COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Has anyone heard from Harry Howle III?

Those with whom I speak , including members of the Vero Beach City Council, cannot get as much as a return phone call or an email reply from the seventh candidate to declare to run for one of three seats on the city council, which are up for grabs Nov. 4.

Howle is unavailable to answer questions, or even to schedule an interview. That’s right. Howle told one person who was lucky enough to reach him by phone that he is too busy even to schedule an interview, much less to sit for one.

Since declaring his candidacy late last week, it is as if Howle left town on a second honeymoon. Or, perhaps he has taken a page from Sarah Palin’s playbook. When Palin wasn’t “going rogue,” she went underground, where reporters could not ask her embarrassing, trick questions like, “What newspapers do you read?”

There may be a completely good explanation for Howle’s mysterious silence, but the reporter in me senses something is off. My hunch is he may be waiting for his patrons and handlers to tell him what to think and what to say, and more importantly, what not to say.

When Howle’s first financial report is submitted to City Clerk Tammy Vock in early October, the answer to why he is avoiding the press may be found there – in the names of some of his financial backers.

Former candidate, Brian Curley, dropped out when things heated up and got complicated by the fact that some of his backers thought he was going to be “their” man. Instead, Curley insisted he was going to stand on his own two feet, and that was the end of that. Some of Curley’s early supporters included leaders in the local Tea Party. You don’t have to be a genius to connect the dots.