the company is up for negotiation. MORE…
Indian River Guardian 
It surely looks to me like the COVB has been pressured to “eat” $150 million in an attempt to consumate this deal. If FPL is not sufficiently righteous to bite the bullet with FMPA, we should declare the contract void and they should pay us back our legal expenses incurred in attempting to close the contract. This program is going nowhere and FPL is and has been acting in bad faith. The political morality of the COVB has been trashed by these evil people.
There are far better ways to protect the COVB and the electric rate payers than dealing in darkness with FPL.