COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Newly elected Indian River County School Board member, Charles Searcy, this week refused to take a drug test required of all School District employees and volunteers. While Searcy is unwilling to be drug tested, Vero Beach City Council candidate, Harry Howle III, apparently wonders if he can pass a Facebook test.

Howle’s Facebook page, which was reportedly peppered with right wing rants and Tea Party tirades, has been taken down.

Since anything is possible, it could be Howle’s last-minute entry into the city council race came at the urgings of the American Civil Liberties Union, but it is far more likely Howle’s backers will turn out to be members of the Indian River Tea Party, the same limited government champions who continue to cheer on Councilwoman Pilar Turner as she advocates policies sure to lead to the disincorporation of the City of Vero Beach.

Could it be that after scolding former candidate Brian Curley so harshly he withdrew from the council race, local Tea Party leaders turned to Howle to help Pilar Turner carry their banner?  The answer to this question may come in early October, when Howle files his first campaign finance report. As they say, follow the money.

Howle, who qualified to run Sept. 5, the final day of the qualifying period, has since been unavailable to speak by phone, has not responded to email inquiries, and has been too busy to schedule interviews.  As one local politico put it, “It is as if Howle submitted his filing papers and then dropped off the face of the earth.”

Though Howle has apparently been too busy to communicate, he has at least had time to come up with a campaign logo, which was posted this morning on his wife’s Facebook page.