COMMENTARY
Editor’s Note: As originally posted, this opinion column was headlined “Leopards and politicians don’t change their stripes.” In an email sent to Inside Vero this afternoon, Charlie Wilson pointed out that tigers have stripes, while leopards are spotted. Wilson titled his email message “stupid ass,” thus proving the larger point being made about him, which is that he is the same self-centered, ungentlemanly egomaniac who ran for a seat on the Vero Beach city council in 2009.
MARK SCHUMANN
Charlie Wilson, the only Vero Beach city council candidate to receive free air time this week on WTTB, was on the Bob Soos show yesterday insisting that this time, as opposed to last time, voters can trust that he has lived in Vero Beach long enough to meet the residency requirement for council candidates.
Wilson may have changed his address, but the far more important question for Vero Beach voters to consider is whether anything else has changed about Wilson since 2009.
In 2009, Wilson won a seat on the city council promising voters he would sell the electric system to Florida Power & Light with a return $80 million to $90 million to the city.
Just one month after being elected, Wilson was removed from the city council, not for gross negligence in failing to better understand the costs of selling the electric system, or for greatly overestimating the likely sale proceeds, or for promising the sale would not lead to cuts in city services or increases in taxes.
Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek’s only consideration in yanking Wilson’s city council seat out from under him, was whether he was, as he claimed, legally qualified to run for a seat on the Vero Beach city council based on the City Charter’s residency requirement for council candidates.
Judge Kanarek’s final judgment in the case raises serious questions about Wilson’s veracity and his judgment. Judge Kanarek wrote, “In this case the court finds that Section 2.01 (City Charter Residency Requirement for City Council Candidates) is clear and unambiguous, and capable of only one reasonable interpretation.”
Wilson, who recently admitted he is “the world’s worst lawyer,” essentially chose to ignore then City Attorney Charlie Vitnuac’s advice on both the intent and the meaning of the City Charter provision requiring city council candidates to have lived in the city for at least one year.
“Under Mr. Wilson’s interpretation of Section 2.01 a person would qualify for election if they had been a resident of the city during the first two years of their life, moved to Pensacola for the next fifty years and then moved back to Vero one week before qualifying. This is not a reasonable interpretation of the Charter provision,” Kanarek wrote.
Now Wilson proposes to ignore both the meaning and the clear intent of state statutes governing the Florida Supreme Court’s validation of contracts. Wilson contends that because the Indian River Shores Town Council and the Indian River County Commission were not party to the original lawsuits, they can now challenge the Court’s ruling. Wilson is again straining the meaning of commonly used words. Quite simply, the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling is final.
Wilson, and the strategists at Florida Power & Light, may well have plans for seeking new legislation that could make life difficult for municipal utilities going forward, but they simply cannot challenge the validity of the City of Vero Beach’s existing contractual relationship with the Florida Municipal power agency. Final means final.
Wilson’s promise to not “get over it,” sounds more like a threat than an assurance, for Wilson’s single minded, almost moronic fixation on selling Vero Beach’s electric system to FPL is the sum total of his platform. He has nothing else to offer, no vision for the community, and no history here, other than his almost constant presence at the center of one controversy after another.
Press Journal columnist Russ Lemmon may be swooning over Wilson, and WTTB’s Bob Soos may be inclined to give Wilson preferential treatment with free airtime, but neither Lemmon nor Soos have been mentioned as candidates for any brain trust. Both “journalists” are showing themselves to be about as shallow and single-minded as Wilson.
What is most important for Vero Beach voters to remember about Wilson is that, though he may have changed his address and may have managed to live at one address for more than 12 consecutive months, he is the same man who put the city through unnecessary turmoil in 2009 as a result of his selfish, even foolish, interpretation of the City Charter. Yes, he is at it again. And he would be mayor? Please!
