COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Following the commentary of Press Journal columnist, Russ Lemmon, one might get the impression Vero Beach City Council candidate, Brian Curley, joins Brian Heady, Pilar Turner and Charlie Wilson in their unqualified support for selling Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light at any cost. At least that is what Lemmon claimed in his latest misleading front page column on the electric sale.  Lemmon wrote, “Assuming Turner is one of the top three vote-getters (which is a pretty safe assumption), that leaves only two “pro sale” candidates to go. As of now, Charlie Wilson, Brian Curley and Brian Heady are in the same corner.”

“I am not in anyone’s corner. I am not on anyone’s ticket. I am running my own campaign,” Curley said today.

Referring to Lemmon’s Sunday column, Curley said, “That bothers me.”

According to Curley, he has not met or spoken with Lemmon about his views on how to move forward with the proposed power sale.

In openly supporting Turner and Wilson, Lemmon seems to be arguing the County Commission and Indian River Shores Town Council are right in seeking to take Vero Beach utility infrastructure, or force its removal without compensation. “I don’t think that’s right. I don’t see how that’s fair,” Curley said today.

In an email addressed to me yesterday, Lemmon wrote, “You don’t get it, do you? This isn’t as much about the FMPA contracts as it is about Indian River Shores and the county.”

Lemmon’s email comment suggests he has bought into Turner’s and Wilson’s view that the best, perhaps the only way to force a conclusion to the power sale is to support the County Commission and the Indian River Shores Town Council in their actions against the City. Now Lemmon seems to have devoted himself to persuading Vero Beach voters to elect three City Council candidates who will capitulate to the County and the Shores, regardless of the disastrous consequences to the City, its residents and taxpayers. Well, if Lemmon thinks Curley is willing to take the city down that road, he may be in for a big surprise.

What they all seem to be ignoring is the fact that we live in a nation of laws, where the City’s contractual obligations to the Florida Municipal Power Agency, and the FMPA’s contractual obligations to its members and bond holders cannot simply be set aside to appease ten reasonably well-to-do men who have somehow concluded they have a God-given, inalienable right to the lowest electric rates in the state.