COMMENTARY
“Several people shared with me yesterday their observations that Tuesday’s City Council meeting turned into a circus, with Wilson the principal clown. I could not agree with them more. If Wilson is going to be allowed to continue to abuse public comment time with his unfounded personal attacks and delusional assessments of why the power sale negotiations are stranded, perhaps it is time for the Council to begin holding its meetings in a circus tent.”
MARK SCHUMANN
After twice reviewing the video recording of Tuesday’s Vero Beach City Council meeting, I now have firmly fixed in my mind an image of a Barnum & Bailey Circus wagon pulling up in front of City Hall, with at least a few clowns jumping out and scurrying into the council chambers to take their place in line for public comment time. In my mind’s eye, one of those clowns, the one with the biggest shoes and the largest nose, is Charlie Wilson.
Wilson, who, by all appearances, serves as a volunteer court jester for the County Commission as well as the City Council, claims he is forever before these public bodies – and the cameras – “to connect the dots.” Well, here are a couple of dots worth connecting. First, given that County Commission and City Council meetings are televised, Wilson takes what seems to be every opportunity and liberty to get as much face time as possible. Second, Wilson recently received from the City Clerk papers to be filed by those running for a seat on the City Council.
Is Wilson so frequently before the County Commission and the City Council because he believes the community’s elected leaders could not govern effectively without his ceaseless and often misguided input, which is frequently punctuated with personal attacks, misinformation and misrepresentations of the truth? Or, is the one-time city council member who was removed from office by court order taking advantage of public comment time to mount a campaign to regain a seat on the City Council? After all, the next election is just seven months away.
More often than not, when Wilson goes to the podium to offer his one penny’s worth of advice, he is not so much seeking to present or request information. Rather, he seems to be looking for a sparring partner; and all too often at least one Council member obliges him. The inevitable consequence of engaging Wilson is that his five minutes of public comment time (the City Code provides for three) stretches on into endless, unproductive, even futile debate.
The next time Wilson bellies up to the podium to confirm that the only exercise he is getting is jumping to conclusions, City Council members would do well to remember that when one engages in debate with an clown, it isn’t long before observes are hard pressed to tell who it who.
When it was clear Tuesday night that Wilson intended to use his five minutes under the lights to personally attack George Christopher and the Indian River Neighborhood Association, Mayor Richard Winger started to cut him off. Unfortunately, Winger did not stand firm. What followed was another classic Wilson hatchet job.
Christopher was at home with his wife watching the meeting on television. “You cannot allow this to continue,” Mrs. Christopher said.
Christopher then went to City Hall to address Wilson’s charge that he had spoken more than one hundred times in a single month with representatives of the Florida Municipal Power Agency. Christopher effectively disabused the Council of Wilson’s gross exaggeration. The actual count was three calls. Clearly annoyed and angry at having been the latest subject of Wilson’s public and personal attacks, Christopher said to the man who calls himself ‘The Professor of Political Baloney,’ “Liar! You’re a (expletive) liar!”
Christopher’s outburst reminded me of the instance when then Vice President Nelson Rockefeller gave the finger to a heckler. Such public displays of annoyance by men who are otherwise gentlemen are regrettable. On the other hand, neither Rockefeller nor Christopher did or said anything many others haven’t been sorely tempted to do or say.
Several people shared with me yesterday their observations that Tuesday’s City Council meeting turned into a circus, with Wilson the principal clown. I could not agree with them more. If Wilson is going to be allowed to continue to abuse public comment time with his unfounded personal attacks and delusional assessments of why the power sale negotiations are stranded, perhaps it is time for the Council to begin holding its meetings in a circus tent.
Indian River Guardian 
I see Charlie Wilson as a political buffoon who takes pleasure in causing chaos with his babel. He is a person who should be given a coloring book and some crayons upon entering city hall so he can connect the dots. He may not know it ,but when his name is mentioned in conversation, most people think of him as a gadfly and not to be taken seriously. They also see him as a political opportunist with a past history that he cannot boast about. Most of them remember his being removed from the city council by a judge a few years ago. During those proceedings he played his role as court jester with his fabrications up to a point, but when it got serious ,he folded and was removed from the city council by the judge, For those who did not know this I tell them what happened and why he was removed. He cannot out run his past.
It is appears as though Charlie Wilson has a split personality. He obviously craves public attention. Yet he also claims that he wants to represent the community in a manner that the current Chamber of Commerce in his own mind does not. In having created his own verison of a Charmber of Commerce, he seems intent on sabotaging his own new venture. This is because his antics at a public meeting do not attract people and businesses to want to get involved in a community that allows the circus to be a part of everyday life,
It’s about time that someone finally stood up to Wilson and spoke the truth to him. George Christopher is just the man to do it. Congratulations, George!
Never argue with an idiot. He’ll bring you down to his level and beat you with experience!
You would think that good ol’ Wilson would know that these proceedings are televised.
You would also think that someone that seeks “credibility” for his position in the community, he would behave himself in a more mature and responsible manner while being televised. ESPECIALLY if he heads some group of people that all own business and are trying to network.
No, Wilson’s ego keeps him stupid.