75.09 Effect of final judgment.—If the judgment validates such bonds, certificates or other obligations, which may include the validation of the county, municipality, taxing district, political district, subdivision, agency, instrumentality or other public body itself and any taxes, assessments or revenues affected, and no appeal is taken within the time prescribed, or if taken and the judgment is affirmed, such judgment is forever conclusive as to all matters adjudicated against plaintiff and all parties affected thereby, including all property owners, taxpayers and citizens of the plaintiff, and all others having or claiming any right, title or interest in property to be affected by the issuance of said bonds, certificates or other obligations, or to be affected in any way thereby, and the validity of said bonds, certificates or other obligations or of any taxes, assessments or revenues pledged for the payment thereof, or of the proceedings authorizing the issuance thereof, including any remedies provided for their collection, shall never be called in question in any court by any person or party
Indian River Guardian 
I assume neither Lemon or Soos are residents of the City of Vero Beach so they would not care if Wilson drove the city into bankruptcy. Why are all these non residents non users of Vero Electric so worried about the cost of electric from Vero Electric if they have do not have a side deal financial gain to be made on this sale?
So, apparently politicians HAVE stripes….or did Charlie Wilson overlook that portion of the title? If you’d titled it “Leopards and politicians don’t change their Spots”, it would have been okay per Charlie? That’s funny – but Charlie isn’t.
“Never trust a person that throws their young under a bus to further themselves.” -me
Really, Charlie? I use my real name on here to prove I am man enough to back up my posts, yet you use it to seek me out on Facebook?
I could care less what your “public excuse” is to the WHY. You were ultimately responsible for the actions. It’s called “due diligence”. Your campaign. Your project. Your responsibility. Public Office isn’t just something “you can wing it to win it”.
When I was doing something for my father and I screwed up, my dad had my back, not throw me under the bus.
And based on your antics in this community, especially after watching you on TV, I’m grateful you are not him.
My dad was smart enough to not kick a dead dog knowing it wasn’t going anywhere.
Brian, if you were Facebook stalked by Charlie Wilson, just know it was not the first time he has done that. He is a little scary that way. His rantings and rages before the council, together with his Facebook stalking and sending of crude email messages titled “stupid ass,” raise serious questions about his fitness to hold public office. There is, of course, a longer list of Wilson’s antics and questionable judgment, but that is a story for another day.
Indeed, Mark, not just a story but a book filled with the damages inflicted upon hundreds of this community’s finest citizens and pioneer families. They innocently tried to give back to their community, many for no pay, and have been subjected to ridicule, public disrespect, and ruin by this narcissist with strong sociopathic tendencies excluding the high IQ sometimes found. He and his band of merrymen consisting of lazy media marketers brought here to enrage audiences with half-truths and trashy stories have resulted in it becoming almost impossible to find good people to run for elective office. They refuse to subject themselves and/or more importantly their children to such irresponsible reporting and abuse. So our local government suffers which feeds fuel to this idiots’ fire. What a pity — it used to be an honor to serve our government. Now, not so much. There are some people like Mr. Wilson, my Father warned me about. He would say, “they would rather climb a tree and tell a lie, than stand on the ground and tell the truth.” Mr. Wilson has a real need for psychological help now! The fact he was elected was not a huge landslide victory for selling the power plant – it just proved my theory we cannot find good candidates which just creates more voter apathy with lower and lower voter turnouts.
Yes, I was “facebook stalked” by Charlie, Mark. Wanted me to believe some malarkey about a close family. I wonder what his son thinks of him now. He has 2 or so years left to dwell on it.
And no, I’m not surprised he “went that avenue”. I know his “type” and I know his “style”. He made a conscious effort to find my profile, which in itself speaks volumes about his “character”.
I was never in fear of my father, but I respected him. Charlie deserves neither fear or respect.
But to facebook stalk me to, I don’t know, tell me his side? Clearly immature and stupid. I deserve a modicum of privacy in our society, no matter whose public blog I post on. And his unwanted and unwarranted contact with me has been met with a “block” and a stern warning.