COMMENTARY

MILT THOMAS

This publication started after Mark Schumann, who was employed by Scripps Treasure Coast to create what became the Vero Beach Newsweekly, pointed out weaknesses in FPL’s deal to buy Vero Electric. Whether or not FPL executive, Amy Brunjes, asked her husband, Scripps president, Bob Brunjes, to stop Schumann from publishing the weaknesses in her company’s offer, Schumann resigned from Scripps after receiving Brunjes directive to stop reporting on the power sale.

In either case, InsideVero.com was born. And news about the weaknesses in the FPL-Vero Electric deal continued. Schumann, who has news reporting in his DNA, continued to find flaws or misinformation and present them to the public. Meanwhile, Scripps continued to follow its pro-FPL script, simply ignoring the facts that Schumann had uncovered.

As we at InsideVero.com received encouragement from more and more people, we decided to debut a monthly print edition and distributed it to a much larger audience than any website could reach. In fact, it reached more people than the Press Journal itself.

The first test of that reach came last fall, when pro-FPL Councilwoman Tracy Carroll ran for re-election in a campaign financed by FPL through a pro-FPL lobbyist among us, Glenn Heran. Yes, that is the same Glenn Heran who back in 2009 regaled Vero Electric customers with dreams of riches beyond imagination if they approved the deal. To his credit, he was a leader in convincing the public that this deal was only a win-win for Vero Beach, supported by pro-sale headline stories in the Scripps Press Journal.

InsideVero.com opposed Tracy Carroll’s re-election and instead, supported newcomer Amelia Graves. Why? Not because she opposed the FPL deal, which she didn’t, but because she was willing to also weigh its flaws, as presented by InsideVero, the sole voice pointing out those flaws.

In spite of the large FPL contributions to her re-election campaign, Tracy Carroll lost. Was it because of her many mis-steps during her term in office? Or was it because Vero Beach voters had grown wise to the campaign orchestrated by FPL and supported by Scripps and the barrier island weekly? Or had InsideVero’s investigation of the FPL deal’s weaknesses finally grabbed the public’s attention.

Then came what was seen by many as the final straw in a deal that was fast losing public support — FPL agreed to a $52 million buyout of Vero Electric’s final three years of power obligations from the FMPA. The catch was that Vero Beach electric customers would be obligated for $26 million of that expense. FPL, Scripps and the FPL lobbyists among us presented this as a positive, that we would pay down the $26 million obligation on our electric bills over three to four years and still be better off than by not selling.

InsideVero.com conducted a poll, asking if respondents were in favor of the deal now that electric customers would be obligated to pay the $26 million. Scripps’ website, TCPalm.com, also conducted a poll, but rather than bring up the $26 million, asked respondents if they were still in favor of the deal with the “latest changes.”

Both polls came up with the same results – a resounding NO to the deal, no matter how positively the FPL supporters tried to spin it.

This past week, FMPA executives met with Vero’s mayor, city manager and city attorney to discuss the issues that must be resolved if Vero Electric is to sell out to ANYONE, including FPL. These issues existed before FPL began courting Vero Beach, they existed throughout the negotiations and they still exist. The only voice presenting those issues was InsideVero, against a tidal wave of public relations from FPL, the FPL lobbyists among us and the two remaining city councilpersons who have never wavered from their support of FPL, Pilar Turner and Craig Fletcher.

Those issues to be resolved have been presented this past week on InsideVero.com, both in a video interview by Mark Schumann with the mayor, city manager and city attorney who met with FMPA last week. Also, on our InsideVero.com site is a letter from the FMPA to the city answering all the misinformation presented by FPL, the FPL lobbyists among us and the two City Councilpersons who remain totally committed to the FPL deal in spite of the facts. (Read it at this link: http://insidevero.com/2014/04/12/fmpa-general-manager-addresses-questions-about-power-project-finances/#more-20758).

The Scripps Press Journal however, has chosen to present a headline: “FMPA ‘obstacles’ decried,” quoting, of all people, Pilar Turner, blaming the FMPA for creating obstacles, which are in fact real issues that have existed from the beginning.

We certainly expect FPL and its lobbyists among us to advocate for the deal, regardless of its cost to Vero Beach taxpayers and citizens.  So the question is this: Have Councilpersons Turner and Fletcher, along with Scripps, acted in the public’s best interest with their unwavering support of the FPL deal?

You decide.