Editor’s Note:  Charlie Wilson continues to deny his company, Media Arts Group of Florida, is operating without a business license.  Despite Wilson’s repeated assertions to the contrary, the Media Arts Group of Florida is not listed on any business license with the City or the County, either as a primary business, as in the case of his company Impact Fee Consultants, or as a DBA as in the case of his company Open Permit Search. Wilson is simply continuing to skirt around the truth.

COMMENTARY

“Essentially, Wilson’s latest promise to the voters of Vero Beach, and his only platform, is that he will work with the Indian River County Commission and the Indian River Shores Town Council to help FPL pull off a partial “steal” of the City’s 21,000 electric customers located outside the city limits.  In fact, one of the contributes to Wilson’s campaign is Indian River Shores Vice Mayor Gerry Weick, who recently voted to sue the City of Vero Beach. Put simply, a Wilson-led coalition on the City Council would bankrupt the Vero Beach.” MARK SCHUMANN Vero Beach City Council candidate, Charlie Wilson, would like me to report that I received an email from an staffer in the Vero Beach Planning Department yesterday indicating that, “Since Media Arts Group is not acting as a separate business at this time, a local business tax for that company is not required.” However, Wilson likely would not appreciate my reporting that, according to Planning Department staff, the email that seemingly gets Wilson off the hook for operating a business without a license was written soon after he went to City Hall claiming the Media Arts Group is not an active business.

Earlier in the day yesterday, after Inside Vero reported the City has no record of a business license for the Media Arts Group, Wilson wrote me claiming the Media Arts Group is doing business as Open Permit Search.  After checking again with the Planning Department, I reported the license on file with the City for Open Permit Search indicates the company is doing business as Impact Fee Consultants.  I again reported the City has no record of an active business license for the Media Arts Group.

Wilson then went to City Hall protesting the Media Arts Group is not an active business. Wilson has listed the Media Arts Group with his new Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce as an active member of that organization.

On TCPalm’s “Ask the Candidates” page, Wilson indicates one of his current occupations is as President and CEO of the Media Arts Group.  Yet, based on what Wilson told a member of the Planning Department staff yesterday, he is now claiming the company is inactive.  What a convenient way to skirt around having been exposed for apparently operating a business without a license.

Wilson is forever pedaling misinformation, as he regularly appears before local government bodies, often visibly angry, frustrated and clearly yearning for power and position.  If Wilson were not seeking a seat on the Vero Beach City Council, and if he were not lusting for the power he seems to believe comes with the title of mayor, his loose relationship with the truth would be of little public concern.

Wilson’s only stated position as a candidate, the one that seems to have earned him Press Journal columnists Russ Lemmon’s abiding devotion, is a commitment to ram through the sale of Vero Beach’s electric utility to Florida Power & Light, come hell or hight water.

When Wilson first ran for City Council in 2009, he assured voters the sale would take about a year to complete and would net the City $80 million, not including what would be some $30 million in unencumbered reserve funds. It is clear now the sale would require the assessment of a $26 million surcharge on the 34,000 customers of Vero Electric, with an additional $40 million or more in costs to the City. Yet, Wilson refuses to accept that he and the rest of FPL’s local operatives have for several years pushed a party line that has proven to be disconnected from reality.

Essentially, Wilson’s latest promise to the voters of Vero Beach, and his only platform, is that he will work with the Indian River County Commission and the Indian River Shores Town Council to help FPL pull off a partial “steal” of the City’s 21,000 electric customers located outside the city limits.  In fact, one of the contributes to Wilson’s campaign is Indian River Shores Vice Mayor Gerry Weick, who recently voted to sue the City of Vero Beach. Put simply, a Wilson-led coalition on the City Council would bankrupt the Vero Beach.

Wilson seems to want to achieve this objective so badly that he will do, say and write anything.  When Inside Vero finally cornered him with the fact that he is operating his company, the Media Arts Group, without a local business license, Wilson threw up a smokescreen of misinformation and denials. Instead of persisting in his denials, the wannabe mayor could simply have gone to City Hall today and renewed a proper license for the Media Arts Group.

Instead, Wilson persists in denying the truth.  His latest denial appeared on this Facebook page, where he wrote, “My stalker (Inside Vero) struck again today. Lies, lies and more lies.  He was notified by the City of Vero Beach that his claims were false but he ignored the memo and continued his false claims.”

For Wilson to write the above denial, in the face of indisputable facts, suggest to me he is either a pathological liar, or he is living in an alternate universe. Lemmon, perhaps Wilson’s biggest supporter, wrote that in the coming election his political sponsee will either come in first or last,   For the sake of the City, and in the interest of a return to civility, let’s hope Lemmon is disappointed come election night.