COMMENTARY
“Someone needs to remind Solari, a Tea Party favorite, that squandering public money is not an “essential” government service. Before involving the County in a protracted and costly legal battle that is surely doomed to fail, Solari’s colleagues on the County Commission need to give this all some careful thought. Wishful thinking is not a strategy.”
MARK SCHUMANN
Based on having spoken with just one of five Indian River County Commissioners, Press Journal pundit, Russ Lemmon, wrote a column today headlined “County set to push power sale.” Is Lemmon wanting his readers to believe the County Commission has come to a decision on how to proceed, when, in fact, they have not? Or, is this just another misleading Scripps headline?
Either way, with today’s “Lemmon droppings,” it is now known utility activist, Charlie Wilson, is not living alone in a fantasy world. Lemmon has joined Wilson in the land where people say what they want to say, and believe what they want to believe, the facts and the truth be damned.
Only children think they deserve what they want simply because they want it; well, only children, and Wilson, Lemmon, County Commissioner Bob Solari, utility activists Glenn Heran and Stephen Faherty, and all those who are ready to follow them down yet another dead-end road that will only lead to failure and frustration.
About the only point Lemmon got right in his latest front page Press Journal column was the acknowledgement that Solari, along with his power walking partner, Glenn Heran, persuaded the County Commission to throw away $78,000 of taxpayer money in a failed effort to support utility legislation proposed by State Rep. Debbie Mayfield. As the island weekly editorialized recently, “Our state representative, Debbie Mayfield, has demonstrated she in incapable of gaining passage of anything more controversial than a bridge naming.”
Lemmon then indulged in a little fiction writing. “It the City Council isn’t going to clear a path for a sale through the Florida Municipal Power Agency, then the County Commission and Indian River Shores appear ready to go to Plan B,” Lemmon wrote.
By a “Plan B,” Lemmon is referring to a legal challenge that would be mounted by the Indian River County Commission, and supported by the Town of Indian River Shores. Perhaps the constituents of the Indian River Shores Town Council can afford to throw hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars down the drain in an ill-advised legal battle with the FMPA, but many county residents cannot.
Lemmon seems to think the City’s contracts with the FMPA are written in pencil and can simply be erased. The Press Journal’s lead columnist, and anyone who believes what he is writing, is clearly stuck in a surface-level understanding of the challenges Vero Beach faces in concluding the sale of its electric system to Florida Power & Light.
By suggesting political pressure, a public relations campaign, or even litigation, can push forward the sale of Vero Electric, Lemmon is peddling the misguided notion that the answer to the power sale will be found anywhere other than in the domain of contract law.
Someone needs to remind Solari, a Tea Party favorite, that squandering public money is not an “essential” government service. Before involving the County in a protracted and costly legal battle that is surely doomed to fail, Solari’s colleagues on the County Commission need to give this all some careful though. Wishful thinking is not a strategy.
Indian River Guardian 
It has been said that, “You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.” Lemming droppings often lead over a cliff…
Should hard hitting investigative reporter Russ Lemmon not go back to reporting how many out of state plates there are in Publix’s Shopping lot on 53 st, or how many flowers have been eaten by rabbits at Miss Long’s garden, instead of writing this article? FPL must have asked his boss to write another fictious article on the electric sale. Of course Lemmon does not even live in the city and probably is not even a customer of Vero Electric. So I guess his property taxes will not double.
In the 1939 iconic movie “The Wizard of Oz”, three characters followed an ebullient damsel down a yellow brick road to be rewarded by the Wizard; one to gain courage, another to receive a heart and the third to acquire a brain, all to be rewarded. in brilliant Technicolor. Alas, at the end of their quest the Wizard was found to be a fraud, full of empty promises and callous fabrications. The movie ended with the stark reality of a wistful, futile dream in black and white film.
Such comes to mind when watching the progress of the VB Electric transaction – except the latter has not been concluded in fewer than two hours. The film barely covered expenses on its initial release.
It is a sign of progress that the PJ allowed Russ Lemmon’s line about the waste of $78,000 in taxpayer funds going to lobbyists to remain in the column. Lobbyists have a well deserved reputation of being nothing more than crooks and swindlers and this is why it is always a good idea to keep your hand on your wallet when you are in close proximity to a lobbyist.